Scholastic
A Reading Guide to Sarah, Plain and Tall
Eliminate the hard work of creating an entire literature unit with this reading guide for the novel Sarah, Plain and Tall. From background information about the author and her motivation for writing the story to...
jc-schools
The Expository Essay
Did you ever create an awesome graphic organizer only to find that your class was completely baffled by how to use it? This resource not only provides you with a great graphic organizer for a standard five-paragraph essay, but also...
Santa Ana Unified School District
The Giver
Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials...
Curated OER
Christmas Math Addition
In this Christmas theme addition instructional activity, students add single-digit numbers to five, write the addends, and find the sum. Students write and solve addition sentences.
Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Bias Mini-Film Festival
Imagine a resource that provides all the materials you need to organize a film festival. Imagination becomes a reality with a five-star resource that has done all the work for you. Eight different award-winning short films are featured...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 4: The Renaissance
The Renaissance is the theme of a five-week unit designed to boost reading comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, and expository writing skills. Scholars listen to and discuss daily readings and engage in skills practice activities...
Curated OER
Poetry Connection: After Reading Strategy for Fever 1793
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/And treat those two impostors just the same. . .” After concluding Fever 1793 class members engage in a reading strategy that asks them to connect their thoughts about the self-reliance theme in...
Curated OER
Celebrating Halloween through Language and Literature
Use the theme of Halloween to spice up campfire stories, journal writing, and presentations in your classroom.
Curated OER
Muralism, Muralists and Murals
Students examine images of various murals, and conduct Internet research on murals, the muralist movement, and muralists. They discuss themes for a school mural, then create a mural for the school incorporating the themes listed by the...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.9
As the saying goes: there are no new stories. Standard 9 for reading literature in the Common Core addresses this fact and requires that students be able to analyze how authors use the themes, stories, and characters of earlier works....
Curated OER
Dino-Myte Spreadsheet
Do your learners like dinosaurs and theme parks? An ambitious lesson invites learners to put together a plan for supplying dinosaurs for a new theme park. Pupils work together in groups to come up with their plan, which must include a...
Reed Novel Studies
Stella By Starlight: Novel Study
Who were the Ku Klux Klan, and what role did they play in the United States during the Great Depression? Using the Stella by Starlight novel study, scholars research the organization and answer questions relating to Sharon M. Draper's...
Curated OER
A Renaissance of Jazz and Poetry
Learners explore, analyze, study and read a variety of poems and listen to jazz that have their roots in the Harlem Renaissance. They then discuss the similarities and differences of themes in the works of different poets and composers.
Reed Novel Studies
Old Wolf: Novel Study
Do wolves ever attack humans? An informative novel study for Old Wolf helps pupils conduct research to answer the question. They also decode anagrams, learn about onomatopoeia, and write quatrain poems about themes from the novel.
Reed Novel Studies
Surviving the Applewhites: Novel Study
The Bradys, the Flintstones, and the Simpsons are some of pop culture's most memorable families. So how do the Applewhites stack up? Using a novel study for Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, scholars answer text-based...
Reed Novel Studies
Skink No Surrender: Novel Study
The oldest turtle ever recorded lived to the age of 188! As it turns out, two characters from Carl Hiaasen's Skink No Surrender are fascinated by these shelled creatures. Using the novel study, scholars research three types of...
Curated OER
Deck the Halls with Literature Trees
Reinforce and assess reading comprehension by having your class make a literature tree! After reading a book, pupils make decorations to represent the book's themes, characters, and setting. Materials for decorating can be as diverse and...
Louisiana Department of Education
Hatchet
Accompany a novel study of Hatchet by Gary Paulson with a unit consisting of 16 lessons focused on physical and emotional survival. Reading the story along with a variety of informational texts, scholars compare and contrast reading...
Curated OER
Physical Education: Mission Possible
Students participate in a physical education activity, Mission Possible, where they attempt to steal a jug of jewels. They must successfully overcome five challenge areas to complete the activity. Students develop cooperative...
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day lesson integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson activates...
Curated OER
Bar Graphs and Pictographs
How are bar graphs and pictographs different? As you begin this concept, use these simple graphs to help get learners started with data analysis styles. There is one bar graph and one pictograph, each accompanied by four or five...
Curated OER
Looking Back - An Art/English/History Interdisciplinary Unit
Students research historical events of the past century to recognize that society impacts the themes within art and literature. They then interview an individual to develop a biographical narrative, a collage and finally an oral...
Curated OER
Real-Life Problems
Money math comes up in real life all the time, so be sure scholars are ready for the challenge with these word problems. They use multiple math operations to solve and show work for each one. There is an example to get them started...
Curated OER
The Final Copy
Write short stories in which events are presented in logical order, point of view is clear, theme and characters are developed. Middle schoolers also work on sensory language, concrete language and/or dialogue. They establish their...