Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Designing the Future of Technology

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Conduct research focused on improving a current technology by having students work in groups to investigate improvements that could be made to a particular piece of technology. They list the current problems and attempt to develop...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History

For Teachers 11th - 12th
The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kodomo No Hi: Children's Day Celebration

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
Children's Day is a beloved Japanese holiday with many colorful and engaging traditions. On this national holiday celebrated yearly on May 5, children are honored for their strengths and given good wishes for happiness. Your younger...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Understanding Themes in Esperanza Rising

For Teachers 5th Standards
Determining a theme or central idea is greatly emphasized in the Common Core standards. Target that skill though big metaphors and central symbols in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Help your class reach the standard through...
Lesson Plan
Japan Society

The Bubble Economy and the Lost Decade

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Explore Japanese society and national identity. Class members share ideas about the Japanese economy and then investigate a series of resources, including an article, a film, a lecture, and a poem, to learn about Japan's Bubble Economy...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Revising for Organization and Style: Bold Beginnings

For Teachers 4th Standards
Get young writers thinking about how to write a great beginning for their narratives. After examining examples of solid beginnings in literary text, young writers discuss the criteria for a compelling introduction. Then, independently,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Peer Critique for Organization and Style

For Teachers 4th Standards
Put another set of eyes on your class's historical fiction narratives with one of the final lessons in the unit. Fourth graders use feedback from their peers to annotate their drafts for revision, particularly their bold beginnings and...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reviewing Conventions and Editing Peers’ Work

For Teachers 4th Standards
Encourage young writers to edit text based on conventions. After reviewing the conventions, fourth graders watch a teacher demonstrate how to revise a paragraph for correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or dialogue. Then, pairs...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Revising for Organization and Style: Exciting Endings

For Teachers 4th Standards
Young writers compose a gripping ending to their historical fiction narratives. Following the previous lesson plan, where learners wrote a bold beginning, class members examine exciting endings from a literary text. They then draft their...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Planning for When to Include Dialogue: Showing Characters’ Thoughts and Feelings

For Teachers 4th Standards
Young writers examine dialogue conventions, including indentation, quotation marks, and expressing thoughts and feelings through a fictional text. By noticing where and when authors use dialogue, they decide how to incorporate dialogue...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Publishing Historical Fiction Narratives

For Teachers 4th Standards
Class members discover what it means to publish their works. Working on a computer, young writers use an online dictionary to edit their spellings and conventions based on the information added to the rubric. From here, and most of the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 8

For Teachers 9th Standards
Prophecy and blindness often go hand in hand, as in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Explore Oedipus' thoughts about prophecy, fate, and responsibility with an activity focused on the discussion between Creon and Oedipus regarding the murder...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 11

For Teachers 9th Standards
Close readers and forensic detectives alike deal with collecting strong evidence. Ninth graders become involved in an instructional activity about Sophocles' Oedipus the King, in which they find connections between Oedipus' stated words...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 15

For Teachers 9th Standards
The terrible truth begins in a instructional activity that focuses on the final act of Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As ninth graders collect evidence that details the origin of Oedipus and how his birth relates to the prophecy everyone...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 7

For Teachers 9th Standards
After viewing an informational video that introduces Bernard Madoff and the concept of a Ponzi scheme, class members begin reading "How Bernard Madoff Did It," Liaquat Ahamed's New York Times book review that explains Madoff's crime, and...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 8

For Teachers 9th Standards
Learning about research can be as important as learning about the topic itself. As ninth graders continue their guided research projects from Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation, they discuss their possible inquiry paths with group...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 9

For Teachers 9th Standards
Part of being a strong researcher is knowing if you're headed in the right direction. Class members study their research frames formulated in the previous lessons of the unit and decide what parts of their inquiry paths need revision or...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 7

For Teachers 9th Standards
As the unit on research writing draws to a close, class members continue to revise and edit their papers, this time focusing on grammar, spelling, and punctuation (colon and semicolon).
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 5

For Teachers 10th Standards
People should always choose their words carefully. Scholars examine the words used by Martin Luther King, Jr. in paragraphs 10 and 11 of his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Readers answer questions about word use, think about synonyms,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading and Talking with Peers: A Carousel of Photos and Texts about Frogs

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Frogs are the theme of a lesson plan that challenges scholars to examine photographs, read informational texts, then ask and answer questions. Scholars work collaboratelively as they rotate through stations, discuss their observations,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 3: Unit 3, Lesson 5

For Teachers 10th Standards
Can you please clarify? Scholars continue to work on their argumentative essays about selling human tissue by clarifying and adding cohesion. Writers begin by looking at model paragraphs and then begin improving their writing. They...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 10 ELA Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 24

For Teachers 10th Standards
What might viewers notice about the characters, setting, and cinematic choices in the movie version of a play? Pupils view an excerpt from Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. To finish the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 19

For Teachers 11th Standards
If revenge is a dish best-served cold, Hamlet had better get some ice. Readers discover Hamlet's plan to seek revenge. Scholars also complete a Quick Write analyzing the central ideas in Act 4.4 of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Making Inferences: The Fall of Saigon

For Teachers 8th Standards
Get hooked! Reel in and hook scholars to the unit with a slide show, text-based activity, and reading exercises. To increase curiosity, learners read only small pieces of Panic Rises in Saigon, but the Exits Are Few. Readers use the...