Curated OER
Paul Revere's Ride
Third graders read and discuss the selection "Paul Revere's Ride" (included with the lesson). Students imagine they live in one of the villages that Paul Revere stopped. They are awakened by his knock on the door. Students write an essay...
Curated OER
Comparison Contrast Essay
Students compare and contrast the experience of the migrant worker as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath with the experiences of migrant children as depicted in the narratives and poems provided.
Read Works
Writing Compare and Contrast Essays
Practice writing compare and contrast essays in your class by starting out with a Venn diagram. A sample that can be expanded upon is provided here. After your writers have completed the guided practice, have them write individual essays...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing
Third graders have fun using descriptive words in an expository format to describe a food that they hate. They utilize a planning worksheet that's imbedded in this plan before they begin their drafts.
Curated OER
ARC Writing Lab Worksheets: Parallel Structure
In this parallel structure worksheet, learners read about parallel structure within sentences and between sentences, then complete a practice sheet of exercising, rewriting sentences. An answer key is given.
Curated OER
The Rest Cure: Gender in Medicine and Literature
Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...
Curated OER
The Editing Process
Students read a sample essay and evaluate them in groups. They write their own essay on a topic of their choice and use peer editing. They share their essays with the class.
Curated OER
Expository Journal Prompts
Stuck for a journal topic? Download CAHSEE’s 21 “Expository Journal Prompts” as a pdf handout for yourself or class. A great resource for your writing program, print it up and add it your curriculum library.
Curated OER
Motion in the Ocean
How does the formation of currents and waves in the ocean happen? High schoolers will learn about the primary causes for ocean currents and waves by calculating a wave's amplitude and nautical mile speed. Then they will complete a...
EngageNY
Documenting Research: Sorting and Recording Information About the Wheelwright
Fourth graders practice using a graphic organizer to record their notes and answer text-dependent questions while supplying evidence of how they found their answer. They focus on a machine called the wheelright, which was commonly...
Curated OER
Escher-Esque Tessellations
Middle and high schoolers participate in a seven-part lesson creating Escher-Esque tessellations. They demonstrate their knowledge of geometric transformations after viewing a PowerPoint presentation, conducting Internet research, and...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2007
Environmental science enthusiasts show what they know at the end of the year by taking this full-fledged final exam. They answer multiple choice, graph interpretation, and essay analysys questions, 73 of them in all. Topics range from...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2005
The 2005 version of the Regents High School Examination in the area of ecology is as comprehensive as previous years' exams. It consists of 40 multiple choice questions on everything from the structure of DNA to the interactions within...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker: Identifying the Superpowers of Reading
Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Volume 2 - A History of the United States: Modern Times—Late 1800s to the 2000s
The second volume of the Core Knowledge History of the United States ebook begins by asking young scholars to consider the impact immigration, industrialization, and urbanization had on the United States in the late 1800s. The text ends...
Curated OER
Japanese-American Relocation
Consider the causes and effects that led to the internment and relocation of Japanese Americans during WWII. Learners read the story "Baseball Saved Us" and selected chapters from Farewell to Manzanar. Then, they view a slide-show, and...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Imperialism, Arab Nationalism and World War I
Continued conflict in the Middle East makes this lesson relevant, and the inclusion of a critique of Lawrence of Arabia might increase student interest in a potentially challenging topic. The resource includes a solid...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Defense of the Electoral College
Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—Eighth Grade
Middle schoolers are likely very familiar with the concept of bullying and cliques. Discuss their experiences and brainstorm ways to handle peer conflict and feelings of exclusion with a poem that focuses on bullying, and a second lesson...
Curated OER
Our “Civilized” Society
The Scarlet Letter is the anchor text in a four-week unit that examines Hawthorne's novel through the lens of the intolerances found in a supposed civilized society. In addition to their reading, class members watch clips from...
Curated OER
Hook, Lead Line, and Thinker
Students explore, examine and study the format of an opinion essay by viewing one author and activist that is helping women find their voices by reading and discussing the article, "Stop the Presses, Boys! Women Claim Space on Op-Ed...
Curated OER
Pumpkin Writing Paper
In this writing worksheet, learners use the blank lined paper with a colorful pumpkin border for any kind of writing: reports, poetry, stories or letters.
New York City Department of Education
Grade 8 Science: Genetic Modification of Organisms
Genetic modification is a hot topic in the science and political world. A complete unit gives learners an opportunity to research genetic modification, play an interactive genetic engineering simulation, and interact with the information...
Curated OER
Children's Media and Censorship
High schoolers form opinions about children and television censorship after analyzing literature. They complete a journal writing activity to identify the topic and make a list of inappropriate television shows for children. Next, they...