Curated OER
Leprechaun Legends
Explore the world of leprechauns. Learners do research on the folk tales, symbols, and characters found in Ireland's traditional stories, poetry, and music. They create a large, stand-up leprechaun to illustrate their knowledge about...
Curated OER
A South African Storm
Students explore racial prejudice in South Africa through the reading of "A South African Storm" by Allison Howard. In this cultural and geography lesson, students discuss ethnicity and prejudices and cite examples from the letter....
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 19-20
Take a look at the final chapters of Wilson Rawls' much-loved novel. Class members respond to several plot-based questions and then consider the red fern as a symbol. The activity is part of a series that includes every chapter except...
Curated OER
Rhythm and Art: Painting
High schoolers make connections between music and visual art. In this integrated arts lesson, students design paintings that challenge them to examine the relationship between art elements and principles.
Curated OER
New York State Testing Program English Language Arts Test--Grade 8 (2009)
In this New York State Testing Program English Language Arts learning exercise, students read passages and write an essay responding to the selection. Students use a graphic organizer to plan their essay.
Curated OER
New York State Sample Test English Language Arts
In this English Language Arts Sample test activity, students read a passage and answer reading comprehension questions. Students also write about the texts.
Curated OER
Many Ways of Seeing
Investigate themes and issues in art such as the concept of originality, interpretation of visual language, symbolism, and examination of the categories of fine art and folk art.
Curated OER
Cluing into Symbols Robert Frost
Learners use the Internet and video to discover how find evidence in poetry in order to discover the theme(s) of the poems. They are able to define poetic devices like simile, metaphor and repetition. Students identify themes in...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Background notes about the novel, The Great Depression, and The Dust Bowl
If your class is reading the historical fiction novel, Out of the Dust, then you are in luck. Here are a few slides that will help you provide historical context for the book, as well as define main characters, setting, symbolism, and...
Incentive Publications
Building Proofreading Skills
Designed to build proofreading skills in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and language usage, as well as proofreading for clarity, transition, and order, this workbook is packed with activities for all kinds of writing.
Curated OER
Crayon Etching- Medieval Bestiary
Sixth graders make connections between art and literature studying about Medieval imagery and beliefs.
Curated OER
American Flag History
Young historians explore US culture by investigating the US flag. They will use their textbooks, prior knowledge, and sources provided by the teacher to research the history of the American flag. They will design and create a trading...
Curated OER
Punctuation: Visible Speech
Examine the proper uses of punctuation with this easy PowerPoint. Simple, bold, and straightforward, each slide introduces a different symbol. Difficult or confusing instances are indicated as well.
Curated OER
Maus: After Reading Strategy Instructional Routine
Class members create literary mandalas for two characters from Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s experiences with the Holocaust. After finding quotes that reveal three good traits and three bad traits of each...
Curated OER
Ehhh...What'd you say?
Practice pronouncing and spelling words with the /e/ sound with spellers. They blend phonemes with spelling maps to master important representation and letter symbol of the short vowel /e/. They also make sock puppets and study the...
The New York Times
Super Brand
Children can recognize popular brands from an early age, but these images symbolize much more than what they advertise. Take a journey through the design of a logo with a lesson that focuses on the history and ubiquity of the Super Bowl...
Curated OER
Stories in Quilts
Have your class analyze the narrative art in quilts. They identify elements in this domestic art and the stories they tell. They define a story quilt, view an example, and analyze the work of Harriet Power. This is a great lesson plan to...
Curated OER
Self-Portrait Book
Students study self-portraits taken by photographers to explain the technique and symbolism used. They decide what they would like to say about themselves in their images and then, take pictures of each other. They create an iPhoto book.
Curated OER
The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the 'New Colossus' to America
Students discuss meaning of symbols associated with Statue of Liberty, read and analyze Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "The New Colossus," and write persuasive letter to a nineteenth-century audience to gain support for bringing statue to America.
Curated OER
The Icky Sticky Frog
Learners practice the strategy of phoneme awareness in order to identify phonemes with vocal gestures in spoken words. They blend letters and sounds together utilizing the phoneme /i/ by symbol and letter representation and listen as the...
Curated OER
Oh Say Can You DDDD!
Young readers see that letters represent phoneme sequences in spoken words. They identify the letter "d," and recognize "d" in spoken words by exploring the meaningful representation and a letter symbol. They practice finding the letter...
Curated OER
Modernism: American Literature 1914-1945
What characterizes modern literature? The first few slides of this 31-slide PowerPoint discuss what sparked the change to Modernism and discuss some of the key figures of the time (like Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud). The 20s and 30s are...
Curated OER
Season Tiles: Ceramics Lesson
Each color holds its own feeling and these feelings are used to describe the four seasons. Youngsters create a color palate based on the four seasons, assigning various colors to each season. They each create four clay tiles, painting...