Curated OER
Jamestown Fort: Finding History
Students identify artifacts discovered from the exploration of the Jamestown fort in order to help them create a short fictional account about the lives of Jamestown's first inhabitants. In this history lesson, students research the...
Listening Library
The Sign of the Beaver
Extend a class reading of the novel The Sign of the Beaver across all subject areas with this literature unit guide. From basic discussion questions and writing prompts, to a research project about tracking animals, this...
Curated OER
Stranger Than Fiction
Students reflect on the importance of science literacy. They review the year's science curriculum by reading, discussing and writing questions on teacher-selected New York Times articles and the related science content.
Curated OER
Trek Across America
Bring a time machine into your classroom with this writing lesson, in which young writers project themselves back in time and have a variety of choices from that point forward. They either write a conversation with a historical figure,...
Curated OER
Character in a Box
Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...
Curated OER
Characterization in Literature
Students discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization lesson, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. Students then describe a family member or a friend and...
Curated OER
Jurassic Park: The Science and Ethics of Genetic Engineering
Explore genetic engineering through an engaging "Jurassic Park" unit, which is an extensive use of a cross-curricular teaching event. Planned for AP Biology, English, and Calculus students, learners and teachers are involved for 4-6...
Reed Novel Studies
To Kill a Mockingbird: Novel Study
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American fiction writer whose biggest claim to fame was the creation of Tarzan. Using the novel study for Harper Lee's beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, pupils research and list facts about him or another...
Curriculum Corner
7th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists
Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess,...
Curated OER
Bridging the Centuries: Teaching the Nineteenth Century English Novel Today
Students compare and contrast the elements used in the 19th century British novel and those novels in American society today. In groups, they brainstorm what it might have been like to be a teenager growing up in England during the 19th...
Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency
Who Were the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free?
Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time Travel Adventure is the core text in a interdisciplinary unit study of immigration at the turn of the century.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9
With a nice description of what the standard means, an idea for a class activity, and a quiz with answers, this resource should deepen your (and your pupils') understanding of the targeted Common Core standard. The provided activity is...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies
Readers are first introduced to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by making a map of Africa. They will better understand the novel's historical and literary contexts, European and African literary traditions, and how...
Curated OER
Back to the Future
Students explore the benefits of new technology for the home and its possible drawbacks.
Curated OER
Analyzing and Evaluating Holocaust Literature
Young scholars examine the history of the Holocaust through literature. Using different pieces of literature, they critique the items in terms of being historical accurate and its value in telling the stories of the Holocaust. They...
Curated OER
From America, With Love
Students research the experiences of specific immigrant groups in the United States. Letters are written from imaginary immigrants to relatives in their countries of origin, including historically accurate details.
Curated OER
For the Birds
Young scholars examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus "scares" that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical...
Curated OER
Tossing the Text Book: Teaching Modern History
Tenth graders analyze primary sources. In this Current Events instructional activity, 10th graders write a short two - three paged paper answering a specific question. Students prepare a fact sheet for the class detailing...
Curated OER
The Sound of Music and Passage to Freedom
Seventh graders examine music examples to investigate a conflict in history about Hitler's invasions during WWII. In this music analysis lesson plan, 7th graders discuss vocabulary and the history for the Holocaust and Hitler's...
Curated OER
JIP: His Story
Students are provided with a three-column chart about a fictional character named Jip: looks, personality, and situation. After chapter 1 and chapter 2, students make notes on the charts and share that information with one other. They...
Curated OER
Big Time Lessons
Teaching students about time can provide a way to talk about sundials, different types of clocks, and even time travel.
Curated OER
Nomadic and Sedentary Tribes in Kansas
Seventh graders compare and contrast sedentary and nomadic tribe life. In this Native American culture lesson plan, 7th graders research primary documents about the Osage and Kiowa tribes. Students create a series of illustrations to be...
Curated OER
Through The Looking Glass
Students examine the time period of westward expansion. In groups, they use the internet to research the reasons why people moved west during the 1800s. They write their own narratives playing the role of a member of a pioneer family...
Curated OER
Snoozer
Students read a fictional story set during the Civil War and identify how oral history and folklore contribute to the richness of U.S. history, African American history, and baseball history.