Curated OER
Runny Babbit
Students are introduced to elements of poetry through the book Runny Babbit. In this poetry instructional activity, students learn about the newest Shel Silverstein book, then examine the poem's form, rhythm, and rhyme. Students look for...
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Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: There Once Was?
Students explore limericks. For this poetry writing lesson, students listen to and read a variety of poems written by Edward Lear. Students count syllables and identify meter by clapping as they read aloud. Students complete a...
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Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: There Once Was...
Learners recognize poetic devices including rhyme, syllabification, and meter. They identify the characteristics of a nonsense poem and of a limerick. They write their own limericks.
Curated OER
Image to Word
Students research art and write about how a certain art piece relates to their own life. In this art lesson plan, students go to Brooks museum and discuss the art they find there.
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Comparing Themes Across Texts
Read various texts to compare the themes across each text. Learners write a journal entry describing the most beautiful scenery they've seen and use a map of the United States to locate the Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods. They then...
Curated OER
The Voices Within Theirs and Mine
Students create new words to convey their thoughts. They find, list and discuss the poetic devices used by the poet in creating his or her war poem and create their own war poems. They use sensory perception words and memory in...
Curated OER
Lessons of the Indian Epics: Following the Dharma
Students examine how the epic poem, "Ramayana" teaches dharma, one of Hinduism's most important tenets. They read the abridged version of the "Ramayana," identify the main plot points, complete a chart, and write an essay on a moral...
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Cluing into Symbols Robert Frost
Learners use the Internet and video to discover how find evidence in poetry in order to discover the theme(s) of the poems. They are able to define poetic devices like simile, metaphor and repetition. Students identify themes in...
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Long Vowel Phoneme - i_e
The vowel/consonant/vowel combination of /i_e/ is one of the most common in our language. In this lesson, kindergarterners share the book, The Doctor's Line to gain practice in reading these kind of words. A brainstorm session...
Curated OER
Rewriting Shakespeare
Have your learners play around with Shakespeare's language. In this plan, small groups examine and rearrange soliloquies from Othello, noting how the language changes and morphs. All groups have a chance to change each soliloquy, making...
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Emerging Heroes
Twelfth graders define what a hero is and watch a video. In this hero lesson, 12th graders discuss the characteristics of a hero and list heroes and their attributes. Students read the poem Beowulf and identify...
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Writing
Students write poems and a narrative story. In this writing lesson, students read stories and poems written by other students and read examples of haiku's and diamonte's. Students write an acrostic poem and a diamonte...
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Let's Fly Our Kites
Students practice reading and writing using a short poem and information about kites. In this kite poem lesson plan, students read and write using a common poem. This lesson plan includes practice with reading, rhyming, handwriting,...
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A Prelude To Beowulf
Students study the literature and literary techniques of the early Middle Ages, thus preparing students to read Beowulf with an appreciation for its artistry and beauty. Students solve online riddles, write riddles and study Anglo-Saxon...
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I am Special and You are Special Too - Project Children L.E.A.D.
Eighth graders recognize what makes them special through class participation and discussion of rap music, writing a poem about themselves, and designing their own special hat while working in groups.
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Show Don't Tell
Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.
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Analyzing Poetic Devices: Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz"
Young scholars examine how Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke incorporate poetic devices to convey meaning in the poems, 'Those Winter Sundays,' and 'My Papa's Waltz.' They listen to audio clips, explore websites, and write an analysis...
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Comparing The Odyssey and "The Lotus Eaters"
Ninth graders compare the development of text in Book 5 of "The Odyssey" to Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotus Eaters." After discussing the comparison's of the two text within a group, they create an original piece of work or...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Charles Baudelaire: Poète Maudit (The Cursed Poet)
After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, high schoolers work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations...
Curated OER
Shakespeare Analysis
Eighth graders focus on the Shakespearian sonnet as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative...
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Beowulf
Students read the epic, Beowulf and examine the nature of good and evil. They compile a list of questions about loyalty tests and take turns asking and answering them. they create Beowulf comic strips and research other epic tales.
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- Making Metaphors with Munchies
Students brainstorm independently first, then ask their best friend on the team, or seat partners, depending on the year & student mix, to add to their list of personal characteristics and/or to name three words they think of...
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Troublesome Word Rap
Create songs and raps to develop an understanding of the proper use of common misused words and homophones. First, your class defines misused words and homophones correctly by utilizing the words in a rap or song. Then they use...
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Individuality: India Arie Music Video
Students examine individuality. In this music video lesson, students listen to music by India Arie to determine how music shapes our ideas of what normal is as well as how music is a form of poetry. Activities are related to...