Curated OER
Beauty in the Eye of the Scientist
Students research science's 10 most beautiful experiments and the historical periods in which these experiments were conducted. Then, students create magazine covers for issues of a fictional magazine.
Curated OER
Sailing Through History
Students research examples of different types of sailing ships, investigating the vessels as well as the politics, economy, and people at the historical time and place the boat was launched. They create displays for a museum exhibit...
Curated OER
Read "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez"Americo Paredes version
Pupils see examples of other types of written stories. They are introduced to the ballad in literature. Students obtain ideas for their own family story. They discuss how ballads can relate true stories through music. Pupils discuss...
Curated OER
"O Captain! My Captain!"
Who was Walt Whitman, and what link does he have to president Abraham Lincoln? After Lincoln's assassination, Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" This poem and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" are the focus of...
Curated OER
From the Middle Ages Straight to You
Students read a "letter" from Dr. Suess' Bartholomew Cubbins and note differences between their lives and Bartholomew's. They utilize prewriting strategies to draft a letter of response to Bartholomew.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...
Curated OER
Lesson Ideas to Enrich Student Inquiry into the Holocaust
Students inquire about the Holocaust. In this Holocaust lesson, students read books and discuss their thoughts. Students also collect current event articles from newspapers. Students investigate ghettos, Pearl Harbor and Navajo Code...
Small Planet Communications
Civil War
Students discuss political, social, and personal issues relating to the Civil War from various perspectives using internet sources. Students write various selections from Civil War characters' point of view.
Curated OER
Connection Stems
Learners connect their lives to a story or nonfiction text. In this reading connections lesson, students make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections as they complete connections stems based on a story.
Curated OER
The Cay
Designed for teachers who use Theodore Taylor's The Cay, this 11-page packet includes a synopsis of the story, chapter-based quizzes, and an answer key.
Our White House
The Our White House Inauguration Celebration Kit for Kids!
Get the youngest American citizens involved in the presidential election and inauguration with a set of social studies activities. Focusing on the history of presidential inauguration ceremonies, learners draft their own poems, design...
Curated OER
Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...
Curated OER
Adolescent Obesity and Susceptibility to Disease
Students understand the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and good health. In this health instructional activity students read text then create their own pamphlet on the cardiovascular system, weight gain, treatments and...
Curated OER
No is No, Si is Yes
Third graders match the body part words in Spanish to a picture. They receive a picture of a human with lines coming from its feet, hands, and arms. Students use a word bank, to write the Spanish word that corresponds to the picture. ...
Curated OER
Differentiating for High Ability Students
You can challenge high ability students in your classroom with these differentiated lesson plans.
Curated OER
Patricia Polacco, Author and Illustrator
Students conduct Internet research about the studenT author and illustrator Patricia Polacco. They compose letters to Ms. Polacco and, after revising and editing their work, send them in the mail.
Utah Education Network (UEN)
7th Grade Poetry: Ode Poem
Walt Whitman's "Captain, My Captain" and Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" provide seventh graders with examples of odes. After reading and discussing these and other examples, young poets craft an ode and respond to the ode of a...
Curated OER
That's the Spirit
Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...
Curated OER
A Comparison of the Play and Movie "Inherit the Wind"
Students read the play "Inherit the Wind" about the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. In groups, they choose their favorite scene and create a diorama dipicting the scene as they see it. They watch a recording of the play and compare it to their...
Curated OER
Through the Looking Glass: Life in Colonial Times
Fourth graders examine the life and times of those living in the colonial era. With a partner, they use laptops to complete their research on different aspects of colonial life. They also role-play the role of colonists and share their...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.9
Guided by close-reading questions, groups examine the similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. In addition, they look at how the principles are presented in these two foundational US...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7
Comparing information found in images, charts, and graphs with that found in written text can be a challenge for even senior high scholars. Provide learners with an opportunity to practice this skill with an exercise that asks them to...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
To Boldly Go, or Not
Here is a different way to combine social studies and science. Have your high schoolers read a passage about the 2004 vision for space exploration and then discuss the practicality, costs, and reasons for returning to the moon. Then, the...
Curated OER
Major Events Leading to the American Revolution
Students explore the causes of the American Revolution. In this taxation without representation lesson, students analyze political cartoons in order to gain an understanding of the efforts of the colonists to resolve conflict with...