Curated OER
Chinese Dynasties
Students explore several Chinese dynasties and research various topics including papermaking, calligraphy, and Lu Hou. They also demonstrate how to use an abacus and create several math problems to solve with it. Choosing a dynasty,...
Curated OER
The Editing Process
Learners in upper-level college-bound English classes review the editing process and terms such as, tone, diction, transition, and conclusion. They read and evaluate a sample essay and identify parts they feel they could improve on. ...
Curated OER
Straight News
Students review the 'Inverted Pyramid' and demonstrate their ability to outline it in a published news story. For this Inverted pyramid lesson plan, students read an article that is out of order and decide which order it should go in.
Curated OER
Writing a Short Story -History
Students write a short story set in a selected period of history. They conduct research on a selected period of history, write and edit a rough draft of their short story, and submit a final draft of their story that includes details...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day instructional...
Museum of Tolerance
Artifact Research Activity
Artifacts give us the privilege of learning about the past, may it be family, culture, or traditions. Here, class members learn about their family's past with the help of an artifact, or family heirloom. Once an artifact is...
National History Day
Leland Linman’s War: A Look at Soldiers’ Daily Lives in World War I
Hunkering down in the trenches of World War I, Leland Linman decided to write a journal about his experiences. By reading Linman's entries in the fourth installment of an eight-part lesson series, scholars get a firsthand look at life in...
Weebly
Infographic Project
This multi-faceted, progressive project includes an array of activities for analyzing and evaluating a theme of American history. Learners begin by constructing a timeline of events in United States history using Google docs, create a...
Ohio Literacy Resource Center
Arguing with Aristotle Ethos, Pathos, Logos
Introduce your classes to the Art of Rhetoric with a lesson that focuses on Aristotle's persuasive appeals and how they have been used, both ethically and unethically, to influence opinion.
Curated OER
"Blackbeard's Ghost" Differentiated Lesson Plan
Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...
Curated OER
Why Do We Need Clean Air to Live? - Biology Teaching Thesis
High schoolers name the main components of the respiratory system. They write a reaction that contains complete sentences, and uses proper spelling and grammar, after viewing a video. Students define the following terms: lungs,...
Curated OER
teaching Geography Using Literature in K-University Classrooms
Students read one of the following books: Minn of the Mississippi, Paddle-to-the-Sea, or Seabird, all by Holling C. Holling, and identify the five themes of geography as well as make a literature journal with chapter field notes. They...
Curated OER
Keeping Your Heart in Good Shape: What are the Benefits? - Biology Teaching Thesis
Students name the main parts of the heart and what events occur there. They write a reaction that contains complete sentences, and uses proper spelling and grammar, after viewing a video. Students define the following terms: contraction,...
Curated OER
Cartoons for the Classroom: Why are Cartoonists Vital to Democracy
A thought-provoking activity doesn't prompt learners to analyze a political cartoon, but rather the importance of political cartoonists in general. They work together and discuss the role cartoonists play in the democratic system. Use...
PBS
A Time and Place: The Importance of Setting in To Kill a Mockingbird
A strong community acts as a family during difficult times. The evidence for the family aspects of Maycomb is abundant in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and it is the focus of a lesson on the importance of setting as it relates...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Final Drafting
Young scholars are able to revise their own essays for greater clarity and fluency, adding explanation where needed and cutting extraneous information where appropriate. They are able to compose an academic essay with a complete...
Curated OER
My Favorite Thing to Do
Students realize that a paragraph is a short piece of writing that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Every story, essay, article, or book is like a patchwork quilt made of little paragraphs stitched together
Curated OER
Learning About Evaluation
Students evaluate the essays of their classmates. In this evaluation instructional activity, students write two non-fiction essays on two different topics that they may choose. After a lecture on the aspects of the paper that will be...
Curated OER
Character Traits and People in Black History
Third graders, after reading a one-page biographical essay, write in paragraph form how an African American has demonstrated a certain character trait.
Curated OER
Create Your Island Paradise
Sixth graders create a descriptive essay and map describing their island paradise. They try to evoke the reader's senses: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. They revise their paragraphs using their partner's feedback.
Curated OER
"Write" Answers
Students examine the Q.& A. articles found each week in Science Times, focusing on how the answers are presented in a clear and logical way, as well as the relevance of understanding science's roles in our daily lives.
Curated OER
Using Transitions
Students explore the importance of using transitional phrases in their writing. They discuss why transitions are important to their writing and various types of transitions that they can use. Students practice using transitions in their...
Curated OER
Creepy Read Week
Here's a clever technology twist to writing in the round. Participants rotate through a series of computers adding to stories and editing by keystroke and mouse click. "Locked" forms prevent the loss of stories filled with suspense and...
Curated OER
Writer's Craft: Foreshadowing
Track instances of foreshadowing in any text with a straightforward graphic organizer. In one column, learners note down the events that happened, and in the other they list the clues that indicated that those events would happen. Some...