Stories on the Way
The Temptation of Jesus
Temptation is the focus of this lesson plan, which was designed for the first week of Lent as an introduction to the tradition of Lenten fast. It includes reading of biblical scripture, hands-on activities where learners design cards...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 5: Motivation - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides the lens class members use to analyze and evaluate the motivations of the characters in Sylvia Plath's "Initiation" and scenes from Mean Girls. Readers then select a character from A...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Guided Imagery
What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to...
Brigham Young University
Out of the Dust: Guided Imagery
A guided imagery exercise is a great way to get readers thinking about writing. As part of their study of Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse’s 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, class members listen to a reading of one of the poems...
Reed Novel Studies
Little House On The Prairie: Novel Study
Laura Ingalls Wilder memorialized life in the American West with her Little House on the Prairie series. Readers explore the first book in the series using a novel study guide. Along with standard text-based questions, scholars...
Novelinks
The Little Prince: Biopoem Strategy
Learn about character traits with a biopoem activity. Based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, the activity prompts learners to fill in the blanks of a poem form to describe themselves.
Center for History Education
Slavery and Civil Disobedience: Christiana Riot of 1851
When is it a moral obligation to disobey the law or to fight back? Using primary sources that document the "Christiana Riot" of 1851, learners consider these questions. The firsthand accounts tell the story of the riot, which happened...
Curated OER
Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven Part 1
Quoth the raven - nevermore! Delve into Edgar Allan Poe's' The Raven," but not too deeply. Answer reading comprehension questions in this multiple-choice quiz without getting too much into the mind of the narrator or poet himself.
Federal Reserve Bank
Prices: The Marketplace’s Communication System
Explore the dual role of prices as signals and incentives, and discover how prices are determined by buyers and sellers in the United States economy.
Curated OER
Peter and the Starcatchers: Multi-Genre Writing Assignment
Conclude your unit on Peter and the Starcatchers with an involved final writing project that requires learners to write persuasive pieces, compose short stories, create brochures about the setting of the novel, and choose from a...
Novelinks
The Giver: Vocabulary Bingo!
Bingo! Combine the thrill of bingo with Lois Lowry's The Giver in a fun vocabulary lesson plan. Kids write selected vocabulary words from the novel onto a bingo chart, and then listen for the correct definitions in order to mark off...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Vocabulary Strategy
Readers read more closely when they think critically about a text. Discuss the words and concepts from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a class activity that asks readers to not only record...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Chocolate Factory–Human Interface Design
What is this? What is it for? How does it work? Challenge the class to think about to how to design a new chocolate factory for the Oompa-Loompas to make it easy to use. The activity is the first of a three-part series on...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Elements of the Epic Hero Cycle
Here's a handy worksheet applicable to any study of epic heroes, including those in epic poetry. Readers record examples from their text that identify the quest, the tests, helpers and companions, as well as the low point, the...
Prestwick House
The Book Thief
Review main characters, story events, and important quotes from Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief. A crossword puzzle with 29 clues gives high schoolers the opportunity to check their understanding and revist Zusak's haunting work.
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Federal Reserve Bank
The Legacy of the Olympics: Economic Burden or Boon?
Do the economic benefits of major sporting events such as the Olympics or the World Cup outweigh the expected costs? Using fundamental economic terms, discover the explicit and implicit costs and benefits for countries that host these...
Curated OER
The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World
Did you know only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still exists today? Here is a historical reading passage that provides readers with a brief history of the seven marvelous wonders.
Chymist
Determination of the Volume of CO2 in Pop Rocks
Where does the pop in pop rocks come from? An engaging activity asks scholars to measure the amount of carbon dioxide in a package of Pop Rocks candy. Learners dissolve the candy in water and use the solubility of CO2 to determine its mass.
PBS
The Media and the War: The Penny Press, Walt Whitman and the War
The Mexican-American war marked a significant moment in United States history, as well as in the history of American media. The mid-nineteenth century saw the introduction of the Penny Press, which provided many American citizens with...
US Geological Survey
The Water Cycle for Schools: Intermediate Ages
Water can travel from the highest mountain tops to the largest oceans. Using an interactive, young scientists trace the movement using an interactive online resource. They follow the water cycle by reading pop-up explanations on a...
Curated OER
The Main Man
Students explore visualizing stories by completing a graphic organizer. In this reading strategy lesson, students read the story Pecos Bill by Steven Kellog and identify the setting, main characters and their interpretations. Students...
Curated OER
Two Greedy Bears
Improving listening comprehension skills is the goal of this language arts instructional activity. Young readers listen to the story Two Greedy Bears, stopping to have discussions with a partner. They predict outcomes and make inferences...
Curated OER
Theatrical Economics
Read then role-play the characters from story of If You Give A Pig a Pancake. Young actors use improvisation and characterization to create the characters from the story. They will also write and role play original version of the...