Curated OER
Text as Object and Art: Aesthetic Impact on Audience Reception of Books in the Early Renaissance and Today
Tenth graders examine the role that aesthetics play in the publication of books. In groups, they apply the concept of physical affectation on each reader's experience to literature. They also compare and contrast the varied types of...
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Edgar Allen Poe And The Art Of Composition
High schoolers evaluate several works by Edgar Allen Poe based on the criteria in his essay, "The Philosophy of Composotion" Their analysis is documented using a graphic organizer. Learners begin the pre-writing process for their own...
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Writing Process
Introduce primary graders to the writing process. After reviewing the steps, they practice using the process by writing a book report. Before writing the draft, they complete a graphic organizer. The completed draft is reviewed by peers....
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Middle Ages Diary
Learners research life in the Middle Ages. They write a historical fiction diary based on a character they create. Students use the six steps to process writing to complete their diary. They orally present their diaries to the class.
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Accordion-Book Summary
Introduce your young readers to the book review. Groups of writers practice the basic steps of writing a book report and complete an Accordion-Book Summary activity. The lesson plan includes book report basics and directions to make...
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Steps to a Short Story
Students write and publish a short story using KidPix computer software. They discuss the basic elements of a story, observe a demonstration of how to use KidPix, select a setting and characters, and print out their background picture to...
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A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens
Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their own...
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Truly Amazing Mammals
Explore the world of amazing mammals with your kids with special needs. Each child identifies one mammal from a previous lesson and writes a short paragraph on that mammal. This lesson states that it is intended for all levels, but not...
Virginia Department of Education 
The Writing Process for Expository Writing
Struggling on what steps to take in your expository essay lesson? Or confused on what to include for your scribes? This exercise in the process of expository writing provides concepts and structure for the educator on what the writers...
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What's the Matter? (Grade 3)
Third graders organize information about the three types of matter and to reinforce concepts learned in the matter unit of the science curriculum. They use Inspiration software to create a concept map of the three types of matter.
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SEQUENCING A STORY WITH PICTURES: TEXT AND TALK
Third graders  create a graphic organizer. They draw illustrations that show the beginning, middle and end of a trip  they took to visit a friend or a relative. They write age-appropriate text to accompany each drawing.   They  tell...
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A Year (a Day or a Week) In My Life as a Shorebird
Students describe the basic life history of one shorebird common to their area.  They use the writing process which includes brainstorming, rough draft writing, peer editing, and re-writing to create a factually and grammatically...
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Front Page News
Students write original earthquake articles typically found on the front page of a newspaper. Each student has the freedom to write in a variety of writing styles (lead story, human interest story, editorials, etc.). They research...
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Kalahari Explorations
Students explore world geography by completing graphic organizers and researching the Internet. In this Kalahari desert lesson, students identify the geographic location, weather and creation of the Kalahari desert. Students define a...
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United We Stand
Students recreate and simulate the secession of the South during the Civil War by having their class secede from the school. They write an essay comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of everyday life before and after...
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Mildred Taylor: Understanding the Author of "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry"
Students complete various activities related to the analysis of the novel "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry."  They create a collage of words and images of what it was like to live in the South in the 1930's, conduct Internet research, and...
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Dr. Seuss Author Study
Students listen to a story, then use the same format to write a class book.
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The Rest of the Story
Third graders make predictions about the story "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" based on background knowledge. They read the story, stopping to verify or reject predictions. They write their own opinionated fairytales.
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CREATE A NEW RHYME
Third graders develop basic  narratives.  They retell a focused story and create a basic publication using available resources (e.g., pictures, colors, computer, copier).  They experiment with different forms of creative writing (e.g.,...
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If I Could Have Lived in Another Time or Culture
Third graders develop multi-paragraph compositions. They  include an introduction, first and second level support, and a  conclusion.  They use a variety of sentence structures (e.g., simple, compound/complex) and sentence types (i.e.,...
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Christmas Tree Shaped Poems
Students think about ways in which they can spread joy during the holiday season. They create poems in the shape of a Christmas tree. Pupils use formatting tools in Microsoft Word to format the text of the poem. Students discuss ways...
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Fourth graders read the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Reader's Circle, they also are writing a variety of pieces for the Writer's Workshop that is closely related to the novel.  The quality and the quantity of work that...
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My Favorite Room
Learners practice describing a room. In this descriptive writing lesson plan, students use all of their five senses to describe their favorite room. The teacher will model for the class by creating a word list that describe the classroom...
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Writing to Persuade
Middle schoolers discover effective writing techniques to create persuasive essays. For this writing lesson, students investigate ways to express facts and points of view through persuasive essays. Finally, the middle schoolers write...