Curated OER
NASA Plans Moon Base
Learners react to statements about the moon, then read a news article about NASA's plans to build a permanent base on the moon. In this space science and current events activity, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and a...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: The Cycle of Addiction
Drug addiction, including prescription drug addiction, begins with a reason that's different for every user. High schoolers learn more about the reasons people begin abusing drugs with a set of videos and worksheets that discuss four...
Curated OER
Making Inferences
Students discover how making inferences helps people solve problems. In this inference instructional activity, students read a story aloud and discuss problems as they occur in the story. Students work in small groups and use events in...
Curated OER
War Literature
Working in groups, young historians review a war poem written by Stephen Crane. After reviewing the poem, they present an oral interpretation of the poem and hold a panel discussion about their analysis. The panel is made up of five or...
Curated OER
Recreate the Race
Young scholars research and find the route of the Alaskan dog sled race.In this Iditarod race lesson students find the checkpoints for the Iditarod on a map. Young scholars research information in pairs about each one of the checkpoints....
Curated OER
Understanding Different Views on Death
A thought-provoking lesson presents how different cultures view death. Upper elementary through high school pupils engage in a series of activities that will leave them with a new understanding of how death is dealt with globally....
Curated OER
It's Your Opinion
Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...
Berkshire Museum
Where’s the Water?: Acting Out Science Cycles
Young scientists transform themselves into rivers, oceans, clouds, and drops of water in order to explore the water cycle. After assigning and explaining to students their different roles in the activity, the teacher reads aloud a...
Curated OER
Character Education: Honesty
Middle schoolers define what honesty means. They will discuss omission as a form of telling lies. Furthermore, they will compare and contrast to other forms of lying. In the end, they give examples of different types of lies and evaluate...
Curated OER
Noisy Nora, Studious Students: Story Elements
Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 11: Beginnings
Every good novel needs a solid beginning! Setting the stage can have your budding authors stumped, so use this lesson to get them thinking. After examining the plot rollercoaster image (included) they consider the four places...
Common Sense Media
Private Today, Public Tomorrow
What responsibility do we have to protect the privacy and safety of others when posting information about them online? This is an essential lesson for every learner today experiencing their social and professional worlds in an online...
Curated OER
Barter vs. Money
First graders listen to the book, Sheep in a Shop, that leads them to think about making financial decisions, trading, and the barter system. After the book is read aloud, a discussion ensues about some of the things that the sheep...
Curated OER
Muggie Maggie- Lesson 1
Learners predict and read a chapter in a book. For this vocabulary and comprehension lesson, students learn new vocabulary words, make predictions of the story and then read and discuss chapter one of Muggie Maggie. Learners...
Curated OER
Cinderella
Explore positive and negative character traits and universal themes in the story of Cinderella with primary learners. Story elements are reviewed and discussion questions are listed. Learners practice retelling the story and begin a...
Curated OER
Prewriting, Using Pictures
Young readers practice getting information from both the text and the illustrations found in books they are reading. They see that quite often, authors use pictures to help them get their writing process started. Youngsters are invited...
Historical Thinking Matters
Rosa Parks: 5 Day Lesson
What led to the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and how might historians approach this question differently? This rich series of lessons includes a short introductory video clip, analysis of six primary source documents, and...
Curated OER
Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist?
Listening is a skill. This lesson will provide your pupils with clear guidelines for what to do when someone else is speaking. Whether you ask them to note key words in a talk, to prepare two questions about the presentation, or to note...
Curated OER
Test Your Speaking & Listening Skills
In this speaking and listening worksheet, students work with partners reading and replying to questions and statements. Students write down their responses after the complete the activity orally.
Curated OER
Mystery or Hogwash?
Eighth graders choose topics of interest, and select books from the library about them. They utilize a worksheet embedded in the text which has the students rate the text they've read based on it's "believability factor." An interesting...
Curated OER
What is a Make Believe Story?
Explore the concept of make believe stories. In this genres of literature instructional activity, students discover the difference between realistic fiction and fantasy. They are asked questions during and after the reading of a book to...
Curated OER
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse: Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another...
Curated OER
CAN WE SWITCH GENDERS OF STORY CHARACTERS?
Analyze characters and stories to identify stereotyping. Learners will examine the concept of character gender to evaluate bias in classroom story books. They are asked to read a story or play and change the gender of the character to...
Curated OER
Summary and "The Fallacy of Success"
Suggested to accompany a class reading of The Great Gatsby, this plan begins with a discussion emphasizing the reputation of Vanderbilt University. Then, after the class has a working knowledge of the wealth associated with the school,...