Curated OER
Great Gatsby's Jazz
As Nick wanders the grounds of Gatsby's mansion, he observes the behaviors of the rowdy guests and listens to the music pouring over the lawn. Bring the music of the jazz age into the classroom with Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues,"...
Curated OER
Games around the World
There are three little words every teacher is just dying to hear; investigate, discuss, and play. Kids love those words too, and they'll love finding out what types of things children did for fun long ago. As homework, they interview...
Free Library of Philadelphia
Resources for Ghost Boys
Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ghost Boys, wanted to bring the historical legacy of Emmett Till and the current topic of racial prejudice into today's young readers' mindsets. Use a reading guide and set of discussion questions to...
Do2Learn
Social Play Action Figures
Three activities stem from one hands-on project designed to explore character traits. Scholars create an action figure that reflects their personality to teach others about themselves and role play conversational skills.
Curated OER
Animal Diaries
Launch this lesson with Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm! Discuss the format and content of a diary, and ask learners if they've ever kept a diary before. Then, after an introductory discussion, have learners choose an insect or another...
Curated OER
The Chinese Produce Paper as We Know it Today
Tenth graders explore where paper originated and its importance from the Chinese to the rest of the world. They list ten ways that they use paper on a daily basis and rate that use on a scale from one to ten. Each group also brainstorms...
Curated OER
Read, Write and Talk
Fourth graders explore electricity by reading a story in their class. In this research technique lesson, 4th graders read a Magic School Bus book together and decide which elements of the story are the most important when asked about...
Curated OER
Can I Tell You Where I am?
Students participate in a lesson that is concerned with the factors of describing a neighborhood. They follow a set of target questions in order to obtain information about individual neighborhoods. The information is used The write...
Folger Shakespeare Library
Pre-Reading Hamlet with "Hamlet: An Insider’s Guide"
Prove that Gertrude did kill Ophelia from practicing the word inflections activities with these pre-reading strategies for Hamlet. Thespians practice the line, “Is that your sandwich?” as they stress and accent different words, and...
Alabama Learning Exchange
A Novel Study Unit to Take Us Back in Time
A Novel Study is the focus of this Literature PowerPoint. A class is about to have author Chris Paul come speak to their class about his novel, The Watson's Go to Birmingham - 1963. Before his appearance, the class is directed to do an...
Curated OER
You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer!
Students study women's clothing in the 19th century as well as one prominent
feminist of the time. They examine women's dress of the period from the picture book read aloud You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! They provide adjectives...
Curated OER
Character Found Poems: Investigating Language in Twelfth Night
Students create found poems to represent characters in Twelfth Night. In this Shakespeare lesson, students discuss how to compose found poems and select characters from the play to write their poems about.
Curated OER
Can You Hear Macbeth Now?
Learners explore how sound affects scene understanding using the Shakespeare play Macbeth. In this audio and play analysis lesson, students respond to Macbeth events as if they were at a sporting event. Learners listen to parts of the...
Curated OER
Examining Redemption in King Lear
High schoolers examine the concept of the tragic hero in Shakespeare's King Lear and explore how it affects the plot of the play. In this theatrical analysis lesson plan, students investigate the redemption or defeat of King Lear and...
Curated OER
"MONEY FOR SOMETHING:" UNDERSTANDING USURY IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
Students learn the concept of usury in The Merchant of Venice.
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Miss Bindergarten Stays Home (Slate)
What is Miss Bindergarten up to now? Joseph Slate's story Miss Bindergarten Stays Home is an excellent resource for budding readers to practice five vocabulary words in context: advise, lesson, lovely, strum, and substitute. As they...
Virginia Department of Education
Weather Patterns and Seasonal Changes
Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...
Lesson Plans
Student Info
Inform your instruction with information about your pupils. These student information pages will help you gather data about your classes. The first page focuses on educational history and preferences and the second asks for contact...
Curated OER
Exciting Expressions
Elementary schoolers observe and demonstrate a variety of strategies for reading with expression. They listen to the teacher read A Fine, Fine School with and without expression and discuss the differences. Then in pairs, read the same...
Curated OER
BC First Nations Studies 12
If your class is learning about the economics, culture, and education options provided for the First Nations, then they'll love this task. They'll answer 32 discussion-based questions related to the rights, treatment, and policy that...
American Museum of Natural History
Tools of the Trade
Archaeologist David Hurst Thomas details his search for a lost Spanish Mission on St. Catherines Island, Georgia. A great way to introduce youngsters to the life of and the tools used by archaeologists.
Curated OER
News Quiz: Feb. 29, 2012
Quiz your kids on what they know about current headlines. They'll answer five questions related to items found in the New York Times dated February 29, 2012. These events may not be current, but that doesn't change the fact they're...
Curated OER
A Day on the Space Station
Fifth graders discover what it would be like to live in space. In this technological advancements lesson, 5th graders discuss how space life would be different from Earth life. Students also identify how technology has made life in space...
Curated OER
Lesson 8: Prithee, Pause!
High school learners examine primary source materials on history and the supernatural which relate to Julius Caesar. They then act out a scene based on different historical understandings and identify facts, theories, and similarities in...