Curated OER
Reading the Movies: Another Approach To Teaching Critical Thinking Skills And Writing
Students explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.
EngageNY
Inferring About Characters Based on How They Respond to Challenges (Chapter 4: "Los Higos/Figs")
How do you know what a character's personality is like if an author doesn't tell you? With a focus on character development in Esperanza Rising, pupils complete a jigsaw activity to analyze the actions of Mama, Abuelita, and Miguel. Once...
Minnesota Literacy Council
Introduction to Historical Thinking
Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment and Discussing Themes in Esperanza Rising: (Chapter 9: "Las Ciruelas/PLums")
Give this skills-based assessment halfway through your unit on Esperanza Rising. After a brief review, class members take the test, which asks them to show that they know how to analyze the novel independently. They are asked to...
Curated OER
My Antonia: Biopoem Writing Strategy
Explore the characters in My Antonia by Willa Cather with a biopoem assignment. Pupils use the provided format to write their poems about any character from the book.
Reed Novel Studies
A Taste of Blackberries: Novel Study
Blackberry pie, blackberry cobbler ... what other recipes use blackberries? Scholars hunt for an interesting blackberry recipe to copy and share with friends after using the novel study for A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan...
Novelinks
Wildwood Dancing: Vocabulary Squares
As part of a study of Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, class members create vocabulary squares for words drawn from the story.
Curated OER
What Is the True Story of the Three Little Pigs?
Cozy up and listen to a recording of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Javelinas. Then, lead your class in a compare and contrast of the two stories by creating a Venn diagram.
Curated OER
Edgar Allen Poe And The Art Of Composition
High schoolers evaluate several works by Edgar Allen Poe based on the criteria in his essay, "The Philosophy of Composotion" Their analysis is documented using a graphic organizer. Learners begin the pre-writing process for their own...
Curated OER
My Reading Words in My Social Studies Book?
Connect social studies and language arts using this resource. After studying root words, have learners locate five words from their social studies book that have a prefix, suffix, or root word. This puts a new twist on practicing basic...
Curated OER
Contemporary Civic-life Issue Research Based Essay
Seventh graders write a five paragraph persuasive essay on a contemporary civic-life issue.
Curated OER
Shakespeare 2000
Young thespians can try their hand at writing a script and acting out a scene, while gaining a deeper understanding of the universal topics presented in Shakespeare's wide array of plays. Begin the lesson by conducting a compare and...
Curated OER
Homes Then and Now
Before reading a book or text describing life in the 18th or 19th century, you might want to preview vocabulary. Each slide provides a description and image of technology common to household use prior to the 20th century, and compares it...
New School
Syllabus Template
Designed for a college-level course, this syllabus template, in addition to course information, contains sections on policies detailing academic honesty and integrity, intellectual property rights, and course expectations.
Briscoe Center for American History
Mary Maverick and Texas History - Part 1
What's the difference between a diary and a memoir? Young historians explore the ramifications of this question as they learn how to use primary source materials to gain an understanding of life on the Texas frontier.
Curated OER
The Great Chase
Students use the text "The Great Chase" to explore characters, views, and using words and phrases from the text. They write character profiles that describe the characters in the story. Students use key words and phrases from the story.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Storybooks and Games
Young scholars explore stories, games and coloring pages on an interactive website. In this pre-reading activity, students have free access to stories, coloring pages and simple games at the Lil' Fingers website.
Curated OER
White Horse Estate Agents
In this Language Arts learning exercise, students write a description of a house. Students include information about the downstairs, upstairs, garden, and garage.
Curated OER
Wizard Vision
Learners participate in a visualization exercise. Then listen to an excerpt from 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' and discuss what they 'see.' Independently, they read the second chapter and draw a picture of what they visualized...
Curated OER
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Eighth graders read and discuss Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then they invent a candy bar, name it and draw a picture of it. Finally, they write a short descriptive paragraph about it.
Curated OER
The Poetry Archive
Students discover how to express their feeling poetically. In this poetry instructional activity, students discuss their feelings, descriptive language to describe these feelings, and create poems.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Nocturnal Animals Lesson #4: Owls
Students investigate the owl food chain. They discuss owl facts, explore various websites, dissect an owl pellet, create a picture of the owl food chain, read the book, "Owl Babies," and write an owl poem.
Curated OER
Harcourt Story: Eleanor and Amelia Go for a Ride
Fourth graders are introduced to a list of vocabulary words as it relates to the story Eleanor and Amelia Go for a Ride and a use graphic organizer to clarify the meaning of the text. In this "Eleanor and Amelia Go for a Ride"...
Curated OER
"Postcard From Bear"
Students complete various activities related to the book "Postcard From Bear." They participate in a shared reading activity, identify the locations in the book on a map, and write a postcard to the bear in the story.