Curated OER
My Favorite Story
Students discuss their favorite book. In this book discussion activity, students name the title and tell what makes the book special. Students also review the setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Students make a book that tells all...
Curated OER
Lunch Pail
Explore a 1900s lunch pail. In this oral language and 1900s history lesson, students view a photograph of an old-fashioned lunch pail. Students describe the object and make predictions about what it is and its possible uses. Students...
EngageNY
Reading Maps: Locating the Countries We Have Been Reading About
Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...
Curated OER
Writing Portfolio: An Autobiography Assignment
An extensive portfolio project encourages your kids to reflect on their personalities with multiple writing assignments. From activities on extended metaphors to writing about an important day in their lives, kids explore the way they...
American Library Association
Great Early Elementary Reads
Here is an excellent reference list of over 60 recommended book titles for early readers, each of which includes the author, title, number of pages, and brief summary.
Curated OER
Double Exposed Photographs
Young scholars create double-exposed photographs, poetry, and multimedia presentations. In this artwork lesson plan, students explore cameras, poems, and other art forms to understand line, light, and other attributes that contribute to...
Curated OER
Picture This! Building Photo-Based Writing Skills
High schoolers analyze photographs as a development activity for their literacy skills. They will review the 6 Q's feature for analyzing photographs and analyze a variety of photographs and then write comments in the space around the...
Curated OER
Imagination Or Observation?
Read the books, "Frog and Toad Are Friends," and "Tale of a Tadpole," to distinguish between fantasy and reality in the books. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, students review the similarities and differences in each book with...
Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: KWHL Strategy
Before beginning The Grapes of Wrath, readers create a KWHL chart recording what they already know about the Dust Bowl, the author, and the book, what they want to know, and where they might find answers to these questions. After reading...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Colors All Around: Challenge Activities (Theme 2)
Color, color, everywhere. As part of a three-week study of color, kindergarteners create animal color cards, design pages for an class animal book, populate an underwater scene with colorful fish, and invent and name a new color.
Busy Teacher
The Phantom of the Opera
It's no masquerade! If Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera is part of your curriculum, check out this three-page packet loaded with suggestions for before, during, and after reading activities.
PBS
Primary Source Set: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
What did Jo write her stories with? How did the March sisters dress? A primary source set designed for Louisa May Alcott's Little Women prompts learners to look over images of household items and clothes from the 1860s before engaging in...
Baylor College
What's That Food?
Get things cooking with the first lesson plan in this series on the science of food. Working in small groups, young scientists make and record observations about different mystery foods. These descriptions are then shared with the class...
University of Pennsylvania
From the Dreyfus Affair to the World Today
Historical events do not occur in a vacuum. Such is the case of the Dreyfus Affair, where the connection between Captain Alfred Dreyfus, Emile Zola, and Hannah Arendt is fused by the events of the early 20th century. The informative...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Ruta Sepetys
Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Animal Encounters: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 6)
Denali National Park and the rain forests of Brazil are the settings for a series of lessons on animal encounters with grizzly bears and golden lion tamarins. The 32-page packet includes scripted lesson plans, activity suggestions, and...
Prestwick House
Into the Wild
Chris McCandless's life, adventures, and untimely death is the subject of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction work, Into the Wild. A thorough crossword puzzle includes quotes, characters, and key details from the book as clues.
Sandra Effinger
Bulletin Board Project
Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a character...
Lee & Low Books
Classroom Guide for Sacred Mountain: Everest
The most famous climbers of Mount Everest could never have made it to the summit without the assistance of the local Sherpa. Christine Taylor-Butler's nonfiction children's book Sacred Mountain: Everest is the focus of an extensive...
University of Pennsylvania
Mock Trial of Alfred Dreyfus
What if scholars based mock trials on history? The fourth installment of a five-part series on the Dreyfus Affair asks learners to read various pieces of evidence before conducting a mock trial for a French officer. Teams answer...
Curated OER
Picture This - Stars Over Hoke
The classroom becomes a safe and inclusive place for your ELLs as they create documents about their lives. Learners create, read, and present story books based on their own personal experiences. They use digital cameras to take...
Curated OER
A Picture is Worth a Million Words
Students practice composing digital photographs by documenting activities in their lives. In this photography lesson, students utilize digital cameras to create beautiful art from things they find around the campus or at their home....
Curated OER
Sorting
Students sort class books into categories to help classify and organize them so they are easier to find. In this sorting lesson plan, students go to the library and see how they organize their books and do the same in the classroom.
Curated OER
Learn Classmates' Names
Students create a classroom book of names and photos. In this icebreaker lesson, students read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See and create a classroom book with the same pattern using classmates' names and photographs.