EngageNY
Reading and Talking with Peers: A Carousel of Photos and Texts about Frogs
Frogs are the theme of a lesson plan that challenges scholars to examine photographs, read informational texts, then ask and answer questions. Scholars work collaboratelively as they rotate through stations, discuss their observations,...
Curated OER
Through the Looking Glass
An engaging and ambitious series of four lessons invites high schoolers to view art work, have group and class discussions, construct time lines, compile photos, and conduct research. Learners share their experiences, create...
Poets.org
Love as a Two-way Street
Create an abundance of understanding, as your high school learners learn to analyze multiple love poems. Part one of this resource has learners define what love is, examine art that reflects the love between Robert and Elizabeth...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—12th Grade
Two sample lessons from a curriculum unit on bullying provide high school seniors with an opportunity to assess their online and cell phone behavior and to consider how they can offer support to bullied students. Each plan includes an...
Curated OER
Reading and Writing about the Solar System
A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this instructional activity which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our...
Curated OER
Personally Poetic
Students create an Acrostic poem using notes from biography journals. In this poetry and journal lesson plan, students read a biography of their choice and take notes in their journals. Students review an acrostic poetry website and use...
Curated OER
Water Quality
For this unit of lessons, students examine the quality of water. They create poems and make observations about the quality of water. They also examine hot spots and the quality of water in the Great Lakes.
Curated OER
Editing Emily's Way: An Exercise in Diction and Its Implications
Young scholars examine the poetry of Emily Dickinson and the diction in her poetry. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Dickinson poetry and analyze the diction in the poems. Young scholars journal about the poetry and rewrite...
Curated OER
Poetry Book
Students study the following terms and concepts: word choice, dialect, invented words, concrete terms, abstract terms, figurative and sensory language. In cooperative groups, they select three of the terms, research them, and pick poems...
Curated OER
Ode to the Ordinary
Ninth graders identify an ordinary object and write an ode for the subject. In this poetry writing instructional activity, 9th graders select an ordinary object and define its uses. Students then write an ode for the poem.
Curated OER
Lesson Three: Poem Pieces
Students read and analyze stanzas of Civil War poem, The Flags of Michigan, to get perspective on what life was like and how Americans viewed Civil War, rewrite stanzas in modern language, and share new versions of poem with classmates.
Curated OER
Johnny Appleseed
Students listen to a story about Johnny Appleseed while learning about how Johnny contributed to history. Students brainstorm rhyming words and write a poem using those words.
Curated OER
"In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae
Students read the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. In this poetry lesson, students read the poem on an overhead transparency and discuss what actions can be used to illustrate it. Students come up with their own movements to...
Curated OER
All Quiet On The Western Front
Young scholars create a poem on the subject of war. In this All Quiet on the Western Front lesson, students create poetry using phrases or lines that they brainstorm during a pre-writing session. Young scholars enhance their poetry...
Curated OER
Poets on the Playground
Students create poetry journals. In this poetry instructional activity, students discuss different pieces of poetry and listen to a poet. They use a digital camera to take a picture of something they find interesting and write a poem...
Curated OER
Poems that Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost
Students read and discuss poems by Robert Frost. Students collaborate in small groups to draw inferences about speakers' character and motives and to gather evidence supporting those inferences.
Curated OER
5 Senses Poem
Students discuss what characteristics they learned about each season through the story read aloud. They identify each season and come up with objects for each season, such as clothing, activities one can do, and describe the scenery....
Curated OER
Japanese Haiku and the American Experience
Twelfth graders research the history to Haiku Poetry. They read classical haiku to comprehend their special sensibility and form. Students encounter the Buddhist philosophical background of this poetry and its roots. They write original...
Curated OER
Lincoln's Legend and Legacy
Students evaluate Lincoln's impact on American History. For this Civil War lesson, students view a film clip of writings about Lincoln. Students take notes and compare how the writings define his legacy. Students write their own poem or...
Curated OER
Dinosaurs
Learners are introduced to the various types of dinosaurs and write in their journals about their favorite one. After listening to a story and watching a filmstrip, they color a few pages in their Dinosaur Friends Book. They also examine...
Poets.org
Ghosts and Spirits
Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...
Curated OER
Chocolate Fever
Students study plants in the rainforest. They complete a variety of activities surrounding the subject of chocolate. They create new candy bars, invent learning games and write poetry--all focusing on chocolate.
Curated OER
Tell Me A Story -- Feelings
Practice using feelings as a way to reflect on past experiences. The poem The End and the text Tell Me a Story Mama are used to identify feeling words. As an extension, pupils participate in a service learning project and...
Curated OER
Whoever You Are
Students examine cultures, traditions, and feeling throughout cultures. In this cultural instructional activity, students use literature, maps, and cultural information to examine how people have universal feelings despite their...