Curated OER
Story vs. Plot
Students, after reading and discussing the two texts by Flannery O'Connor, "Good Country People" and "Greenleaf," analyze the plot, tone, characters, themes and setting in each story. They write their own short stories dealing with a...
Curated OER
"What is an American?"
Eleventh graders ponder about what it means to be an "American." They discuss the impact of an author's word choice and sentence structure on text. They identify some major themes and development of the Letters... Compose paragraphs and...
Curated OER
"Dr. Xargle's Book of Earthlets"
Students examine the expressive and descriptive language used in the books "Dr. Xargle's Book of Earthlets" and "Planet of the Robots." In pairs they take notes about each other's physical appearance and conduct interviews, identify the...
Curated OER
Laurence Yep's Dragonwings
Students read independently the novel, "Dragonwings," by Laurence Yep and make connections between a text and the world. They summarize, paraphrase, analyze and evaluate skimming and scanning techniques when reading a novel. Each student...
Curated OER
Design for Social Justice
Students create a solution to a social justice problem within their community. In this urban planning lesson, students read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. Students then complete a research...
Curated OER
Word Families
First graders listen as they are read a book containing exmaples of word families, they listen for rhyming words. They focus on word families, words that have rhyming sounds and share the same spelling patterns. Pupils work in small...
Curated OER
Christmas Tree Shaped Poems
Students think about ways in which they can spread joy during the holiday season. They create poems in the shape of a Christmas tree. Pupils use formatting tools in Microsoft Word to format the text of the poem. Students discuss ways...
Curated OER
Community Treasures (Rivers and Trees): An Integrated Curriculum Unit
Third graders demonstrate an understanding of geography and its effects on lifestyles and culture. Then they apply basic economic terms and principles
and identify the United States government and history. Students also identify and...
Curated OER
Butterfly Adventure
Students in second grade are paired with fifth grade computer research buddies. They observe the characteristics of caterpillars, and identify the four stages of the caterpillar to butterfly life cycle. They graph the number of...
Curated OER
Get into the Flow with an Interactive Volcano
Students research the structural elements of a volcano. They make a PowerPoint slide that contains five facts which will be added to a whole class slideshow. They add an interactive table of contents using action buttons.
Curated OER
Laurence Yep's, Dragonwings
Students discuss vocabulary words and compare definitions. They read chapters 6-9 of the novel, Dragonwings, and discuss point of view, and complete a plot diagram. Then they review the four types of conflict and identify the conflicts...
Curated OER
Monkeying Around
Third graders study machines. They watch a video about and identify and chart machines they find at home and at school. They design and build simple and compound machines, create an advertisement for them and attempt to sell them at the...
Curated OER
Graphic Organizer Lesson
Students investigate how to use graphic organizers. In this literary elements lesson, students are introduced to several types of graphic organizers and their purpose. Students read a book of their choice and complete a graphic organizer...
Curated OER
What is a Seed?
First graders identify the parts of a seed. In this plant biology instructional activity, 1st graders are given a seed and identify each part of the seed by using a hand lens. Students plant a seed and graph the growth.
Curated OER
Geometric Houses
Students identify the parts and functions of a house by creating a house made of geometric shapes. They listen to the book "Houses and Homes," and use cues from the story to help them build their homes.
Curated OER
Basic Minerals - Macro and Trace
Identify minerals, their sources, functions, and deficiencies in the body. National Standard 14.2.1 Discuss macro minerals, electrolytes, and trace minerals Identify the problems associated with calcium and iron
Curated OER
"My Body"
Students participate in various shared reading and writing activities related to the book "My Body" by Rhonda Jenkins. They identify and list words that could be used to label other body parts in the book, draw a picture of their face...
University of Virginia
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Young scholars engage in a activity that is concerned with the skill of reading comprehension while reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as a class. They read the story while identifying the different types of food with the help of food...
Curated OER
Novel Creation
Students create an alternate ending with digital animations to illustrate their text. In this novel creation lesson, students read a novel and analyze the plot in small groups. Students collaborate on an alternate ending...
Curated OER
Decoding Strategies
Young readers apply decoding strategies to identify unknown words. In this reading instructional activity, they read the Preamble and practice using decoding strategies. Small groups rotate to five charts that have questions regarding...
Curated OER
Reading the River - Biological Classification
Youngsters create a list of grocery store items and then work together to categorize them as if they were setting up the shelves of the market. Then they are given a box of miscellaneous objects to practice categorizing. With these two...
Curated OER
What a Can Can Do
Students explore the properties of a can. In this aluminum science lesson plan, students conduct various experiments to identify properties of aluminum. Students examine the appearance, temperature, and corrosion resistance of aluminum.
Achievement Strategies
CCSS Unpacked Learning Targets for Reading and Writing History/Social Studies
How do all the lessons and activities you have planned for your class align to Common Core State Standards? This can feel like a very daunting question. Help ease the process by referencing a template that not only lists and...
National Sailing Hall of Fame
Introduction to Sailboats
The left part of the boat is called what? An informative instructional activity and accompanying slideshow presentation introduce middle schoolers to the terminology and parts associated with a sailboat.