Curated OER
The Language of Surprise
Aspiring writers complete and discuss fill-in-the-blank cliché expressions, define cliché as a form of predictable writing, take cliché expressions and turn them into new, unpredictable ones, read poetry that illustrates writer's use of...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner (Schwartz)
Give beginning readers a chance to practice with unknown words and context clues using the pictuer book Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner. Choose several vocabulary words to focus on as you read the picture book, or use the ones provided...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Happy Birthday, Moon (Asch)
Can you wish the moon a happy birthday? Beginning readers contemplate this as they listen to Frank Asch's book Happy Birthday, Moon, the context for a vocabulary study. There are three words outlined here: chat,...
Nemours KidsHealth
Peer Pressure: Grades 3-5
Peer pressure is the focus of a lesson that challenges scholars to respond to several scenarios using responsible-decision making skills. Lesson one begins with a live-action example set by class members, followed by a discussion that...
Scholastic
Pre-Reading Vocabulary Activities Using "The Gift of the Magi"
The rich language of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is only appreciable if you understand the words. A short lesson reviews 13 words from the story and prompts class members to apply each word and its definition to other situations.
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Spring is like a perhaps hand" by E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings' "Spring is like a perhaps hand" offers young scholars an opportunity to try their hands at analyzing a simile. After a warm-up activity and a close reading of the poem, class members discuss what they think the poem is...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 5
Eager readers have waited a long time, very patiently, for a set of literary analysis lessons that connect text structure to the work's central idea. As ninth graders continue reading "The Tell-Tale Heart," they focus on the central...
EngageNY
Introducing the Narrative Arc: The Last Day of Slavery
Fix your mistakes. Scholars look over their end-of-unit assessments while the teacher focuses on common mistakes made among the class. Learners then make predictions about their next text, Frederick Douglass: The Last Day of Slavery, by...
Film English
The Conditioned
Discover the lovely story of Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho with your class. Over the course of the lesson, pupils practice descriptive writing, write short narratives, collaborate in small groups, watch a powerful short film about Raimundo,...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 1
Class members begin their study of Romeo and Juliet by examining the words Shakespeare chooses in the Prologue to Act I to create the tragic tone of his famous play about star-crossed lovers.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 14
After watching the scene from Romeo + Juliet in which Juliet argues with her parents because she does not want to marry Paris, groups do a close reading of Act 4, scene 1, lines 44-88, examining the word choices in the conversation...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 10
The slow curse of realization begins to sink in during the tenth lesson in a literary analysis unit on Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Ninth graders carefully read the selected lines for evidence of Oedipus' feelings during a turning point...
Center for History and New Media
Growing Up in a Segregated Society, 1880s–1930s
What did segregation look like in the beginning of the 20th century? Middle and high schoolers view images of segregated areas, read passages by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, and come to conclusions about how the influence of...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 1
As part of a study of narrative writing, class members analyze how Leslie Marmon Silko structures the beginning and orients and engages readers in her narrative, "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit."
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1, Unit 3, Lesson 2
Where to begin? This lesson plan, part of a series designed to help seniors compose a narrative response to a prompt found on the college Common Application, focuses on the techniques writers employ to craft an engaging introduction to...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Coloring Discrete Structures
What's the least number of colors needed to color a U.S. map? The lesson begins by having pupils view a video clip on continuous and discrete phenomenon, then launches into an activity reminiscent of Zeno's paradox. A separate video...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Understanding the Food Web
Building on prior knowledge of the pervious instructional activity in the series, pupils explain the previous instructional activity to each other. Then they write a simple guide for a young child to read on the same topic.
Facing History and Ourselves
A Contested History
Memories of and interpretations of history change—that's the key takeaway from a lesson plan that has young historians compare the story of the Reconstruction Era as told by the historians of the Dunning School to the view of scholars...
Curated OER
Polar Bear Literacy Activity
Young scholars generate vocabulary words synonymous or related to "noise." In this literacy lesson, students listen to the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle and discuss the meaning of vocabulary...
EngageNY
Choosing a Book That Interests Me: Seeking the Superhero Reader in Me
Selecting a "power book" and engaging in a structured class discussion are the learning targets for this fourth lesson plan in a larger unit. It is designed as a beginning of the year unit for establishing norms and routines in the...
Visa
Using Credit Wisely
Receiving credit can be both a benefit and a curse. Prepare your learners to make wise credit choices by studying how credit influences credit scores, identifying the different components of credit cards, and exploring major consumer...
Facing History and Ourselves
Literature Circles: Preparing for Literature Circles through a Fishbowl Discussion
Pupils examine the attributes of productive conversations. In this fishbowl discussion lesson, students observe a modeled discussion of a literature circle. Pupils watch a discussion of "The Bear That Wasn't" and note how individuals...
Curated OER
Ready, Set, Go!!
Learners work to improve reading fluency by practicing oral reading skills. They read and reread sentences, noticing the effect repeated reading have on speed and accuracy. In groups, they complete timed readings and work to improve...
Curated OER
The Interactive Read-Aloud
Students discover the joy of reading a book through the teaching method of a read-aloud while interacting with the teacher by answering different questions. The lesson includes a sample of a read-aloud and the dialogue used with students...