Curated OER
We Have a Dream
Students work as partners to study Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech. In this African American history lesson, students work with their cross-grade partner to study, understand, and memorize the speech. Students meet with...
Curated OER
Underground Railroad Activity
Eighth graders practice their interviewing skills as they learn about the Underground Railroad. For this slavery lesson, 8th graders discuss the existence and operation of the railroad. Students then interview one another in the personas...
Curated OER
Won't You Celebrate With Me: The Joy of Lucille Clifton
Pupils explore the concept of poetry through movement and song. They watch Lucille Clifton read her poem, and write their own poem.
Curated OER
Images of China
Students examine the Chinese poem "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" by Li Po while comparing the different ways of "reading" an artwork in order to understand the differences between Chinese and American painting.
Curated OER
I Am A Musician- Musician as Listener
Students listen for sounds as they complete another activity. Hearing a triangle, they raise their hand once they hear it. They discover that to be part of an ensemble they must listen to themselves and others around them. They discuss...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
Third graders explore different types of poetry and illustrate their own experiences through creating their own poem. In this getting to know you lesson, 3rd graders create and recite their poems with a self-portrait.
Curated OER
Songs of Protest/Songs of Unity: 1865 to the Present
Students study song-poems from 1865 to the present. They explore the works of Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers (including Pete Seeger).
Curated OER
Choral Speaking: The Frog On The Log
Students recite the poem, The Frog on the Log, paying particular attention to precise diction, pacing, projection, inflection, volume and rhythm.
Curated OER
Arts and the Olympics/Dance and Athletics
Students study and perform dances with a dance specialist, while others photograph their movements. The resulting slides were used to help both these students and others explain dance and write creatively.
Curated OER
Disease and Epidemics
Young scholars explore how disease and epidemics have the potential to shape communities. They examine their impact on culture and specifically the literature of the time. Students investigate how trade routes accelerated the movement of...
Curated OER
"Space" Investigations
Sixth graders understand the patterns of change observable on Earth as a result of the movement of the different bodies in the solar system. They identify the physical characteristics of the different components of the solar system.
Curated OER
Marian Anderson: From Page to Stage
Students become immersed in a compelling anecdote of the civil rights movement through the experience of constructing dramatic scripts. An added goal is to equip students, through this "hands-on" experience, to critique dramatic...
Curated OER
Native American Boarding School Choice Board
Students investigate the boarding school movement that was imposed on the American Indians from the late 1880's to the early 1900's. The assignment requires the use of primary and secondary resources to find historical information. Then...
Curated OER
Out of This World
Middle schoolers take a mission to Mars. In this space science lesson, students listen a lecture about space travel to Mars and the planet itself. Middle schoolers then create timelines of exploration and write poetry about their ideal...
Curated OER
The Little Rabbit
Students recite a poem and perform motions to the words. In this stretching and moving lesson, groups of students perform the motions by crouching into a ball, getting up, breathing deeply, stretching arms, and leaning forward. An...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr.
Students explore the life and contributions of Martin Luther King Jr.
Curated OER
Repetitive Song Form
Eighth graders discover different concepts for identifying musical structure and song form. In this Music History instructional activity, 8th graders compare and contrast a Red Hot Chili Peppers song to an Andrea Bocelli's song.
Curated OER
Grand Canyon Suite
Take a trip to the Grand Canyon! Lesson one explores how Ferde Grofe painted a musical landscape of America when he wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. Learners then examine art that shows the Grand Canyon in activity two. Finally, activity...
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Animal Adventures: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 6)
Provide extra support for language learners as they progress through the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on animal adventures. This 30-page packet includes scripted lessons designed for beginning, emergent, intermediate, and...
Curated OER
Jazz in America Lesson Plan 7
Students survey free jazz and fusion. They explore how free jazz and fusion reflected American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s.
Curated OER
The Red Badge of Courage: A New Kind of Realism
Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...
Curated OER
Georgia O'Keefe - A Unit for Grades 9-12
SLearners view examples of O'Keef's work and watch a video about her life. They use colored pencil to create a 6" x 6" reproduction of a 2" x 2" square cut from a magazine picture, finding and using the most interesting shapes in the...
Curated OER
Family Foodways
Discover, document and share the knowledge of family food and ways special occasions are treated. Your class will explore the context in which food traditions are created and adapted in their families and communities. Each student also...