Curated OER
Teaching Students to Support Their Opinions with Appropriate Details
Teaching students to support their opinions in the language arts classroom.
Curated OER
Swinging with the Times
Students examine the many changes in the Tarzan character from Edgar Rice Burroughs' first novel to Disney's newest movie version to explain how student movies are often used to mirror and promote cultural attitudes and beliefs.
Curated OER
A Problem with Authority?
Students consider the prospect of inviting a controversial leader to speak in their community. They analyze the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial invitation to speak at Columbia University. Students create...
Curated OER
Close Encounters of the World Kind
Explore the vocabulary of the government process. Using a simple technique, learners discuss the meaning of the words majority, election, democrat, republican, and independent. This can be used as an anticipatory set.
Curated OER
Totally Awesome Answers to Wacky Wonders
Middle schoolers work with a partner to gather information on a question from two sources using a computer program and the Internet. They also write a report with visuals to air on closed-circuit TV for the school. Use this lesson to...
Macmillan Education
The Tell-Tale Heart
Rather than who done it, the mystery literary detectives have to solve as they examine the evidence found in Edgar Allan Poe's famous "The Tell-Tale Heart" is why did he do it?
Curated OER
Memoir
After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...
Curated OER
Breaking up a Poem
Complete with a SMART board presentation and all necessary materials, this lesson guides seventh graders through the process of writing poems and utilizing line breaks. After reading through the presentation and different examples, they...
Humanities Texas
Primary Source Worksheet: Theodore Roosevelt, Excerpt from Eighth Annual Message to Congress
As Theodore Roosevelt reminded Congress in 1908, corporation one is not corporation two. Readers of this excerpt from Roosevelt's Message to Congress have an opportunity to sharpen their comprehension skills as they study this primary...
Center for History and New Media
The Daily Experience of the Laurel Grove School, 1925
What was daily life like for those attending segregated schools in 1925? Modern learners fill out a KWHL chart as they explore historical background and primary source documents about the Laurel Grove School in Fairfax County, Virginia....
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Matched by Ally Condie
Even supposed Utopian societies have their flaws. Using an educator's guide, individuals explore the society Ally Condie creates in Matched. Reflective writing prompts double as discussion questions and cover key themes in the novel, as...
Savvas Learning
Political Parties
What is a political party, and what major parties exist in American politics today? How did the party system develop in American history, and how are parties organized? These questions and many other details regarding the political party...
National Museum of the American Indian
The Kwakwaka'Wakw: A Study of a North Pacific Coast People and the Potlatch
Discover the cultural practices and unique value systems of a group of native peoples from Canada called the Kwakwaka'wakw. Your young historians will discuss how conceptions of wealth can vary and how these native...
Curated OER
Night: Unsent Letters Writing Strategy
As part of their study of Elie Wiesel's Night, individuals assume the voice of an Auschwitz survivor and craft a letter to a former SS officer who worked at the camp and claims he is not guilty of any crime.
Curated OER
How Are Colors Created?
Kids explore primary and secondary colors, as well as the concepts of tints and shade in a series of color lessons. The packet includes detailed directions for how to use BrainPOP Jr. resources to create learning...
DLTK
Peeping Groundhog Puppet
Using paper and a pencil, produce a pop-up puppet of a groundhog that peers out and over it's burrow to tell us when Spring is coming.
K12 Reader
Antonyms are Opposites
Knowing the opposite of your chosen word is a great step in improving your word choice. Young readers select an antonym from the provided word bank to complete a series of 14 sentences.
Digital Public Library of America
The Fifteenth Amendment
Fifteen primary sources provide a context for a study of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The packet captures the excitement for the changes promised by the amendment as well as the backlash against it.
Curated OER
The Last Lecture: Text Impressions
To pique interest in The Last Lecture, readers are given a list of key terms and ask to craft a story inspired by the terms.
Curated OER
Applying Phonetic Principles
Young readers develop their phonetic skills by using a nifty tool called a word pocket. They use the tool to help them organize individual letters that they have at their desks to spell entire words and to construct beginning and ending...
Curated OER
Double Dip: Using Multi-Meaning Words
Double dip ice cream cones are a fourth grade favorite, and now they come in vocabulary and context flavor. Learners practice using double meaning words as they construct ice cream cones that contain two sentences showing how context can...
Curated OER
"Afternoon on the Amazon" by Mary Pope Osborne
Young scholars read and complete activities dealing with the book "Afternoon on the Amazon". They create webs of words used in the book and write about what they have read.
Curated OER
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Students complete close reading and analysis activities for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In this literature analysis lesson, students complete multiple close reading and analysis activities to evaluate the 19th century story.
Curated OER
Pedometer Play
Second graders use pedometers to record and graph various activities. Students discuss various activities that can be done during recess and the types of movements that are associated with each activity. They predict which activities...