Curated OER
Minorities in Mainstream American Society
So many people fought for Civil Rights in the United States. Read about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and discuss what the act guarantees. Then pass out a slew of magazines and encourage them to observe how often minorities appear in...
Curated OER
Episodic Writing Using Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Help your middle-schoolers expand their writing skills with this lesson on episodic writing, which focuses on story details, idea development, and organization. After reading "The Eighth Picture: End of Summer" from Patricia Reilly...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Focus: The Paideia Seminar
Compelling discussions are the result of open-ended, challenging questions. An introduction to Paideia discussions includes explicit directions about how to prepare readers and how to model the kinds of questions they should develop...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing - Anticipating Opposing Views
Persuasion, when used effectively, is a powerful and effective tool. In groups, young writers develop a persuasive letter about something that they would like their parents to allow them to do. Then, independently, they use proper...
Curated OER
Tangerine: Cubing Strategy
Here's an activity that uses a reading comprehension strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy to focus readers' attention on key passages from Edward Bloor's Tangerine. Worthy of a place in your curriculum library.
Curated OER
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Socratic Seminar
After reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and an article about the use of the novel, class members engage in a Socratic seminar focused on whether or not Twain's book should be banned.
Curated OER
Changing Perspectives on the Japanese Internment Experiment
Students discover the characteristics of Japanese internment during World War II. They discuss racist policies and use the internet to gather information to write their own version of history. They write essays from different points of...
Curated OER
Art And The Afterlife
Students discuss various cultures and their beliefs of the afterlife in this study of Japanese art. The final evaluation is done through the creation of student collages illustrating their beliefs of the afterlife.
Curated OER
A Bird's-eye View
Sixth graders create a chalk drawing of a scene of their choice by using the process and techniques of horizon line, a variety of lines, vanishing points, and three-dimensional techniques.
Curated OER
A Different View
Readers need to understand how their personal view point may differ or change how they see the view point found in a written text. Third graders read two informational pieces and fill out a graphic organizer to help them differentiate...
Curated OER
Propaganda Flyer
Fourth graders create a persuasive flyer to sway the opinion of the class on a controversial issue. They read assigned editorials representing the viewpoint that they must defend.
Curated OER
As Seen on TV
Sixth graders research how minority groups are represented in media. In this media literacy lesson, 6th graders investigate two YouTube clips of Hugo Chavez and discuss different points of view.
Curated OER
The Telling: A Thanksgiving Story
students use literature to compare and contrast different points of view on the first Thanksgiving.
Curated OER
Writing Own Tale
Third graders read The First Strawberries and complete a character chart. In this writing a tale lesson, 3rd graders discuss viewpoints and identify character traits. Students complete character charts and write their own tale about...
Curated OER
Design-A-Room
Students employ art as a means of communication. The meaning of the communication comes out in the design of a unique room that is 3 dimensional. The use of the imagination is encouraged as well as visualization skills.
Curated OER
Cubism - David Hockney
Identify Cubist works (namely the works of Picasso and the Cubist-inspired works of David Hockney), then express or create a work showing a time frame.
Curated OER
Lesson Three: Refining Ideas and Making Choices
Fourth graders review and refine their sculpture ideas considering whether to depict a figure (or object) in action or involved in an event, whether to construct an environment, or whether to work symbolically (without a figure).
Curated OER
Slavery in Colonial America
Learners examine the experience of the middle passage of slaves. They review slave songs and discuss their common themes. They develop a monologue in which they integrate a fragment of an actual slave song into a poem they have written.
Curated OER
Hawthorne: Author and Narrator
Students examine the difference between a narrator and author. They read Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, 'The Scarlet Letter,' write a description of the narrator, and research how Hawthorne was impacted by the politics of the time.
Novelinks
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: Concept/Vocab Analysis
Considering using Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry for book circles or whole-class study? First time teachers, and those who have used the text before, will find some interesting tidbits in this overview.
Curated OER
Individuality: India Arie Music Video
Students examine individuality. In this music video instructional activity, students listen to music by India Arie to determine how music shapes our ideas of what normal is as well as how music is a form of poetry. Activities...
Curated OER
Conflict Resolution Lesson Plan
Fourth graders investigate conflict and social justice. In this conflict resolution lesson plan, 4th graders consider conflicts they have experienced and think about how they could have applied conflict resolution strategies to change...
Curated OER
A New View
Students illustrate and write a story. In groups, students brainstorm lists of animals and objects. They create a storyboard from the point of view of a chosen animal or object. After students discuss life from different perspectives,...
Curated OER
Cast of characters -- Lost in Space Lesson
Pupils examine how artists use the picture plane to depict two and three dimensions. They view online images, discuss how space is used to depict three-dimensional space, and create a painting.