Curated OER
Pet Pellets
Students create and design advertising for a tempting new pet food! They create an imaginary pet food, analyze and identify types of propaganda and design packaging and advertising for the pet food.
Scholastic
The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Here is a precise article explaining chronological events that led Martin Luther King, Jr. to march for freedom and civil rights.
Curated OER
CREATIVE PRINCIPLES
Jr. high learners review the basic principles of design (balance, unity, movement, rhythm, pattern, contrast and emphasis) by watching a video by Gerald Brommer. Then they provide "aerobic exercise" for the right side of their brains by...
Curated OER
Observing the Pumpkin Cycle
Students observe and listen to nonfiction books about the life cycle of pumpkins. They practice early reading skills in a shared reading related to pumpkins. They observe the life cycle of a pumpkin including growth and decay.
Curated OER
Using the Comprehension Strategies
High school learners review the six major reading comprehension strategies. They demonstrate the strategies by putting them into action using more complex reading. They finish by discussing a seventh strategy, monitoring comprehension.
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 instructional activity reviews 13 words from the story and prompts class members to apply each word and its definition to...
Scholastic
Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales for Grades 7-9
Here is a must-have resource for studying fairy tales, myths, and folktales with your class! It includes instructional ideas, activities, and materials to support a month-long review of these three unique genres of writing.
Curated OER
Journal of Time: A Historical Perspective
Analyze the setting behind the Great Depression in California with Pam Munoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Middle schoolers assess the protagonist during her coming-of-age moments, while migrant workers manage the hardships of the...
Curated OER
Understanding Cause and Effect
Young scholars experience and study cause and effect as they assess the consequences man faces when time travel is attempted. They determine, in their imaginations, what time period they would like to visit. Each student then listens to,...
Curated OER
Personal Experience Narratives
Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...
Curated OER
Swing Your Partner!
This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...
Curated OER
Guess My Shape
Learners play a game with shapes. They work in groups to identify the names and characteristics of various shapes. They give each other clues to see if others can identify the shape being described. This is a great hands on activity.
Curated OER
Pink and Say
Read Pink and Say and discuss the Civil War with your upper elementary learners. They create a KWL about the Civil War and record words relating to the Civil War as they read the book. Then they work in groups to create an ABC...
Macmillan Education
A Wrinkle in Time Discussion and Activity Guide
As you work through Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, try out some or all of the 20 questions and activities included here. Useful for discussion questions, group assignments, or individual projects, this resource covers plot as...
Scholastic
Frindle Lesson Plan
"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own...
Scholastic
Test-Taking Strategies for Three Subject Areas
Sometimes a test page loaded with text can make a student's face go blank. Help them decipher what a text question is asking with a series of tips focused on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language arts mechanics.
Scholastic
Tell Us a Tale: Teaching Students to Be Storytellers
Encourage scholars to retell their favorite short story or folktale, adding personal details to make it their own. After reading their book of choice several times, story tellers retell a tale verbally to their classmates.
Poetry4kids
How to Write a Tongue Twister
Betty Botter and Theophilus Thistle provide models for willy writers to wrestle words into tricky tongue twisters.
Curated OER
Let's Shake Up Shakespeare!
Stray from the traditional by trying this modern approach to exploring history's distinguished bard.
Perkins School for the Blind
What Do I Hear?
Being able to give positive reinforcers to a child starts with knowing what the child likes. Intended for children with blindness, this lesson gives you a way to determine the types of music your learners like best. You are given a...
Perkins School for the Blind
Conservation of Mass
How do you teach a student with visual impairments about the conservation of mass? You use tactile models that represent the theoretical concept. Baking soda and vinegar are used to add gas to a deflated balloon. Learners will feel the...
Scholastic
Owl Moon Teaching Plan
Capture the engagement of young readers with this collection of activities based on Jane Yolen's book, Owl Moon. Following a shared reading of this children's story, the class explores the geography of the American Northeast,...
Illinois Elementary School Association
Improv Exercises
Here's an eight-page packet that describes 70 different improv activities to use as warm ups for drama classes.
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to the Works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...