Curated OER
Theocracy, Then and Now
High schoolers search the Web for resources to use in preparing the project, make and defend judgments as to the authority and appropriateness of resources they include or exclude from their projects, and write clearly in the expository...
Curated OER
Studying Anchor Papers
Students examine the Florida Writes! Rubric and discuss the basic elements of the scoring system. In small groups, they use the rubric to discuss and score several student essays.
Curated OER
Performance Event
Students examine the media by writing a compare/contrast paragraph. In this mass communications lesson, students identify and discuss the main sources of information for Americans in today's age. Students analyze pictures of people...
Curated OER
Summarizing
Young scholars summarize articles, editorials, and news programs. In this writing skills lesson, students take notes on news stories about one issue from more than one source and then write summaries of the issue using rule-based summary...
Curated OER
Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
Students explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative and...
Curated OER
Toulmin Argument Essay
After viewing a Prezi presentation on Toulmin’s argument, (claim, reason, warrant, backing, grounds, qualifiers, rebuttals), groups re-examine the format, and then individuals craft an argument essay in response to Lord Chesterfields...
Scholastic
Outlining Main Ideas and Details
Practice outlining and evaluating expository writing in this lesson. After discussing main ideas and seeing examples, young writers go through a sample outline and discuss the way to properly format a piece of writing. They then create...
Curated OER
Keywords: A Memorization Strategy
Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...
Curated OER
Yummy Venn Diagrams
Develop a list of topic sentences using a Venn diagram. The class compares Ritz cracker to Oreo cookies, create a list of possible topic sentences, then composes an expository paragraph comparing the two food items.
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...
San Francisco Symphony
Music Reflects History
Exploring the baroque era can be exciting and fun when it's done thorugh the arts. Middle schoolers examine the music and art history of the baroque era through research. They use their findings and class notes to create an expository...
Curated OER
Immigration
Second graders read about immigration from their text. They select one culture and identify characteristics of the group. Students complete a graphic organizer (included with the lesson). They recall and list various aspects of their...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Revelations
They say art often imitates life. Learners research and write an expository paper on modern dance choreographer, Alvin Ailey. They focus on describing how his life and background has influenced his dance creations. This is a great...
Curated OER
Poetic Justice: Understanding the Life of a Tethered Dog
The Humane Society provides a lesson in which class members explore the issue of tethering dogs. Through the resources used -- a comic, a poem, and narrative and expository writings -- class members realize that messages can be conveyed...
Curated OER
Evalating Expressions
Seventh graders investigate the concepts realted to using the Order of Operations. They write an expository paragraph to prepare for the direct instruction of the order or sequence to simplify numerical expressions.
Curated OER
Paraphrasing
Sixth graders practice paraphrasing. In this paraphrasing lesson, 6th graders read a paragraph and highlight the important words. They write a summary sentence of the paragraph making sure not to copy any sentences.
Curated OER
Exploring Literary Genre Through Latin American Literature
Students explore poetry and its meaning. After reading poems, students explore the literary elements such as the setting, character, problem, events and resolution. They compare and contrast descriptions given in poems. Students...
Curated OER
Immigrants to Kansas: Why Did They Come
Students explore U.S. History by researching Kansas. In this immigration lesson, students discuss the benefits of immigrating to a state like Kansas in the 1800's while writing their thoughts and research in a reporter's notebook....
Curated OER
Kansans on the Move
Second graders explore U.S. history by researching the state of Kansas. In this transportation lesson, 2nd graders research the transit habits of Kansas residents in the past and how challenging it could be for them to get around....
Curated OER
Dysfunctional Eating
Sixth graders study the concept of dysfuctional eating including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, fad dieting, and having an unbalanced diet. They watch and discuss videos about eating disorders and then they...
Curated OER
Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?
Students compare wolves' behaviors to those of the human race. In this wolf lesson students write a story that will show that wolves are either good or evil.
Curated OER
Cheetah Challenges
Students research the problems that cheetahs are facing in the wild. In this biology lesson, students discuss how animal rehabilitation works. They write blogs about it and comment on everyone's post.
Curated OER
Penguins: Sensitive Indicators
Students examine how penguins are affected by climate change. For this climate change lesson students research the impact of climate change then create a poster to call awareness to it.