Curated OER
Personal Narratives
Students complete writing lessons to help students select a writing topic, prepare a writing plan, and create an interesting beginning. In this personal narratives lesson, students complete intensive modeling activities to write their...
Curated OER
How to Locate and Evaluate Information, Part III - Internet Sites
This is the third in a series of lessons scaffolding the research paper. It purports to teach researchers how to evaluate internet sites, but the lack of links, specific criteria, or site evaluation rubrics would require additional...
Curated OER
Writing the Newspaper Article
The class reads several newspaper articles and analyze them for purpose, style, tone, length and organization. They interview each other about important events in their lives and write journalistic articles.
Curated OER
Excel Lesson Plan Coin Statistics
Second graders determine the difference between making a prediction and determining actual information. They design a spreadsheet for a coin flipping activity on which they include their predictions and what actual happens when they flip...
Curated OER
Visible Speech: What is a Sentence?
Use this straightforward presentation as a basic guide to your grammar unit. With explanations of the parts of a simple sentence (subject, verb, direct object), the slideshow is a good way to reinforce students' prior knowledge about...
Curated OER
Organizing Writing to Convey a Central Idea
Fourth and fifth graders practice the skill of organizing their writing to convey a central idea by sorting 14 facts about the dogwood tree into four categories of facts. The categories, which are written on the board, are; Governmental...
Virginia Department of Education
Writing Counterarguments
This activity is better utilized as a peer-editing exercise and not as an activity on how to write counterarguments. Writers take their argumentative rough drafts, peer edit in groups of four, and review the author on common essay...
Curated OER
Writing Lesson 13
Fourth graders practice responding to a writing prompt and practice proofreading. They write three paragraphs explaining good classroom rules and tell why each of three rules is a good one. Each paragraph should have at least three...
Curated OER
Write a Harry Potter Script
Examine the technique of writing a script and complete a worksheet in which young writers summarize a favorite chapter in a Harry Potter book. They practice public speaking by acting out the summarization scenes for classmates. Handouts...
Curated OER
The Importance of Being Flexible and Open-minded as a Visitor to Another Culture: Lesson 2 For "The Train Ride Home"
Students examine the advantages of being flexible when visiting or living in a different culture. They read and discuss a first-hand account by a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan, and write a letter from the point of view of a...
Teacher Vision
The Wampanoag Indians: A Thanksgiving Lesson
Spark some lively conversation about American holiday traditions and debunk accepted notions about the first Thanksgiving at the same time. After reviewing the mainstream version of the Thanksgiving story with your class, offer some...
Curated OER
Personal Narrative
Second graders create a graphic organizer on Kidspiration about themselves. They write a personal narrative using the information from their graphic organizer. They share their project with the class.
Curated OER
Lesson on 'The Chimney Boy's Story' by Wes Magee
Wes Magee's poem "The Chimney Boy's Story" about chimney sweeps/climbing boys is used as an introduction to a lesson that asks groups to research child labor in Victorian Britain.
Curated OER
Integrative Lesson on Genres of American Literature (Senior, Literature)
To begin this instructional activity, the instructor will present a PowerPoint detailing the genres of Romanticism, Realism, and Naturalism. Learners will follow along with an instructional sheet that will aid in the identification of...
Curated OER
The Extra Place Lesson
Learners explore communication skills. In this Peace Corps lesson, students read "The Extra Place," by Susan Peters and discover Polish cultural traditions. Learners consider how they would respond in a scenario that challenges their...
Virginia Department of Education
Determining Purpose and Audience
Build the writing skills of your junior high wordsmiths with activities that introduce many essential skills of writing. As a class, they develop working definitions of formal vs. informal writing, explore different categories of...
Curated OER
Dr. Seuss and Read Across America
What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class...
California Education Partners
Telescopes
An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...
California Education Partners
We Are The Ship
An assessment sheds light on scholars' ability to read, gather evidence, and draft an original written composition. Learners read an informative text twice before taking notes and discussing their thoughts and textual evidence with a...
EngageNY
Drafting Body Paragraphs
That's just the style. Learners begin with a mini-activity about formal writing style. They then use what they learned about formal writing to begin the body paragraphs for their End of Unit 1 Assessment Prompt: Adversity in the Middle...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 3 Assessment, Part I: Short Constructed Response and Organizing Notes for a Public Speech
It's time to put pen to paper. Scholars complete the first part of the mid-unit 3 assessment, writing a short constructed response about international aid following a natural disaster. Next, pupils use informational texts and note...
EngageNY
Reading Proficiently and Independently: The Power of Setting Goals
Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...
California Education Partners
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel
A three-part assessment tests scholars' reading and writing capabilities. Young readers listen to and read an excerpt from Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. After drawing pictures of what is memorable, learners discuss...
California Education Partners
My Five Senses by Aliki
An assessment designed to examine scholars' reading comprehension skills takes place over three days. Starting with a read-aloud of My Five Senses by Aliki, learners then take notes and discuss their most memorable moments with...