Curated OER
Teddy Roosevelt
Students examine the life, contributions, and influence of Teddy Roosevelt. They view a slideshow lecture and take notes on a handout, filling in the blanks on the handout. Students then write a persuasive letter to a governmental...
Curated OER
Creating Hate: The Power of Words
Students explore why authors choose to use hate words in literature. In this power of words lesson, students complete group participation, journal entries, and written assignments to investigate the use of inflammatory...
Curated OER
Westward Ho: The Difficulties of Emigrants Moving West
Students research the journey west of 19th century emigrants. In this pioneer lesson, students read the letters and diaries of a fictitious family traveling on the Oregon Trail. They mark their route on a US map, create a chart showing...
Curated OER
Look at What I Did at School!
Third graders use an outline to write a letter to their parents sharing their week at school.
Curated OER
Dear FCAT Checker
Students practice writing business letters by writing a letter to the person who grade their FCAT test.
Curated OER
A Soldier's Valentine
Students create Valentine's for soldiers in Iraq. They review how to write a friendly paragraph and discuss the military and duties of soldiers in Iraq. They create postcards and write reasons why they are rpoud of the military and how...
Curated OER
Letters From The Diaspora
Students investigate the concept of mass migration and conduct research using a variety of resources. The information is used in order to create letters written from the perspective of a person who may have migrated during the time period.
Curated OER
Denial on Trial
What is the "Faurisson Affair”? What is “Holocaust Revisionism”? What does freedom of speech entail? Do revisionists have a right to voice their ideas? Such questions are at the heart of a richly detailed, thought provoking lesson...
Curated OER
Justice Is Blind, Colorblind That Is
It's so interesting to see kids respond to articles about education. To start the day, prompt learners to discuss the words colorblindness and diversity. Then, split your class in two and have one side read an article from 2007 and...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
The Boston Massacre: You Be the Judge!
The importance of considering multiple perspectives of the same event is the big idea in this exercise that focuses on the Boston Massacre. Class groups examine photos of four depictions of the massacre, an English and an American...
Curated OER
Heroes in History - ABC Book
Youngsters research information about people in history that we recognize as heroes. They write short biographies about their assigned heroes, and create an ABC book. This is an ambitious project becausev26 people must be chosen and...
Curated OER
Christmas Candy
Here is a tasty topic for a instructional activity: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create...
Curated OER
Lifestyles of Civil War
Eighth graders, after viewing a website on Civil War Time, explore and analyze the lifestyles of Civil War times as well as those of the soldiers through the writing of a composition of a narrative letter and story through the eyes of a...
Curated OER
El Salvador: Whose Breakfast Isn't for the Birds?
Sixth graders investigate the understanding of where coffee is grown by conducting a survey. They study the natural history of coffee and examine bird habitats in the areas where coffee is grown. They write letters to explaining the...
Curated OER
Left-to-Right Reading
Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing!
Maryland Department of Education
Our Children Can Soar
Amazing efforts of African American leaders are celebrated in a lesson on civil participation. The engaging resource focuses on primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of African American leaders such as Ella Fitzgerald....
Curated OER
Weather Proverbs
Define and write proverbs! Learners define proverbs, use the Internet to find weather-related proverbs, and talk with their parents to learn other proverbs. There's a well-structured worksheet included here.
Curated OER
During Reading Strategy for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations
Readers create a literary scrapbook for one of the characters in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and fill it with mementoes, journal entries, letters, etc. A great way to get kids to think about characterization.
Curated OER
Lights, Camera....Ticket
Using a variety of linked sites, young scholars gather information about the pros and cons of traffic light cameras generating tickets. Students are encouraged to interview city officials. They prepare a presentation, and decide for...
Curated OER
Punctuating a Paragraph
Do your fourth graders need a little help with punctuation? Use this run-on paragraph to demonstrate proofreading for capitalization, punctuation, and separating ideas into separate paragraphs. At the end of the activity, learners...
Curated OER
My Secret War: Lesson 5
Fifth graders determine how freedom comes with rights and responsibilities through literature and poetry about World War II. In this World War II lesson, 5th graders use the letters in the word "infamy" to write an acrostic poem. They...
Curated OER
Read With Your Fingers
In this social studies worksheet, students investigate the Braille alphabet as a means of reading for the blind. Students study the Braille alphabet chart and read the information. Students translate 7 words into Braille and write a...
Curated OER
The ABCs of the Holocaust
The ABC book format is used to organize information found in a Holocaust research project. Class members use the library and/or online resources to collect information and organize their findings under key terms, places, or names. Before...
Curated OER
Reading Primary Source Documents: Historical Content
Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...