Curated OER
Barbara Jordan
Students examine the contributions made to our country by Barbara Jordan. They read and discuss the books "The Sneetches" and "Building a Bridge," write journal entries, participate in a discrimination simulation, create a class...
Curated OER
Dolores Huerta
Students examine the life of Dolores Huerta and her contributions to the development of labor unions. They read the book "Cesar Chavez: Triumph of Spirit," and in groups create a quiz, complete a Venn diagram, listen to a guest...
Curated OER
Elizabeth Fry
Students examine the life of Elizabeth Fry and her contributions to prison reform. They participate in a visualization exercise, listen to a guest speaker, create a quilt as a community service project, write journal entries, and...
Curated OER
Women Immigrants in the Promised Land
Students examine the experience of female immigrants as they arrive in the United States. They create a timeline of women's rights in the U.S., write journal entries, conduct Internet research and read online excerpts from "The Promised...
Curated OER
Mortified: What Does it Feel Like?
Students discover what it means to be mortified or embarrassed. In this personal development lesson plan, students watch a video clip and discuss why the character becomes embarrassed and how it relates to their every day life. The...
Curated OER
MRI Safety Challenge
Learners write journal entries where they analyze potential safety dangers of an MRI machine. In this MRI lesson plan, students pretend that they are safety engineers, and produce a pamphlet of all of their findings.
Curated OER
Consumer Confusion: Wants versus Needs and Gandhi's Wisdom
Fourth graders create graphs to illustrate consumer consumption throughout the world. In this consumer lesson plan, 4th graders also discuss wants and needs around the world, and consider Gandhi's opinion on material possessions as they...
Curated OER
Gold Fever
Students read the story Gold Fever about the Gold Rush and write journal entries as if they were miners. In this Gold Rush lesson plan, students also pull out rocks from a back, and if they pick a gold one, they have struck it rich!
Curated OER
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Journals
Like the characters in Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, class members write frequently with a series of journal topics that form the basis of the final writing assignment about their personal “heavy boots.” Alas, no list of topics is...
Curated OER
The Holocaust: Watching the Anchor
Students view a film about the Holocaust titled "Devil's Arithmetic" that is based on the novel by Jane Yolen. They write journal entries to predict which characters will live or die and explore their personal reactions to the film.
Curated OER
Digital Nature Journaling
Students create a digital journal every week using adapted technology that depicts the chosen focus for the week. In this digital journaling lesson, students search for items that depict the focus of the week and take photos. Students...
Curated OER
Creating A Life Map
Students investigate the concept of a life plan and how to write one with the help of a graphic organizer that encourages one to create a timeline for planning. They write journal prompts that are based upon personal knowledge of life...
Curated OER
Reading Meet Writing
Thinking about introducing your middle schoolers to reading log journals? Try the approach suggested by this resource. After reading to the class an article or portion of a novel, demonstrate a Think Aloud and then model how to transform...
Curated OER
Scientists Write!
Students use a journal to record observations. They make notes about what research may be needed to answer questions that have come up in the field and sketch or make connections in the curriculum. They research bioinformatics and...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Simplifying Exponential Expressions
This exponential expression resource has each of the class members determine the value of given exponential expressions. They use their calculator to find the values and identify patterns. Besides writing the numbers exponentially, they...
Curated OER
Be Specific, Go West To The Pacific
Fifth and sixth graders follow Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the Pacific and back again. They read online journal entries made by Lewis and Clark to gather information. The official Lewis and Clark website is used by learners to...
Curated OER
Music Theories
Explore the inception and evolution of hip-hop music as a springboard for writing music reviews and researching other genres of music. Learners will read and discuss the Times' article, From Underground Music to Fashion Statement to then...
Curated OER
Anonymous Sources in the Media
When do people ask for anonymity? Why? After reading the New York Times article "For a Reporter and a Source, Echoes of Broken Promise," young readers participate in a roundtable discussion focusing on freedom of the press and the use of...
Curated OER
Short But Sweet
After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...
Foreign Policy Association
U.S. and Europe Online Lesson Plan
Class groups investigate the economic and political implications of a country's policies on genetically modified foods, craft a position paper detailing that policy, and share their findings with the class. Armed with this...
Curated OER
Soda to be Absent from Schools
Should schools serve soda to students? Learners read an artlcle that argues against the sale of soda in schools and engage in a class discussion. They then complete a short assessment to check for comprehension and reflect on the...
Curated OER
Math Journal: Functions and Coordinate Geometry
Fifth graders examine the many uses of coordinate grids. For this graphing lesson, 5th graders write data driven equations, discuss the x and y-axis, and determine if using 2 or 3 ordered pairs is better. Students complete several...
Curated OER
An Immigrant's Journey
Middle schoolers collect photos of immigrants coming to the United States. They write fictional journal entries for one of the photographs.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Middle schoolers complete a unit of lessons that explore the poetic voice of Langston Hughes. They define voice, read and analyze various poems by Langston Hughes, and complete journal entries for each instructional activity.