Curated OER
Let's Write a Collaborative Novel!
Find out what it would be like for your class to write and publish a complete novel.
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Dewey Decimal Game
Engage all the upper elementary classes in your school in a game to learn Dewey Decimal Classification. On 5 or 6 consecutive visits to the library, teams from each class learn how the system works, locate books in each category, and...
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Implications of Google Books, a Virtual Library
In this implications of Google books, a virtual library activity, students use the Internet to research the virtual library, online collaboration, and social networking. This page has several links to web resources.
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Library Media: Poetry
Fifth graders explore different kinds of poetry. They work in groups to collect different styles of poetry. Then they use charts to organize the attributes of various poems. Conclude the instructional activity by having each individual...
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Strip-Teasers: A Collaborative Writing activity
Young writers engage in a fun writing activity. They write three different sentences on three strips of paper. Then they get into groups of three, and take a look at all nine sentences that have been written. Their task is to write a...
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Things Fall Apart: Research, Writing & Presentation Project
A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few gaps to...
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Teamwork
Teamwork is the focus of this lesson plan. By discussing what teamwork means, learners begin to explore this topic. There are a series of slides focusing on the behavior of geese that highlight leadership and teamwork skills.
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After Reading: "Plot the Plot" Activity in the Library Media Class
"Plot the plot" of "The Adventures of the Speckled Band" with your young readers. Take a few days to read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story as a class or in pairs, having learners write down what they consider to be the most important...
Teaching Tolerance
In Our Own Words: A Story Book with a Purpose
Academics turn into storytellers in an engaging activity on activism. The activity focuses on promoting social change in local communities with stories. Young historians plan a storybook to target a specific audience and social issue and...
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America at the Centennial
Students explore centennial America. In this American history lesson plan, students search the Library of Congress digital collections for primary sources regarding the lifestyles and values of Americans in 1876. Students design exhibits...
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Science Topics and Presentations
Students go to the library and use computers to research a science topic and work on their presentations. In this presentations lesson plan, students use overhead transparencies and use props for a skit.
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Using Informational Books: Index, Table of Contents & Alphabetical Order
Students recall and use previous knowledge of the library's reference and nonfiction sections. Also they utilize various forms of reference (encyclopedias & dictionaries) and nonfiction books.
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Picture This!
Students explore and generate story elements for wordless picture books. In this collaborative writing lesson, students review wordless picture books and write a story based on the illustrations. Students use post-it notes to organize...
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The Ethics of Outsourcing to China
After viewing clips from a documentary on factory work in China and US outsourcing, learners have a fishbowl discussion. They work in groups to build both personal points of view and strong arguments on the effects of outsourcing in...
Virginia Department of Education
Researching Information
Give your junior high researchers a clear concept of how to go about starting their research paper with the resources available in this exercise. Students develop an idea to research, and spend time in the library or computer lab...
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Teen Driving: Skills, Responsibilities and Reactions
As an introduction to the skills required for and responsibilities of driving, pre-teens and teens engage in a series of activities, chart their response times, and analyze how variables effect these reaction times. Class groups use the...
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Sorting
Students experience sorting. In this organization lesson, students play a computer sorting game called "Flood Game" on the "Between the Lions" website. Students visit a library and observe and discuss book organization. Students work in...
Facing History and Ourselves
Decision-Making: Introduction to the Unit
Make your classroom a supportive and communicative place to be before beginning a unit on the Holocaust. Working together as a class, learners reflect on their previous experiences of classroom discussions before establishing a...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Nazi Party Platform
Not all party platforms stay democratic. A resource covers many political issues in Germany during the time of World War II, and teaches pupils about the Nazi party platform and what went wrong. Individuals participate in a warm-up...
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Silly Spoonerisms!
Looking for a fun activity for your vocabulary lesson? Bring a worksheet on "spoonerisms" to your fifth grade class. Kids decipher seven phrases that have mixed up the first letter sounds of each word. They then think of their own...
National Constitution Center
Town Hall Wall: Coming to America
Everyone seems to have an opinion on the status and rights of illegal immigrants. Help secondary learners research each perspective and arrive at their own conclusions with a collaborative exercise. As they read an informative passage...
Middle Tennessee State University
The Declaration of Independence: Its Legacy and Ideas in Today’s World
How is it possible that such an old document still triggers modern discussions? Teach scholars why the Declaration of Independence is still so important today using an informative resource. They watch various educational videos, work in...
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King Bidgood's in the Bathtub
students add their own scenarios to the book using the same rhythmic pattern. Students describe what is happening in the picture as a class shared writing activity. Students discuss reasons why the people in the kingdom were upset that...
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What's The Story?
Teams of learners integrate reading, writing, math, social studies, and science in this simple, yet effective lesson. They work in groups in order to solve a ten-step problem which requires internet research, the use of a calculator, and...