Curated OER
The History of Maple Syrup
Students explore the process of harvesting maple syrup. In this science and history instructional activity, students make their own maple syrup and create a picture book that shows the Native American and American pioneer methods of...
The Kennedy Center
Fairy Tale Variations
Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and...
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Japan Society
Akutagawa Ryunosuke and the Taisho Modernists
Japan's Taisho Period was a time when authors like Akutagawa and other Japanese modernists began to experiment with point of view and literary form, making the literature produced during this time period a natural choice for teaching...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: Freedom and Religion
The United States of America was founded on firm ideals of both the pursuit of happiness and a spirit of reverence. Through a close reading of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The May-Pole of Merry Mount," you can examine what some consider was a...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: Equality
What if society sought equality by handicapping the gifted and dispelling any traces of diversity? Kurt Vonnegut Jr. offers one possible answer to this question through his incredibly engaging and thought-provoking satirical...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: National Identity and Why It Matters
Combining a close reading of a classic American text with the study of history can be a very powerful strategy, and this is most certainly the case with this resource using Edward Everett Hale's The Man without a Country. Consider themes...
Curated OER
Dramatizing History in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Young scholars study the effect of history on fictional or dramatic works of art by reading, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. They examine the ties between a nation's history and culture with the literature it produces.
Curated OER
Intellectual/Social/Cultural Movements: 1870s - 1914 (5)
In this online interactive American history worksheet, students answer 12 matching questions regarding late 1870's-1914 America. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: An American Grail?
Students discuss the possibility of a treasure lost in the Sierra Madre mountains that could be considered the American holy grail. After reading a novel, they examine the relationship between the grail, gold, and characters. To end the...
Curated OER
White Anti-Racist Biographies: Early Grades
Students research white anti racists including Laurie Olsen, Myles Horton, and others. In this anti racist lesson plan, students complete an online treasure hunt where they research these people and fill in the blanks to sentences...
Curated OER
The Collaborative Works of Rodgers and Hammerstein: Show Business
Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...
Curated OER
Poet James Whitcomb Riley: Famous in His Own Day
An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...
Curated OER
Reading Teammates
Fourth graders read the book "Teammate" after participating in pre-reading activities that include examining the concepts of segregation and discrimination. For this six week literature study, they make timelines, discuss what they know...
Curated OER
Speaking in Grave Tones
Fourth graders examine how a change in attitudes about death took place from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century and was embodied in gravestones, literature, and art.
Curated OER
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 12 multiple choice questions about Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
In this online interactive reading comprehension activity, learners respond to 15 multiple choice questions based on The Sun Also Rises. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great American Dreamer
Students explore how F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. In novels such as Tender is the Night, This Side of Paradise, and The Great Gatsby, he captured the mood and manners of his time.
Reed Novel Studies
The Trumpet of The Swan: Novel Study
What lengths will one go to for love? Louis, a swan in The Trumpet of The Swan, struggles to gain the attentions of a girl because he cannot trumpet. Thankfully, his father creates a plan that may work. Scholars discover Louis's attempts...
Curated OER
The Evolution of Transcendentalism
Key concepts, major writers, and historical events related to Transcendentalism are explored in a student-produced PowerPoint about this movement. The presentation could be used as an introduction to a unit or as a model that class...
Curated OER
Art of Cynicism
Students analyze selected pieces of art and infer how they reflect a sense of disillusionment, and/or cynicism in American society in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. Then they identify and place cultural attitudes...
Curated OER
The Power of Fiction
Students explore fiction that moves individuals to social action. For this literature lesson, students read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and analyze its literary worth as well as its investigative journalism. Students investigate other...
Curated OER
Paying With Their Health
Students consider the plight of immigrant workers. In this undocumented immigrant lesson, students compare the worker of the Industrialization era to the undocumented immigrant workers of today. Students read and discuss literature about...
Curated OER
Lady Sings the Blues
Students explore women and music in the 20th century. In this music instructional activity, students study the relationship between literature and music through The Color Purple and music by Ethel Waters, MA Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie...