DePaul University
Settlement
Early settlers in the American Midwest experienced constant struggle. This reading passage describes for young learners the hardships of homesteaders as they journeyed west and sought to start a new life. When finished, students identify...
Curated OER
Working at the Hospital
Having this reading passage handy to assess your learners' ability to process written text, practice summary with your class, and improve reading comprehension. This passage is about the people who work at the hospital. Learners read...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Compare and Contrast
Work with your class to fill out this Venn diagram. Pupils can compare and contrast any two things and then write a short paragraph about the relationship demonstrated in their diagram.
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Locate and Classify Information About a Topic
After reading a text, ask your pupils to recall and organize what they've just learned into a blank three-column chart. Class members write the topic and fill in the columns with information. The sheet also prompts students to write a...
Walters Art Museum
The Symbolism of Allegorical Art
Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...
Novelinks
The House on Mango Street: Discussion Web
As part of a final discussion of The House on Mango Street, groups examine a concept question about the text, record arguments for and opposed to the question, and then a draw their own conclusions.
9/11 Memorial & Museum
Exploring Afghani Culture through Literature
Hosseini Khaled's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are the anchor texts in a semester-long course that explores Afghani culture and traditions.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Interactive Reading Project
Students discuss books they are reading during the semester through e-mail with other students. They complete a reading interest survey, e-mail their partner weekly, and read and suggest six novels by the end of the semester.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Ready, Set,...Research!
Third graders complete a research project on a weather topic using a variety of resource materials. They demonstrate the use of dictionaries and encyclopedias. They write a report using the research material and grade level appropriate...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Who Sank the Boat?
Fifth graders experiment with student-made aluminum boats to test for buoyancy. They design a boat and determine how many marbles it takes to sink it while recording their data in a spreadsheet. They design a graph using the data and...
Curated OER
The Importance Setting and Mood in Fiction
Seventh graders examine the setting in pieces of fiction. In this story analysis lesson, 7th graders investigate the setting in fictional stories and the importance it has. Students discover new vocabulary terms applying to...
Curated OER
Soliloquy Performances
Students investigate soliloquies. In this performing arts instructional activity, students discuss figurative language within soliloquies and then perform a soliloquy to the rest of the class.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Drawing Conclusions Based on Literary Elements
Students compare versions of Cinderella and draw conclusions based on the story elements identified. In this literacy comprehension and story elements lesson plan, students read several versions of Cinderella, complete a "Comparing...
Curated OER
The Mozart Effect
Students develop a concept of why skepticism is important in science by looking at actual scientific studies regarding the effect of playing Mozart's music to infants. They record a journal of their inner thoughts and feelings while...
Curated OER
America's Favorite Landmarks
Young scholars research using Google Earth a variety of websites to explore America's most prominent and famous buildings. They then compare and contrast architectural styles and write a position paper defending or arguing against their...
Curated OER
Design in Production
Young scholars are introduced to product design. In this social studies and technology lesson plan, students examine the historical role of mass production in the development of American business and industry and then apply their...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Light Is
Students explore the properties of light. In this light lesson, students investigate visible light by viewing a website, examining an electromagnetic spectrum chart, and observing light demonstrations. Students write about their...
Curated OER
Technologies of the Civil War
Fifth graders discover new and interesting technologies of the Civil War. In this Civil War portfolio of lessons, 5th graders analyze primary resources, develop new vocabulary, investigate websites, and create a time line of new...
Curated OER
Transcendentalism and Epiphany in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine
Twelfth graders examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. In this transcendentalism lesson, 12th graders determine what this type of writing entails before reading a passage from, Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine. They cite three...
Curated OER
Beatrix Potter's Naughty Animal Tales
Students gain insight into the unusual, solitary world of Beatrix Potter's Victorian childhood and can compare/contrast it with their own world to explain why Potter wrote such simple stories and why she wrote about animals rather than...
Curated OER
Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Dramatic Monologue
Students read and analyze the poem, "My Last Duchess," by Robert Browning. They examine the use of dramatic monologue as a poetic device, and write a character profile of the Duke.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Echolocation Stations: Exploring Sound
Fourth graders explore the concept of echolocation during a unit on whales. They listen to the book and watch the Reading Rainbow video for "Humphrey: The Wayward Whale," explore various websites, and conduct experiments to demonstrate...
Curated OER
The Jungle and Readers Response
Students identify the conditions that many workers faced during the Industrial Revolution. They work collaboratively to explain and identify key elements from Chapter 14 of The Jungle.
Curated OER
Children's Book Creations
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. For this children's book lesson, students design their book to explain Japanese culture to...