Curated OER
Rain Forest Reporters
Students research and write articles for an imaginary scientific magazine about rain forests. In this rain forest lesson, students research both ecosystems and magazine writing styles. They act as reporters and editors of their own...
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Local Habitats
Students create dioramas that depict a habitat. In this habitat lesson, students use a variety of art items to develop either a marine, freshwater/pond, or forest habitat in a box. They write an expository essay about their habitat, and...
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Native American Bartering
Fifth graders create items to barter. In this Native American bartering lesson, 5th graders read a book, design and make items, and barter with their peers. Students reflect on the experience through journal writing.
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Zoo Animal Experts
As part of an exploration of zoo animals, kindergarteners conduct research on their favorite animal and compile their information. Learners write about their animal in a journal and create a trading card. The culminating activity is a...
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Reading About Children from Other Places in the World: Structured Research Project
Students read about children in Ghana, Sri Lanka and Haiti. They compare these children to themselves in a structured lesson that focuses on note taking and research skills. Students work in groups to write a short essay about the...
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Introducing the Super 3 Research Model
Fourth graders read the fiction selection, Dolphins at Daybreak, and then the corresponding non-fiction books about dolphins and sharks. They use a specific research model to find information about dolphins and sharks from books and...
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George Washington
First graders gain background knowledge about George Washington. They visit a website to find out additional information. Students create a web on chart paper of his important events, write a non fiction book about hima nd share their...
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Familiarization Fun: Using the Media Center
Students participate in a scavenger hunt to locate the different sections of the media center and determine the purpose for each section. They build a jigsaw puzzle as they find each major section of the library such as the reference or...
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Creating Summaries
Fourth graders generate written summaries from non-fiction articles. In this writing lesson plan, 4th graders determine what must be included in writing a good summary and then work in small groups to construct summaries after...
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Strength in Summarizing
Third graders practice summarizing passages while creating a fishbone map of important details in non-fiction text. They examine how to tell the difference between important and less important details by highlighting them in reading...
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In a Nutshell
Students summarize a non-fiction article in this lesson. They review a six step process for summarization. They then read the assigned article, and work as a class to write a summary using the five steps provided. They then write an...
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Family Traditions
Students research their family traditions. They select a tradition that has meaning to them and write about the traditions. They retell the story to a partner and add details. They write a draft of their story to a partner and...
Kids Yoga Stories
Valentine's Day - LOVE
Open your heart with a refreshing yoga session designed for Valentine's Day. With visual cues of hearts and other festive decorations, participants begin a series of yoga poses designed to open their heart chakras and to reflect on...
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Independent - To Be or Not Top Be - Day 1, Lesson B: To Arms!
Fifth graders explore the verbal and non-verbal parts of an oral presentation.
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A Voyage of Endurance
Students apply the three different types of journal writing by composing one of each type on the subject of Shackleton's expedition to Antarctica. They also
write a dialectical journal summarizing the facts of the expedition and...
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Putting It All Together With Summarization
Learners use a checklist to write a summary of a non-fiction article. The checklist includes: redundant information taken out, trivial information taken out, and only main points included in the summary. Using this checklist, they ...
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The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins
Students explore the penguin life cycle. In this penguin life cycle lesson, students read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins. Students look at the pictures and make predictions. Students identify facts about penguins and do...
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Primate Primer
Students examine the different branches of the primate family tree. They create fact cards about various species of non-human primates and then write fictional skits about interactions among the different primates.
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And You Were (Almost) There
Students explore the genre of biography in both its traditional and nontraditional forms. They examine Edmund Morris's unorthodox biography of Ronald Reagan. They conduct research on an historic American and write their own biographies.
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Human Migration
Students explore human migration, refugees and human rights. They read articles about immigration, create a migration journal, and participate in a mock human rights commission meeting. After collecting information about immigration,...
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Heroes, Legends and Folktales
Fourth graders read classic stories including "The Magic Brocade" and "St. George and the Dragon". They complete a series of lessons in which they compare stories and produce original narrative legends.
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Life Along the Trail
Students explore the significance of the Louisiana Purchase and the journey of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. They read to explain a new topic and write to inform readers of the historic events they explored.
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I, Robot: Chapter One
Learners discuss literature about technology in the 20th century. For this book study lesson, students read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and compare the fiction to technology in the 20th century.
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Where I Am From
Students study selected poetry to gain an understanding of influences on values and personal identity. They explore language terms such as personification, imagery metaphors and allusion. After reading a poem and discussing it,...