Read Works
Lesson 4:Theme Matters
Determining a theme is one of the most difficult and most important standards in the Common Core. Use this plan to help your learners identify the message that an author is sending to the reader. The lesson is based around the book Dogs...
Facing History and Ourselves
Verifying Breaking News
The attempts of journalists to verify the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown take center stage as individuals analyze three of the initial newspaper accounts of the story. The whole class discussion then focuses...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Voyagers: Challenge Activities (Theme 5)
Young voyagers face the challenge of the wide dark sea, travel with Yunmi and Halmoni, and even get trapped by the ice as they explore the reading selections offered in these enrichment activities designed for the Houghton...
Park City Historical Society & Museum
Oral History Interview Questions Worksheet
What is an oral history interview? What goes into the planning and what should be said? Why is it important that we know and learn from oral history? This is an excellent worksheet to support your young historians as they conduct...
Phantom of Opera
The Phantom of the Opera: Ideas for Research and Discussion
You could spend a full day discussing The Phantom of the Opera and not scratch the surface, but a set of lessons about the literary elements and themes of the musical production is a great start. Young thespians build upon the...
Curated OER
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
Students determine that their lifetime shows just a small piece of history. They determine how two or more accounts of the same event can be different. They write an account of the same event from two perspectives.
Curated OER
Family Stories and Personal Narratives
Fourth graders read various stories in their literature books about families. Individually, they make a timeline showing the most important events in their lives. They bring in one artifact from their lives and write a paper about it...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The History of Space Exploration
Young scholars research and identify important events in the history of space exploration. They work in groups of three to four in order to research an important astronaut and record their finding on a poster board and present to the class.
Curated OER
Examining Character Traits through Character Mapping
Some of what we know about a character is directly stated. Some of what we know is inferred by events in the story. Character maps help primary learners recognize the difference. After modeling with a story your class has read, pupils...
Digital History
The Boston Massacre
What better way to get your class interested in history than to embody important historical characters and make events come to life? Stage a realistic mock trial of the British soldiers accused of murdering five Bostonians after the...
Curated OER
Dig A Little Deeper
Here is a great lesson on recognizing events and themes in a story. Students read chapters from a chosen book and then fill out a graphic organizer to further explore the purpose of the chapter. They write the events, themes, author's...
Curated OER
The Stories Behind the Masterpieces
Students examine Rembrandt's self-portraits and discuss important events in his life. They also examine "Aristotle with the Bust of Homer" and try to identify with the person in the paining, predicting what his life might have been like....
Curated OER
Kindness Just Because
Learners analyze an African folktale. In this literature lesson, students read the story "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" by John Steptoe and analyze the acts of kindness in the story. Learners identify the setting of the story and find...
Curated OER
1920s Images and Ideals PowerPoint Project
Students explore Teaching the American Twenties, noting fashion, life styles, Hollywood, key authors, key people, and key events. They explore the sites and note what they can identify from the time period for this collection. They write...
Curated OER
Imagining Back Story: Creating an Artifact for an Extra-Extended Text
Students create a "back story" for a character from Measure for Measure. In this Measure for Measure lesson, students read the text closely as they look for clues about where the character came from and how he or she became what...
Curated OER
Depicting Motherhood in Family Stories
Students explore triptychs. For this art history lesson, students define the terms "photograph" and "triptych". Students discuss changes that occur between mothers and daughters and create an original triptych using...
Curated OER
Snapshot Autobiography
Students write an autobiography. In this autobiographical writing lesson, students discuss the important events in their life and write about them on a worksheet. Students illustrate each event in their autobiography.
Read4Health
Piggybook: A Read4Health Lesson Plan
"You are pigs." With those three simple words, the lives of the Piggott family were changed forever. Read aloud the children's story Piggybook by Anthony Browne and teach your class the importance of personal responsibility,...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: Assessment Strategy
Close up your study of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a letter-writing assignment. Pupils prepare by journaling and sharing with a partner. They then compose letters that focus on a big idea from the...
Inside Mathematics
Vencent's Graphs
I like algebra, but graphing is where I draw the line! Worksheet includes three multiple-part questions on interpreting and drawing line graphs. It focuses on the abstract where neither axis has numbers written in, though both are...
Curated OER
Egyptian Symbols: What story do they tell?
Learners create a stele to represent what symbols are the most important to them. In this symbols lesson plan, students learn about Egyptian symbols, and then put their own important symbols into model magic clay according to their size...
Curated OER
Founding Myths, Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past
Students participate in a scavenger hunt using their textbooks to find information about historical events, people and places in US history during the Revolutionary Era. After creating their list of important people, students create...
Curated OER
Spin and Bias in the Media
Learners compare different types of media. In this media comparison lesson, students will assess the where all types of media gets its information by viewing a video of a news story and critiquing it.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Plotting Stories
Second graders read the story, "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit," as part of a unit on appearances. After reading with partners, they write their own stories that include elements about some forms of matter from their science studies. Students...