Curated OER
Apps for the ELA Classroom
A look at several effective programs you can use to enhance your curriculum.
Visa
Making Spending Decisions
By role playing real-world experiences, such as purchasing snacks and grocery/toy store shopping, your youngsters will begin to develop an understanding of how to make decisions and choose between alternatives. This is the first...
Visa
Earning Money
Where does money come from? Is it limitless and always available? Introduce your youngsters to the concept of earning through jobs and/or chores with a matching activity and provided worksheets.
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Educator's Guide: Holes
You'll be a star at your next grade level meeting with an educational unit on Louis Sachar's Holes. Based on both the novel and film, the lessons include applications to language arts with character studies and movie reviews; social...
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Does the Sidewalk Drink Puddles?
Learners participate in an experiment about evaporation. In this water cycle lesson, students use water, thermometers, and measuring tools to make a puddle and measure the size four times throughout the day. Learners discuss their data...
NASA
On Target
NASA's LCROSS mission is dropping a probe into a lunar crater. Groups design a system to travel down a zip line and drop a marble onto a target in the classroom. The groups then modify their designs based upon testing.
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The Producers
Students design attractive posters to promote the work of Leroy Anderson, an American composer with an unusual style.
American Museum of Natural History
Mesozoic Museum
Mini museum curators create an exhibit that showcases the Mesozoic era. Pupils use their knowledge of dinosaurs to make informative posters, drawings, and dioramas. Following three steps to complete the hands-on activity, scholars read...
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Learning Through Musical Theater
You don't have to be Richard Rodgers or Oscar Hammerstein to do produce a musical in your classroom.
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Rediscovering Your Favorite Comic Book Heroes
Connect comic books to the classroom curriculum and open up a world of opportunities.
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Spelling Detective
Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and become a spelling detective! Scholars hunt down the spelling errors in a short passage of a high-interest current events text. Here is a great way to develop editing and reading skills.
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Categorizing Objects
Kindergartners practice the important skill of placing things in their correct categories. They must discern between items of clothing and items of food. The use of the Inspiration 7 educational software is effectively used in this...
PBS
Around the Block
Arthur and his friends help children explore the concepts of family, community, and diversity in a fun series of activities. From performing peer interviews to mapping out the different places students have lived or visited, this...
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Investigating Evidence
Explore the scientific process through nature. Scholars become scientists as they develop a question, design an experiment, collect data, and analyze their results. A two-week lesson guides your classes through the process and provides...
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Nellie Bly's Newspaper Club: Introducing the Art of Writing
Young scholars use video and the Internet to research the life of Nellie Bly, a famous female reporter from the 19th century. They research a writer and present their information to the class in the style of a news reporter.
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The New York School: Action and Abstraction
Students examine the influences and similarities between the New York School poets and Abstract Expressionist artists. They analyze paintings and poems, and write original poetry.
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How to Draw Caricatures
Caricature drawing is fun, and can help learners explore the principle of design and content specific vocabulary. They view a video and books that use character drawings, discuss vocabulary such as exaggeration, proportion, and symmetry,...
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Are Gay Rights "Special"?
Inspire critical thinking with this activity, which prompts students to compare lesbian, gat, bisexual, and transgender rights with the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By collecting topical articles about...
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Journal of Time: A Historical Perspective
Analyze the setting behind the Great Depression in California with Pam Munoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Middle schoolers assess the protagonist during her coming-of-age moments, while migrant workers manage the hardships of the...
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The Three M's of Statistics: Mode, Median, Mean
Young mathematicians use the Visual Thesaurus to define mean, median, and mode. In this mean, median and mode lesson plan, learners use online sources to find the definitions of mean, median, and mode before applying the concepts to a...
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Budget Making
Students develop a budget for spending and saving. In this economics lesson, students create a budget based on personal, family and government income. They discuss jobs at home and allowances. They discuss how they manage their money...
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Introduction to the National Debt
Young scholars relate the national debt to the economy. In this algebra lesson, students discuss what the national debt is, create a national budget based on priority and what the government should spend money on. They analyze their...
Breaking News English
Facebook Depression
Students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions, write, and more about Facebook Depression....
PBS
Dear Pen Pal
Explore cultures from around the world with an engaging pen pal resource. Through a series of classroom activities and written correspondence, children learn about the favoritec pastimes, schooling, geography, and weather that is...