National Endowment for the Humanities
Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World
Learners complete poetry analysis activities. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students consider the use of imagery and sound devices in poetry. Learners translate poetry into another art, read a diverse selection of...
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The Great Gatsby: Primary Sources from the Roaring Twenties
Young scholars research the Roaring Twenties. In this 1920's America lesson, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of lifestyles and values of the era as they read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
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Great Robert Frost Poems: Fun Trivia Quiz
This 10-question quiz tests familiarity with several Robert Frost poems. Before giving this quiz, you will want to review the questions to be sure you've covered each of the poems.
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The Characters of Great Expectations (Volume I): Fun Trivia Quiz
Test your class on character knowledge in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This quiz asks learners to recall information about specific character traits, relationships, and other particularities. Since anyone can make a Fun Trivia...
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Planning a Story
Have your class write stories. Learners discuss how to create a great beginning, develop a list of characters, and provide a resoulution of a story. There are some aspects of this presentation that could be altered to provide clearer and...
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Lecture 6 - Oral Interpretation - Verse
Students discuss how oral interpretation varies with prose and poetry. They select a piece of prose or poetry to present to the class, and then assess each other on the organization and delivery of their speech as well as on their...
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Language for Sale
Sixth graders think about writing terminology as they rewrite a catalogue descriptioin of an item for sale.
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Mix and Match Poetry
Third graders compare boring and vivid words: adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. They list them and come up with 10 vivid words on cards. They shuffle all the cards and use 10 to write "vivid" poetry.
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Menus
Students explore different styles of writing. In this writing lesson, students look at menus to get an idea of how many different types of writing there are. Students create their own menus and add border and clip art.
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Narrative Literature Response Letters
Third graders write endings to a story that has already been written. They offer alternative endings in their version. The instructional activity includes a rubric that is to be given to the students in order that they know the...
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Establishing a Point of View in Narratives
Fourth graders investigate the concept and take the opportunity to both identify and to construct point of view in narratives. Additionally, 4th graders practice identifying and sequencing main events.
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Historical Heroes and Character Sketches
Young scholars write a character sketch and present it in first person. In this historical heroes and character sketches lesson, students "meet" Harriet Tubman (played by their teacher) and discuss her...
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Breathing New Life into Old Traditions
Young scholars investigate the role of ceremonies and other traditions of Native American cultures. They research various Native American nations and create posters that visually depict their research.
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What's It Made Of? What's It Used For?
In this passive present simple verb worksheet, students in groups pick a card and practice describing the object for their group to guess what they are talking about. Students generate how big it is, what it's used for and/or what it's...
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Millennium Santa!
Third graders decide what would make Santa look modern and in style. They write a descriptive paragraph that another student then reads. They try to draw the image conveyed in the writing. They read the paragraphs and match them with the...
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Crafting Poetry: A Sensory Journey
Tenth graders experiment with poetry devices to write poems. In this poetry lesson, 10th graders participate in learning stations. Students create a word pool and select a word from the list to create a line of poetry. Students complete...
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Amazing Adjectives
Fourth graders compose sentences that use descriptive adjectives to describe a specific food and day that they both like and dislike. They should really enjoy coming up with words that describe their favorite and least favorite foods!
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Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Eleventh graders describe and analyze the effects of poetry on readers. They participate in an Internet scavenger hunt, an exercise involving interpretation of poetry through visual art, and an opportunity for students to create their...
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Varied Word Choice
Fifth graders examine how to use a variety of word choices when writing. They discuss how using more descriptive words leads to a more varied word choice, watch a teacher-created PowerPoint presentation, and using a Thesaurus replace...
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Brainstorm This!
Students discuss the advantages and types of brainstorming as a prewriting tool. They experiment with different styles of brainstorming and produce prewriting samples for assessment.
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Seasons: Writing Complete Sentences
In this sentence worksheet, students look at one picture for each season, then write a complete sentence for each picture. Lines are provided for sentences.
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Using Plural Nouns in Descriptions
In this plural nouns instructional activity, students complete three exercises that help them understand and use plural nouns in descriptive writing.
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Zooming In, Zooming Out
Students develop their writing skills. In this writing lesson, students play a word game to help them formulate a plan to write descriptions of people or objects using descriptive words.
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Rainbow Joe and Me
Young scholars complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Rainbow Joe and Me. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have...