Curated OER
Writing Through Reading
Students are introduced to a new method of writing developed by Robert Gay. In groups, they practice retelling or rewriting one of their fellow classmates stories. They are also introduced to the technique of transcribing and write in...
Curated OER
Coast-to-Coast Book Design-Part 4: Let's Create the Pages!
Pupils work in groups to share their lists of A-B-C ideas they came up with from the previous activity. They review page layouts taught during lesson two. Students complete a rough draft of their page. They create a colored illustration...
Curated OER
Heading West
Students study the concept of the westward expansion. In this exploration of the western U.S. instructional activity, students participate in different activities that explain economic hardships, jobs, and land opportunities. Students...
Shakespeare in American Life
"We Few, We Happy Few": Motivational Speech in Henry V
Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...
Curated OER
Speakers in Action
Tune into C-Span and tape politicians delivering testimony before congress. Class members view these tapes, formulate a rubric for rating the effectiveness of such a speech, and then emulate best practices and include them in their own...
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Teaching a Short Story
Students work in small groups and prepare an analysis of a short story to be presented to their peers. They research the story and create a handout or a visual aid that cites sources of information and summarizes the main points of the...
Curated OER
What About Us? Women in the Civil War
Students research the role of women in the Civil War. In this Civil War unit, students research the role women played during the war. This unit includes eight different activities including vocabulary, writing prompts and a literature...
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Presenting Research with PowerPoint
Students organize information and prepare a visual interpretation that enhances an oral presentation using pictures, graphics and sound.
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Night by Elie Weisel
Students read "No News from Auschwitz" and answer the study questions as an introduction to the novel. They record reactions to the essay and compare with reactions after reading "Night".
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What Makes a Cat a Cat?
Students investigate the lives of pets by videotaping them. In this animal life lesson, students videotape a cat and other pets using school cameras in a computer lab. Students review the footage from the cat and other animals and...
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"We few, we happy few": Motivational Speech in Henry V
Learners explore how to write and deliver a motivational speech by examining King Henry's in "Saint Crispin's Day".
Curated OER
Building Reading Skills: Fluency
Students practice their fluency skills. In this fluency lesson, students read aloud stories to their peers and they help to coach one another on their fluency, pronunciation, phrasing, and inflection. They discuss what makes a good...
Curated OER
Fifteen Seconds of Fame
A reading of Panic in Paris launches a review of the elements of narrative writing. Class members work in groups to find narrative devices in the book and record their findings on a provided worksheet. Using the completed pages, emergent...
National Council of Teachers of English
Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme
Young scholars write rhyming poems using rebus. With pictures instead of words, authors create original work about things they love.
Curated OER
Research Project
Students research a given topic and organize information in order to write a report or make an oral presentation. They design and create a visual aid (poster, model, PowerPoint, etc) to help clarify the concepts of their...
Curated OER
Citizens For the New Zoo
Third graders complete Internet research to find information about an animal and its basic needs. They design a model of a zoo habitat that would accommodate their animal. They write a letter of recommendation to a Zoo board of directors...
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Rock and Poetry: A Thematic Project
Students explore poetry. In this literature activity, students examine music and lyrics by Natalie Merchant in order to make the transition to analyzing poetry by Keats and Wordsworth.
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Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
Sixth graders discuss how people, society, and technology change over time through a unit of integrated lessons. In these changes in society lessons, 6th graders discuss the answers to many questions about how changes effect the...
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The 3 Levels of Government through Scrapbooking
Eighth graders explore Parliamentary democracy and governance.
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Middle School Masters of the Web- Video Newsletter
Students develop a school newscast. In this school newscast instructional activity, students practice interviewing skills, use of video and podcasting equipment, and editing skills. They work in groups to develop a school newscast using...
Curated OER
A Cat's Life
Students construct a timeline of a panther's life. Students decorate their timeline with illustrations and words, or they can choose to have it orally read to the class. Students use the computer to construct their time-lines. Students...
Curated OER
Speech in the Virginia Convention
“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...
Curated OER
Time Capsule Survey
Here's a fun way to incorporate technology into your curriculum. E-mail each of your class members a picture and 10 questions about the photo. Individuals then imagine the story behind the image and e-mail back their responses. Although...
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Speaker Report
Fifth through eighth graders think of themselves as newspaper reporters as they listen to a presentation by a guest speaker. As reporters, they take notes during the presentation. Using these notes, they create a rough draft and then a...