Curated OER
Coming to America
Through this set of three lessons about Ellis Island, class members will learn about why immigrants came to the United States, find out about the difficulties that went along with coming to America, become familiar with the immigration...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Curated OER
Memoir
After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...
Baylor College
Microbes and Disease
Discuss how diseases have impacted human history. Divide your class into groups and assign each group one of the following: tuberculosis, malaria, plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. They read up on, complete a concept map, and present...
Curated OER
Astronomy
Students examine a medieval manuscript on astronomy and create their own books based on modern discoveries in astronomy. In this astronomy lesson plan, students compare astronomy knowledge in the middle ages to today and research modern...
Curated OER
Perspective
Learners create oil pastel landscape paintings in this middle-level Art lesson on perspective, horizons, foreground, background, and middle ground. The lesson includes resource links to books on teaching art and perspective.
Curated OER
A Prelude To Beowulf
Students study the literature and literary techniques of the early Middle Ages, thus preparing students to read Beowulf with an appreciation for its artistry and beauty. Students solve online riddles, write riddles and study Anglo-Saxon...
Curated OER
Knights and Kings
Students explore feudalism. In this government lesson, students examine the role of knights and kings. Students discover the training boys went through for knighthood. Students write a letter home as if they were a squire during the...
Concordia University Chicago
Liberty Enlightening the World by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
Here is a lesson that uses the painting Liberty Enlightening the World to start a discussion on the importance of national monuments. The class discusses several monuments around the world, and then invites a veteran to share his/her...
Curated OER
Relief Foil Sculpture
A little tin foil can go a long way. Middle schoolers create relief sculptures out of card board and foil. The step-by-step procedure and materials list are included. Note: This project can be done with children as young as seven.
Channel Islands Film
Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 3
Should researchers be able to excavate, examine, and remove Native American artifacts from historic sites? Should companies be permitted to build on sacred Native American land? After watching West of the West's documentary, The Lone...
Curated OER
Musical Art
Students create pieces of Abstract art by listening to various genres of music and reacting to the music with a pencil on a piece of paper and their eyes closed. This activity is intended for a middle-level Art class and can be used as...
Curated OER
Back to the Classics
Students closely examine chamber music as it has changed from the Middle Ages to today. They work in small groups to research the composers, instruments and typical presentation in 5 time periods. They write biographies and share their...
Curated OER
Adjective, Adjective, Noun
Students create artistic renditions of two random adjectives and one noun in this game-like Art lesson for the elementary and middle school classroom. The cross-curricular lesson includes a vocabulary list and a short resource list.
Curated OER
Tin Can Sculpture
Students create art from recycled materials. In this visual arts lesson, students follow the provided steps to create their own tin can artwork.
Curated OER
Abstract Flowers Inspired By Georgia O'keeffe
Young scholars create "abstract flowers" using the artwork of Georgia O'Keefe and knowledge of warm and cool colors in this Art activity for grades K-12. The activity includes a short recommended book list and a biography of Georgia...
Curated OER
Butterfly Baggies
Students create Butterflies out of sandwich baggies in this interesting Art lesson for the early-elementary classroom. The lesson can be connected to a science lesson about butterflies, can be used with other Butterfly art lessons...
Curated OER
Things That Make Us Want To Scream
Learners create a drawing of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and draw items that make them want to scream in this creative Art lesson for the Middle or High School classroom. The lesson includes resource links for artwork and background...
Curated OER
Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Does your language arts class have a hard time with writing transitions? Use this organizational writing lesson to create three effective transition sentences that middle schoolers will use in their research of renewable resources.
Curated OER
Multimedia Storytelling
Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting...
Curated OER
Retelling
Explore language arts by completing a story worksheet in class. Readers will identify the importance of plot, setting, and character while they write their own short story. They also retell their story to a classmate and participate in a...
Curated OER
Thesis Structure
Use this lesson plan to reinforce the importance of a strong thesis statement. After viewing samples, middle schoolers identify the three parts to a thesis. Additionally, they create their own thesis including and labeling the three...
Curated OER
Compound Words - My Baseball Book
First graders examine compound words and what they look like. For this compound word lesson, 1st graders read the book, My Baseball Book, and compile a list of compound words from their reading.
University of Arizona
Found News Poems
Combine informational text and creative writing with one fun activity! Middle and high schoolers write found poems based on newspaper headlines that they find. The resource includes a thorough lesson plan and many links to articles that...