Curated OER
Read with Speed
Young scholars increase their reading fluency through various techniques. After reviewing decoding and rereading as good reader strategies, students complete an initial read of a teacher selected text. They complete a timed reading...
Curated OER
4 Corners Pre-reading Strategy for A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
High schoolers consider different statements based on the themes from Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, and decide what they think of the statement. They share their ideas as a class and discuss all sides to a idea.
Scholastic
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss Lesson Plan
Celebrate the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss with a lesson that features the memorable tale of The Lorax. After listening to a riveting read-aloud, scholars take part in a grand conversation about the story and environment. Then they...
State Bar of Texas
Hernandez v. Texas
What if the jury is not made up of people from your ethnicity or background—are they still considered your peers? Scholars analyze the impact the Supreme Court case Hernandez v. Texas had on jury selection across the nation. Paired...
Poetry Class
Writing a Monologue
The works of Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet and Britain's 2009 poet laureate, serve as a model for a writing activity that asks class members to select a character card, brainstorm lists of words, phrases, actions, and items associated...
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Magic Square Activity
Turn Pride and Prejudice into a math activity with a magic squares lesson plan. Kids read nine character traits and pair them to a list of the book's characters in order to complete the activity and find the magic number.
Curated OER
The Little Prince: Socratic Questioning Strategy
Challenge readers to read closer in an activity based on the Socratic questioning strategy. As kids read Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince, they use sentence starters to ask deeper questions about the text, and to relate what...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Onset and Rime, Guessing Game
An activity challenges scholars to show what they know about onset and rime. Learners choose from a stack of picture cards and give onset and rhyming clues to see if their partners can guess the word they are holding.
State Bar of Texas
White v. Regester
One vote doesn't really matter, right? Class members investigate the concept of voter rights and restrictions using the 1973 Supreme Court case White v. Regester. They view a short video and work in pairs to analyze how people create...
State Bar of Texas
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Who decides someone is not a real person? Scholars investigate the Dred Scott v. Sandford court case which deals directly with slavery and citizenship. After viewing a short video clip, classmates work in pairs to assess and discuss the...
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Kinesthetic Grammar Approach
Though beautiful, William Shakespeare's prose can be inhibiting for learners who are new to his works. A lesson based on The Tempest guides high schoolers through the paraphrasing process, including noting the subjects and verbs to align...
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Roles
Social media has changed the news publishing process, so how does it affect school news publications? Lesson nine in a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox explores the traditional publishing roles through the lens of social...
Curated OER
Virtual Field Trip
Are we there yet? Young trip planners learn about their state and plan a trip. They will select sites to see in three cities in their state, and record associated costs in a spreadsheet. While this was originally designed as a...
Curated OER
Listening to Gather Evidence in a Reading Selection
Fourth graders explore an Ethiopian folktale, "Fire on the Mountain." In this literature lesson, 4th graders evaluate and record the evidence, as well as make predictions about what they think will happen. Students evaluate other groups...
Curated OER
Letter Recognition: Confusable Letter Pairs
Students distinguish between easily-confused letter pairs such as b and d, p and b, m and w, and n and m. They read and listen to a story that highlights words containing the letter pairs. They use picture clues to aid reading...
Curated OER
The Big Green Monster
Students practice rereading selected passages to improve their reading fluency. Working in pairs, students read and reread decodable, leveled passages. They complete center activities in groups of four in order to aid in decoding and...
Curated OER
Reading Partners
Students participate in several activities using a reading partner. They plan and organize reading meetings with their partner, and then review story elements by retelling the stories orally. The partners question each other and make...
Curated OER
Reading the Dna Code: Making Protein
Students study DNA decoding and protein synthesis. They use the amino acid table to translate DNA, break DNA strands into three nucleotide codes, and translate nucleotides into amino acid protein codes. They research the importance of...
Curated OER
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Read All About It!
Develop an online newspaper covering the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The class publishes their newspaper on the school's Web site and analyze both primary and secondary sources.
Teaching Tolerance
Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice | Exposing Gender Bias
Young sociologists are asked to read two photographs, identifying how the photographer uses point of view, color, pose, light, and shadow to express a stereotype of women or to challenge those stereotypes. Partners then create their own...
K20 LEARN
Things Are Lit at Thornfield: Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre offers scholars an opportunity to practice reading comprehension skills. Pairs are assigned a word from the text, use their prior knowledge, and consider the context, connotation, and denotation of the word to posit a...
Curated OER
Express Yourself
Students practice reading with expression and improved fluency. After discussing how reading with fluency and expression can enhance the text, students listen as their partner reads a story with expression. Individual students read...
Curated OER
Express Yourself
Students practice reading with expression and improved fluency. After discussing how reading with fluency and expression can enhance the text, students listen as their partner reads a story with expression. Individual students read...
Curated OER
Prereading
Fourth graders participate in think-pair-share reading strategy in this lesson plan. They identify their purpose for reading as well as purposes for reading fiction/nonfiction. They list and discuss several prereading activities, and...