Curated OER
Storytelling In America
Students discuss how Washington Irving is considered an important 19th century-American storyteller. They create their own version of a passage from 'The Legend' after listening to the story.
Curated OER
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum
Have you just visited an art museum? Or can you create a gallery in your classroom to visit? Pupils create an original drawing that reinforces what was learned in a visit to the art museum. They will view original art work and verbally...
Curated OER
Flora and Fauna as Figures of Speech
What a lovely way to incorporate artwork into your language arts lesson. View artwork in illustrated manuscript pages, depicting insects, animals, plants, flowers, and ornate writing in the Getty Museum. Practice using figurative...
Curated OER
Describing Paintings: Calm or Stormy
Young writers use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to describe details in two paintings. One depicts a sunny landscape, and the other shows a cloudier view. They write a narrative inspired by the paintings, paying attention to transitional...
Curated OER
Imagining China through Words
When Europeans first came back with tales of China, they provided vivid written accounts and minimal visual imput. This resulted in art rendered mostly from descriptive language. Learners explore this phenomena by listening to...
Curated OER
Writing About Art: Subjective vs. Objective
Explore objective and subjective writing in this interdisciplinary lesson plan, which brings language arts and visual art together. Middle and high school learners examine the sculpture Head with Horns by Paul Gauguin. They then analyze...
Curated OER
Make a Van Gogh-Style Self-Portrait
Learn by doing! Young artists try their hand at creating their own self-portraits in the style of Vincent van Gogh. This worksheet contains a brief explanation of the essential qualities of van Gogh's art: complementary colors and...
Curated OER
Spinning My Tale
Begin writing personal narratives in this writing lesson. Junior high writers start by writing a journal about their favorite holiday. They read a book at their skill level and use graphic organizers to record their ideas for writing....
Federal Reserve Bank
Sheep in a Shop
What do you think sheep might be able to barter when they don't have quite enough to buy a gift? Your pupils can find out this and much more during this activity about Sheep in a Shop, spending, saving, and bartering.
Federal Reserve Bank
Glo Goes Shopping
Making decisions can be very difficult. Show your class one way to evaluate choices with this lesson, which is inspired by the book Glo Goes Shopping. Learners practicing using a decision-making grid with the content of the story and a...
Curated OER
A Speeding Rocket, a Shooting Star... It's a Racing Reader!
Prepare a gameboard and die-cut race cars to play a fun fluency game. Also create several flash cards to review the long /i/ sound. Then, model reading smoothly and with expression, emphasizing the importance of re-reading...
Curated OER
Setting the Story: Techniques for Creating a Realistic Setting
“It was a dark and stormy night.” Thus begins the 1830's novel Paul Clifford and, of course, all of Snoopy’s novels! Encourage young writers to craft settings for their stories that go beyond Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s often-mocked phrase...
Curated OER
Children of War
Take a closer look at the impact of war in this language arts and social studies lesson plan. Middle schoolers use primary sources to conduct research as they relate to the effects of war on children. They compare and contrast the...
Curated OER
Using Social Studies in Five Shared Reading Lessons: Geography
After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms...
Curated OER
A Day of Infamy:Analyzing FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address
In 1941 FDR spoke out on the events at Pearl Harbor. The class will get to analyze word choice, word meaning, author's craft and structure by analyzing an actual draft of this speech. They will look critically at the words used,...
Curated OER
"The Gambler" and "The Journey": A Comparison of Worlds in Two Short Stories
“The Gambler” and “The Journey” offer readers an opportunity to experience two very different views of Jewish life in Poland between WWI and WWII. Whether used as a part of a study of the Holocaust, or as a compare/contrast exercise, the...
Crabtree Publishing
Remarkable Lives Revealed
Six lessons make up a unit all about biographies. Scholars read about a remarkable life while taking notes and identifying characteristics of the biographical genre. Readers examine the tale's obstacles, accomplishments, and sequence of...
Curated OER
You Can Say That Again!
A discussion of the Supreme Court’s Opinion of Tinker v. Des Moines generates a discussion of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. Although the key elements of this lesson are based on a video that is not included, the activities...
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...
Curated OER
Children's Media and Censorship
High schoolers form opinions about children and television censorship after analyzing literature. They complete a journal writing activity to identify the topic and make a list of inappropriate television shows for children. Next, they...
Curated OER
Comma Practice Worksheet
Start by introducing your class to basic comma rules, and then give them this practice sheet. First, learners add commas where necessary, and then they write down which comma rule (or rules) used in each sentence. Great practice!
Curated OER
"The Tell-Tale Heart"- It's a Matter of Point of View
How does the point of view of Poe's protagonist in "The Tell-Tale Heart" contribute to the suspenseful tone? Help your middle schoolers identify the point of view in a literary work with this lesson plan, which goes on to discuss the...
Curated OER
A New Life, A New Home
Fifth graders use photographs to tell the story of immigrants. They use the Internet to help them research immigration.
Curated OER
To Be a Drum
Young scholars use a scene from a book and make it come alive in movie clips.