Curated OER
Speak Up for Recycling
Are you looking for ways to enhance a persuasive writing or speech unit? Use this lesson plan to prompt your young writers to investigate a school recycling program. After conducting research, they present a persuasive, well-organized...
Curated OER
Proofreading
Reading backward and moving from word to word with a pencil are just two of the many strategies employed by proofreaders that are included in a presentation about the editing stage of the writing process. In addition, viewers are asked...
Curated OER
Correcting Run-On Sentences
Although this practice opportunity is poorly organized, it does provide a chance for your upper elementary schoolers to identify complete sentences, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments. This worksheet also focuses on ways to correct...
Curated OER
Discovering Saturn, The Real "Lord of the Rings"
Reading, writing, and rings! A lesson from NASA combines space science with authentic reading and writing tasks. Included in this lesson are pre-reading activities, four mini informational booklets on Saturn, a structured...
Curated OER
Honoring Our Pets During National Pet Week
Recognize National Pet Week with reading and writing activities to celebrate the animals in your pupils' lives.
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
Curated OER
Do You Want to Be My Friend?
Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...
Curated OER
Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales
Introduce the concept of myths to your class. Using the link to "Myths Around the World," read a story aloud and have learners list characteristics of a myth. Readers then choose their own myths from the site and work in groups to answer...
Curated OER
Best Websites for English Teachers
Bookmark these grammar, writing, and literature websites to build your teaching arsenal, making life just a little bit easier.
Curated OER
Escritor Narrativo
Are you Spanish speakers writing a personal narrative? This graphic organizer will help them create a thoughtful, organized piece of writing! They answer the questions and complete the chart to focus themselves before actually putting...
Curated OER
Home Smart Home
How smart is your home? Middle and high schoolers write a journal entry describing the types of technology found in their homes. After reading an article, they are introduced to "smart" home technology. In groups, they identify and...
ReadWriteThink
Style-Shifting: Examining and Using Formal and Informal Language Styles
Your high schoolers are probably versed in two languages: formal language, and informal conversation. Help them identify the correct language style for their audience and context with a thorough lesson and examples of different speech...
Curated OER
American Studies
Entitled American Studies, this small unit covers various topics related to the study of the United States. Learners warm up by creating a dictionary of democracy, then dive into three different lessons focused on government, famous...
Curated OER
Lesson: Unmonumental: Yesterday's News
Upper graders are tasked with developing a social consciousness as they analyze the impact of the news media. They view a presentation depicting various media events in order to understand threshold moments in history. There are three...
Smithsonian Institution
POWs
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars? To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Literature: Nature in the Writings of John Muir and Emily Dickinson
As an assessment of their skill in crafting a compare and contrast essay, class members read and compare the portrayals of nature in excerpts from naturalist John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra and from poet Emily Dickinson's...
Fluence Learning
Writing an Argument: Free Speech
How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...
University of North Carolina
Editing and Proofreading
Writing is not a one and done process. In fact, the stages of editing and proofreading, the focus of a flyer from a larger set of writing skills handouts, play a major role in creating a strong paper. However, as the reference sheet...
British Council
Smoking Stinks
There are lots of good reasons not to smoke. Make sure your middle and high schoolers understand each and every one with a instructional activity that prompts them to read anti-smoking posters, note the main points, and write a short...
Scholastic
Choose Your Words Wisely (Grades 9-12)
Words, words, words. The function of words in persuasive writing is the focus of a group activity that asks members to analyze how words advertisers use are designed to influence targeted audiences.
Tune Into English
America – West Side Story
Anita's iconic rooftop ode to American life in West Side Story is the focus of a lesson on immigration. As class members listen to "America," they follow along with printed lyrics, and discuss whether they agree with Anita's...
City University of New York
Urban Politics: Machines and Reformers
Take a trip to the turn of the twentieth century with a resource about industrialism in America. With primary source documents and focus questions, learners think about the ways that government groups and organizations paved the way...
Scholastic
The Flight of Amelia Earhart Teaching Guide
Amelia Earhart's accomplishments and strength of character extend beyond her status as one of the first female aviators in America. Elementary and middle schoolers learn about Earhart's early life and the historical context surrounding...
Curated OER
Not Getting the News about the Stamp Act
How did American colonists react to the Stamp Act of 1765? Your young historians will examine primary source material by reading excerpts from a transcription of the Pennsylvania Gazette and then identifying the sentiments expressed...