Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Young scholars read and analyze the novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. They discuss the poetry and prose of the book, the importance of role models, complete a worksheet, and write a narrative using figurative...
Lesson Plan
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Cinquain Poems

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders investigate the concept of composing a Cinquain poems. They copy a poem from a slide presentation given by the teacher. Students experiment changing the font in the poem. They also receive information about the format used...
Lesson Plan
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Literature and History of the Holocaust

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine quotes and text passages related to the Holocaust. They generate a list of questions about the Holocaust and analyze a piece of writing based on the authorship of the work. They infer the meaning of a poem and determine...
Lesson Plan
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Oliver/Kenyon

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Learners, through two pieces of writing, identify poetic/language devices through the speakers, personification , imagery, metaphor, etc. They assess the patterns those devices are used in and analyze the theme of each. Each student...
Lesson Plan
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Freddie the Fungus:A Play about Decomposers (Elementary, Computer)

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
First the class learns how to write a Haiku poem. Then, they use kidpix to illustrate their poem. 
Lesson Plan
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Tell Me That You Love Me 5-7-5

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students listen to several examples of Haiku poetry and discuss the strict format. Then students create and edit their own Haiku poems and enhance them with ink designs.
Lesson Plan
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Looking for Newton

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students discuss the rhyming pattern of various types of poetry. With a focus on limericks, they follow the specific rhyme scheme and create a limerick about Newton. They share their poem with the class and write another one related to...
Lesson Plan
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Books for Teaching Dinosaurs

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students investigate dinosaurs through books. In this lesson about dinosaurs, students read a variety of books about dinosaurs. Students become familiar with dinosaurs through reading about them. Students learn that reading is...
Lesson Plan
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A Christmas Carol Reaction

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders explore writing in voice. They read and discuss A Christmas Carol and the trait of voice in writing. They write a bio poem about one of the characters and his traits, feelings, attitudes and reactions. They write their...
Lesson Plan
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We're Going to the Zoo!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars write and publish a poem as part of a class poetry collection after analyzing the poetic structures of haiku, limericks, sound poems and free verse. After viewing a multimedia demonstration of the poetic structures, and...
Lesson Plan
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Flowers, Flowers, Flowers...A Visit with Georgia O'Keeffe

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students analyze, discuss, and research Georgia O'Keeffe and her flower paintings. They select a flower to paint and create a watercolor painting in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe. Students compose a poem describing their painting.
Lesson Plan
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Art and National Identity: Analyzing Painting and Literature from the Era of Manifest Destiny

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students begin the lesson by discussing the causes and effects of the movement west. Using primary sources, they develop their own definition for manifest destiny. In groups, they view examples of paintings and read poems on the topic. ...
Lesson Plan
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Karen Hesse's Witness; Tolerance and Non-Discrimination

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students complete a graphic organizer depicting character views regarding African Americans during the early 20th century in America. In this graphic organizer of views lesson, students read the book Witness and become familiarized with...
Lesson Plan
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Honoring Our Veterans Through Poetry Prewriting

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students learn about the origins of holidays and cultural practices in the United States
Lesson Plan
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October's Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students listen to poetry about crocodiles. After discussing the relationship between humans and crocodiles, they make a list of ways humans hurt crocodiles and then write Prelutsky's poem from the crocodile perspective.
Lesson Plan
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Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students participate in various activities which address Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In this holiday lesson plan, students are exposed to Hebrew songs and construct Haiku poems about Yom Kippur.
Lesson Plan
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So You Want to Be A Poet?

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders study different types of poetry and then write examples in this unit. They write, among others, free verse, Diamante, Clerihew, and color poems.
Lesson Plan
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Listening for Tone

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students read and listen to various poems as they are read by different readers using different tones. They read "Jabberwocky" and in groups, determine what they think the nonsense words in the poem mean. The groups compare thier ideas...
Lesson Plan
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Tongue Twisters

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders read the poem, "Betty Botter" and give their opinion of it. They discover what a tongue twister is and read the poem out loud together. Then as a class they read "Peter Piper" and discuss the similarities of the two poems.
Lesson Plan
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Night Sounds

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students listen and discuss the sounds they heard at night. They write a class poem about those sounds at night. They keep a chart on their desk for ideas. The poem is read aloud to the class when it is finished.
Lesson Plan
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The Spider and the Fly

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students incorporate the knowledge they learned about spiders on the ISM Web site, Spider Collection, and other Web sites they viewed on spiders to write a rhyming poem (possibly choosing a poem type illustrated here) about an aspect of...
Lesson Plan
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Incident

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students gain insight into human behavior from the study of literature. They read a poem and respond by creating a poem of their own. After a lecture/demo, students utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan to help them compose an...
Lesson Plan
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students complete activities for the autobiography of Maya Angelou. In this autobiography lesson, students write a journal entry about their life and discuss the morphology of the word autobiography. Students use active reading...
Lesson Plan
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Searching For The American Dream

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders explore the meaning of the American dream and how it has been explained in various forms. After reading various immigrant accounts, 9th graders use poetry and writing to explain how different cultures view the American...