National Endowment for the Humanities
The Monroe Doctrine: A Close Reading
Students identify specific passages in the Monroe Doctrine to events in early U.S. diplomacy.
Curated OER
Ecosystem Lesson Plan: Food Chain/Food Web
Students discuss ecosystems, eliciting their current knowledge of an ecosystem. Students receive an Ecosystems document and look at the picture. Students brainstorm connection between the cover picture and ecosystems. The indicated...
The Big Read
The Grapes of Wrath - Discussion & Writing Activities
Add a great resource to your collection of The Grapes of Wrath curriculum materials. A thorough packet contains loads of useful suggestions, whether you use the novel as an anchor text, as a reading circle...
Curated OER
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Use the historical account of Claudette Colvin to study civil rights and connect past injustices to modern issues. As learners read, they examine chapter titles, record quotes, and participate in discussion. Next, they research...
Breaking News English
The Force Awakens Breaks Pre-Sales Ticket Records
May the comprehension skills be with you! Focus on context clues, vocabulary words, and analysis questions with an article about Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its record-breaking ticket sales.
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Alice Paul" by Katharine Rolston Fisher
Powerful women need not look like Wonder Woman. After writing a paragraph about a strong woman they know, young scholars examine images of Alice Paul and then do a close reading of Katharine Rolston Fisher's poem "Alice Paul." Finally,...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "The Tradition" by Jericho Brown
To begin this lesson, class members examine Antonius Hockelmann's painting "Tree Flowers II," record elements of the painting that they notice, and share their observations with a partner. Next, pupils do a close reading of Jericho...
Curated OER
Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome Unit Plan
High schoolers make two T charts, one for Sparta and one for Athens, showing pros and cons for living in either city-state. They use the physical information from the map and the cultural captions given for Athens and Sparts to come to...
Curated OER
Word Roots 7: SPECT, STA, VERT Beginner Context Story 1
Read this paragraph out loud to your class to demonstrate pronunciation of and introduce context for the given vocabulary words. You might also use this as a cloze activity and have class members read each vocabulary word or repeat each...
Curated OER
Be a Good Sport!
Students explore the sport of lacrosse to improve their reading and grammar skills. In this reading and grammar instructional activity, students read and discuss the sport of Lacrosse. Students complete a Cloze activity, a grammar...
Curated OER
Charity Begins at Home
Build stronger informational comprehension in your language arts class. Learners read a 7-paragraph article about charity, then respond to 6 short answer questions. Vocabulary words and definitions are included.
Curated OER
Understanding American Values
Scholars read books and discuss emotions that lead up to the American Revolution. They also discuss vocabulary and use reference materials to research the Internet for causes and sentiment that led to the American Revolution.
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...
Curated OER
Shared Reading: A Lesson Plan to Introduce Patriotism in the Classroom
Students learn why we say the Pledge of Allegiance through shared reading. For this shared reading lesson plan, students are shown the Pledge of Allegiance in 3 different forms. While they are exploring the pledge, the teacher explains...
iCivics
Taxation
A paycheck stub can offer loads of information on the taxes American citizens pay. This resource not only includes analysis of a stub as an activity, but also provides a wealth of informative reading material on such topics as the...
Curated OER
Get a Leg Up
Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the...
Curated OER
My First Biography: Christopher Columbus Storia Teaching Guide | Scholastic.com
Sail with Christopher Columbus on a biographical reading adventure. Young explorers learn about the life of Sir Columbus as they hone their comprehension skills through guiding questions, shared reading, and fluency practice. Included in...
Curated OER
Develop An Individual Career Plan
High schoolers research, investigate and develop an individual career plan. They analyze all their career options and goals. Each student fine tunes their interviewing and written skills as they prepare to seek certain jobs out in the...
Curated OER
Scanning for Information
Students apply the reading technique of scanning to real world texts. They look for specific information (time, date, place/location, etc.) from a bus schedule in order to communicate the necessary information to someone else.
Curated OER
Nazi Concentration Camps -- Map and Chart-Reading Activities
Students use an informational chart about Nazi concentration and death camps to complete a mapping activity and a chart-reading activity.
Curated OER
Reading-Author's Purpose
Students review what author's purpose is by understanding that authors either persuade, inform, describe, or entertain with their story. In this language arts lesson, students bring in junk mail and in small groups discuss what the each...
Curated OER
English Lesson Plans for Grade 11
Eleventh graders participate in a variety of listening, speaking and reading activities. Here, they research the lives and achievements of different famous people. They prepare a creative presentation on a chosen topic.
Curated OER
Preparing for the Informative Speech
Students read an outline on how to prepare an informative speech. In this informative speech lesson plan, students read an outline and then prepare a speech.
Curated OER
In the Olden Days: Senior Reading Buddies
Students, in pre-selected groups, read and visit with senior citizen "buddies." They write letters to their buddies and discuss "the olden days."