Boston Public Schools
What's in a Biography?
Reinforce research skills, close reading, teamwork, and biographical writing skills with one collaborative lesson. Groups create slide shows detailing the elements of a biography through a presentation on a famous American person. Based...
Curated OER
Comparatives & Superlatives in Spanish
Who is taller? And who is the tallest? Help your Spanish language learners express comparison by teaching them about comparatives and superlatives. The first part of the webpage includes in-depth explanations with examples of...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Hobbit
From dragons to dwarves, from riddles to rings, the great adventure story of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien has captivated generations of readers of all ages. An educator's guide explores the novel's literary elements, including the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Person to Person: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 4)
Help language learners understand words and cultural concepts. The second installment in a series of three language development lessons designed to accompany Theme 4: Person to Person helps bridge the gap for language learners by...
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 15
What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...
Curated OER
Zoom Broom
Learners explore comprehension strategies as they listen to Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini. As the story is read, teacher and pupils will stop occasionally to make text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections. They also...
Curated OER
Chapter Tableaux: Visualizing The Call of the Wild
Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...
Learning Games Lab
Nitrogen in Fertilizer
Nitrogen is an essential element for productive farming. An interactive lesson explores the chemical makeup of different fertilizers and their corresponding nitrogen content. The interactive challenges individuals to complete molecular...
Heritage Foundation
Voting and the Constitution
How difficult was it for everyone to get voting rights? Understanding voting rights and the fight to get them for everyone in the United States can be tricky for some learners. However, they are clarified after engaging in the...
EngageNY
Clarifying Thinking on Water Management: Revisiting the Gallery Walk
One, two, three, go! Scholars gather in triads and number themselves one to three. Each number is responsible for sharing a section of the map homework completed the night before as learners discuss domain-specific vocabulary terms using...
Curated OER
Learn-to-Read Pumpkin Patch
Students practice identifying and pronouncing the short letter "u" sound. In this phonetic awareness lesson, students access the Starfall.com website and follow the directions on the screen to reinforce the short "u" sound. Students can...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Main Idea
Readers are presented with a list of three questions and asked to actively listen to a story or article to answer them. They verbally answer the questions to learn the strategy. Next, read a story to them or have them silently read a...
EngageNY
Video and Close Reading: “Developing a Vital Resource for Canadians and the World”
Scholars watch Developing a Vital Resource for Canadians and the World to learn about the supplement potash that helps plants grow. They watch the video several times, completing a note catcher to record key ideas along the way. Pupils...
Curated OER
Asda in a Pickle After Rat Found in Gherkins
Practice reading and speaking through a simulation activity in which learners role-play as store managers and angry customers. The class also reviews present and past-perfect tenses. Extensions and a print-friendly handout are provided.
Curated OER
Home in the Desert: Lesson for Use with This House is Made of Mud
Third graders examine how a family modifies their environment to create a home out of mud. They read the book "This House is Made of Mud" by Ken Buchanan, and write a description of their own home that compares the home of mud to their...
EngageNY
Researching Part 1: Reading for Gist and Gathering Evidence Using the Research Guide
If only life came with an owner's manual. Pupils assemble with their research teams to discuss which of Steve Jobs' rules to live by most resonates with them. Scholars also read informational texts in pursuit of finding the gist and...
Curated OER
After Reading: "Plot the Plot" Activity in the Library Media Class
"Plot the plot" of "The Adventures of the Speckled Band" with your young readers. Take a few days to read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story as a class or in pairs, having learners write down what they consider to be the most important...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension
Develop reading comprehension skills with this reading passage and the multiple choice questions that follow. There are only five questions, but the answer sheet is incredibly helpful, as it describes how to find each answer in the text....
ARKive
Seasons in the Woods
Winter in the cold Northwoods of Wisconsin can be hard on animals that aren't adapted to the climate. Investigate the animals that are out and about even in the coldest winter temperatures as you and your class examine animal...
Curated OER
Reading Word Recognition, Fluency, and Vocabulary
Eleventh graders analyze words that derive meaning from Greek, Roman, and Norse myths. In this myth vocabulary lesson, 11th graders work in learning groups as visual learners, kinesthetic learners, and artistic learners to identify the...
Curated OER
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day
Second graders interact with the story of Alexander's horrible day by connecting it to their lives. They practice predicting, writing paragraphs, reading aloud, discussing his problems, making a card to cheer him up, and designing a pair...
Curated OER
Storytime
By reading two books aloud, Ben and Becky in the Haunted House and The Ghost in the Classroom, youngsters learn new words and understand story events. They workin small groups to review the vocabulary in a game-like setting.
Curated OER
Who's Who in Shrew!: Fun Trivia Quiz
Clarify the characters in Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare with this brief online quiz. Learners read a short description of a character and respond to each question by choosing one of four possible characters. This is a...
Math Worksheets Land
Add and Subtract Multi-Digit Whole Numbers
Help young mathematicians see the value in addition and subtraction. Offering one addition and one subtraction problem, this activity walks students step-by-step through the solutions of each, starting in the ones place and working their...