Curated OER
Express Yourself!
Fifth graders study different types of poetry, compose a poem and word process it.
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Picture-Perfect Language Arts
Students develop their reading and writing skills in this year long activity. They discuss the physical traits that they have in common and those physical traits that make them unique. Students draw a portrait of their partners and write...
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Curriculum Plan for Vietnam Study Abroad Project
Learners compare and contrast the education system in Vietnam and Michigan. They study activities being addressed in changing Vietnam's education system and create presentations to demonstrate their understanding.
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Food and Languages of the World
Students engage in creative bead making while discussing Africa. In this diversity and arts lesson, students create African necklaces while being introduced to the African culture.
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Poetic Expression
Ninth graders evaluate the effectiveness of literary techniques including figurative language.
They demonstrate an understanding of the main ideas, events, or themes of a variety of novels, stories, poetry, other print material, and...
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Enlightening Expressions
Students come up with general and specific words to use in their writing. In this word choice lesson plan, students engage in a class discussion where they make list of general and specific words, then fill out a worksheet embedded in...
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Media Literacy Skills
Third graders watch a news story from three different networks in order to determine how the same story can be presented in three different ways. Next, working in small groups they create a newscast of a current event to share with the...
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Using Pictures to Promote Conversation
Students initiate and sustain a conversation of three or more exchanges on a topic while exploring a collection of large photographs pertaining to that topic. The teacher creates a comfortable setting and provide a variety of books...
Lisa Staab Shadburn
Play Therapy Activities to Enhance Self‐Esteem
Discover activities to help learners increase self-awareness, build peer and family relations, and develop positive self-esteem. Here you'll find six suggestions for instilling a sense of confidence and self awareness in youngsters. Each...
US Institute of Peace
Nonverbal Communication
What is your body saying that maybe your words aren't? Scholars explore the vast world of the subtle, and not-so-subtle, nonverbal communication cues through group and individual work. Lesson seven in a series of peacebuilding exercises...
US Institute of Peace
Making a Difference: Becoming a Peacebuilder
Being an agent of change is no easy task! What are some of the common challenges that peacebuilders face every day? The 14th portion in a series of 15 explores the lives of peacebuilders. Grouped pupils discuss these challenges before...
Curated OER
Poetry Reading
Students express the ideas of a poem. In this poem dramatization lesson, students analyze poems for meaning studying their descriptive words. Students role play the descriptive language of the poem. Students draw a picture of the...
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Poetry Writing
Students compose a piece of poetry modeled after the poetry of Carl Sandburg and share their poem(s) with their colleagues. They use a cluster diagram to organize their thoughts and brainstorm their ideas.
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Happy Holidays
Learners create holiday story while working in cooperative learning groups, using Chris Van Allsburg's Polar Express as a writing prompt.
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America Poems
Students examine examples of how other Americans have expressed their feelings about America through songs and poetry, and write their own poems to express their relationship with America.
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Learning through The Duke
Students study Duke Ellington's contributions to the field of jazz. They write poetry using language that was popular in the 1920's. They listen to a piece of Duke Ellington jazz and respond with at painting.
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Temas contraversiales del mundo hispanohablante:Controversial Themes of the Hispanic World
Eleventh graders brainstorm controversial themes of Spanish-speaking countries. They read articles written in Spanish. They discuss the articles, practicing their Spanish speaking skills. Students conduct research and design a...
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Writing an Original Fable
Students discover how to write fables. In this writing skill lesson, students review the literary elements of fables and take all of the steps in the writing process to create their own fables.
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Book Cover Design
Students design book covers. For this graphic design lesson, students are introduced to designing book covers. Students develop skills on how to promote their designs to clients. Students then create their own book covers.
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Twain: Steamboat's a-Comin'
Students discover how rivers inspire creative expression. In this Mark Twain instructional activity, students list songs about rivers and discuss common characteristics. They locate the Mississippi River on a map and write a script...
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Creating Comic Strips
Students create comic strips to communicate ideas that cannot be expressed through words alone.
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Collage Technique
First graders listen to the story The Hungry Caterpillar, then sequentially organize their own re-writing and re-creating of the story. They construct illustrations for their book using the collage technique Eric Carle used in his...
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You've Got Mail
First graders study the postal system and letter writing. They exchange class letters with another class in a different area and become pen pals with residents in a local nursing home.
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We Like to Read with Enthusiasm
Learners develop skills to become independent readers by telling a story with expression and enthusiasm. They read with expression and enthusiasm with a partner the books, "Duck on a Bike," and "David Goes to School," both by David Shannon.