Prestwick House
Introducing Symbols–The Beach
Looking for a way to introduce class members to the concept of symbolism and multiple levels of meaning? Readers examine two different passages about the beach and consider how the writers use concrete objects, and places to represent...
Curated OER
Appeal for the Meal
Students investigate advertising. In this advertising lesson, students read the book Good Lemonade by Frank Asch and identify the advertising practices from the story. Students create ads for snacks using advertising techniques.
Curated OER
Excel, Word, and Basketball
Wow, this lesson packs a punch. Pupils interview basketball players, write about a game, and use Excel to organize statistics related to the players and the points scored. Afterward, they create posters, presentations, and much more.
Curated OER
Short Vowels
Learners will create a list of short vowel sound words and participate in computer phonics activities to practice. They will read an interactive storybook online. Next, they will complete words in order to better understand short vowel...
NASA
Einstein and His Times
Scholars research and present on the historical happenings of 1919. After sharing their findings, pupils debate about how Congress dealt with the moral issues of the time. The evaluation asks learners to write a persuasive essay...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Differences Among Colonial Regions
Classes look at and analyze primary source images to explore the differences between the colonial regions during the Revolutionary era. They break into groups to tackle each region and then present their findings to the class. A final...
Curated OER
How Would You Feel?
Sixth graders put themselves in the shoes of aborigines who were displaced from their homes in the 1800s by Europeans who came in and took their land from them. They discuss the social injustices suffered by these people, and write a...
Curated OER
Why Are Thinning Trees Important?
Learners investigate thinning trees and why they are important to the forest. In this sustainable environment lesson, students role-play as if they are trees in the forest and simulate the overcrowding and inability to move spaces,...
Curated OER
ABC Grammar Book
Elementary learners create an ABC grammar book. The project begins with class members taking digital pictures of items that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Depending on level, they then add a word or a complete sentence to...
Scholastic
Reading Poems From the Academy of American Poets Chancellors
Start a lesson on poetic voice with a peer to peer discussion on what characterizes the strength in the voice with which a writer chooses to express himself/herself. In pairs, readers are tasked with reading and creating T-charts for...
BBC
The Cream Cake Mystery - Seeing Patterns
A great language arts lesson designed for emerging readers awaits your class. Rhyming words are the focus. Learners play an interactive learning game on the computer that helps them to understand words that rhyme. As with all of these...
BBC
The Sound Monster - Words That Make Sounds
There are words in the English language that actually make sounds, such as vroom, and, buzz. Here is a clever lesson plan which introduces young readers to these sound-making words. They play an interactive game on the computer that has...
Scholastic
Selecting Favorite Poems From Historical Poets
Here is a poetry lesson that begins with a free-association activity focused on the word voice. Learners each sit alone for a moment and make sounds that express how they are currently feeling, and then turn to their partners to share...
Maryland Department of Education
Our Children Can Soar
Amazing efforts of African American leaders are celebrated in a lesson on civil participation. The engaging resource focuses on primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of African American leaders such as Ella Fitzgerald....
Curated OER
Landscapes of the Mind
Students review Emily Dickinson's biography and examine themes and forms of some of her poems. They measure ways Graham integrates aspects of Dickinson's life and the themes and forms of her poetry into Letters to the World.
BBC
Full Stops
This is an incredibly detailed and thorough plan. It is all about full stops - which is the British way of saying, "Periods." First-year learners practice the skill of knowing when to use a period, and understand what periods are meant...
BBC
Sweet Tooth - Full Stops
Young writers engage in a instructional activity which reinforces the concept of when to use periods, "full stops" as they're called, when writing. There is a terrific online activity built into the plan which gives the kids valuable...
National Security Agency
Systems of Equations and Inequalities
High school classes can use manipulatives too! Offer hands-on, interactive lessons that venture away from the typical day in your algebra class. Young mathematicians will be involved in collaborative learning, visual representations, and...
Curated OER
A Way with Words or Say What?
Students explore the language of Shakespeare. In this literature lesson, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Students pantomime the meanings and then write a short story...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Respect: Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like
Respect is the focus of a lesson designed to encourage social awareness. Following a whole-class discussion, scholars list what they believe respect looks, sounds, and feels. Pupils turn their new-found knowledge into a plan of action....
Curated OER
Spanish-English Cognates in the ELL Classroom: Friends or Foes?
Define the meaning of a cognate and use the concept to help Spanish-speaking ELLs connect their first language to English. Middle schoolers explore Latin roots to find cognates in both languages. They relate the Spanish and English word...
Curated OER
Check My Writing
Students practice the process of writing letters to students in other countries. This lesson is highly motivating for them to write and interactive with diverse cultures. The use of technology should be considered with the use of e-mail.
Curated OER
Ode to the Ordinary
Ninth graders identify an ordinary object and write an ode for the subject. In this poetry writing instructional activity, 9th graders select an ordinary object and define its uses. Students then write an ode for the poem.
Curated OER
What Begins With Bb?
Students demonstrate beginning reading strategies. In this letter recognition lesson plan, students match letter sounds to a variety of pictures using the program "Kidspiration".