Curated OER
Blue Moon
Students explore information about the moon. In this trans-disciplinary lesson, students first listen to a picture book about the moon, then create an accompanying art project to illustrate a blue moon. Finally, the students write facts...
Curated OER
The Missing Word
Young scholars, after reading a short story, predict possible missing words by utilizing context clues and graphophonic clues. A picture book with several words covered up sets the scene for this lesson. They share their predictions in...
Curated OER
Lesson Plans for Sweet Dreams: How Animals Sleep
Students explore the sleeping patterns and sleeping habitats of animals. In this where animals sleep lesson, students research different animal species. Students also write and illustrate an animal picture book, make connections...
Curated OER
Art, Literature, & Environment
Students communicate their thoughts on the environment by creating picture books for middle school students. Students include their thoughts on population, deforestation, water, energy, endangered species, and waste in their picture...
Curated OER
Silouettes of New York City
Second graders create a New York City silhouette. In this visual arts lesson plan, 2nd graders view the picture book, Uptown, and identify the silhouettes. Students use construction paper, paint, and a flashlight to create artistic...
Curated OER
Bats About Stellaluna
Students, after listening to Janelle Cannon's picture book Stellaluna, explore a variety of living things through three distinct activities. They make a list of what they know and want to know about birds and bats. Orally and in writing...
Curated OER
Endangered Species... It's Not Too Late
Students choose an endangered species to research and report on. In this endangered species lesson, students complete a worksheet to gather information about their endangered animal and then use to write a book about the animal and...
Curated OER
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
Third graders participate in a pre-writing activity that reinforces organization in writing. They write a piece of narrative writing using the traits of organization.
Curated OER
Picture Dictionary
Students create picture dictionaries to encourage the development of letter-sound recognition. In this alphabet project, students cut out pictures from magazines and glue them onto tagboard, and then write the name of the picture below...
Curated OER
Solving an Original Character's Problem With Voice and Emotion
Students read the story A Bad Case of the Stripes and then write their own story conveying a lot of emotion. In this writing lesson plan, students select a title, an emotion, brainstorm, and then start writing.
Curated OER
Writing with Vivid Verbs
Learners find vivid verbs in literature and use them in their own writing. In this vivid verbs lesson plan, students use a 'Thinking Thesaurus' of major verbs to study common verbs. Learners then practice rewriting sentences using vivid...
Curated OER
Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words
First graders write simple sentences based on historical figures they find in pictures. In this simple sentences lesson plan, 1st graders search for pictures in Microsoft Word and write simple sentences about them. These pictures and...
Curated OER
Perspective
Students explore the writing trait of voice. In this writing skills lesson, students read No, David! and discuss the author's use of voice. Students write a class version of the story called Yes, David! that incorporates an alternative...
Live Oak Media
Activity Guide: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat
Enhance a reading of the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book Joseph had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this collection of learning activities. Starting with general background information about the book and author,...
Curated OER
Creatures of the Night Lesson Plan
Students write a list of words that are associated with scary creatures that they imagine now or in their younger days. They read books that share ideas for dealing with scary experiences. Finally, they use a variety of art materials to...
Curated OER
Halloween Counting Book
First graders recognize and write numerals from 1 to 10. They estimate and count to identify sets with more, fewer, or the same number of objects, listen and respond to others in a variety of contexts, and take turns speaking in a...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Boy Who Invented TV, “Life before Philo”
Walk through the pictures to understand the text. Scholars analyze The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of
Philo Farnsworth by taking a book walk and looking at the pictures. They then do a first read of Life before Philo to...
Anti-Defamation League
Challenging Gender Role Stereotypes
Through thoughtful discussion and a read-aloud, scholars challenge gender role stereotypes. Pupils examine pictures and collaborate with their small groups to debunk stereotypes. They explain what gender role stereotypes they know of and...
Curated OER
Activity Plan 5-6: Let's Create Stories!
Students examine wordless books and other pictures in order to learn how the teacher "reads a picture" to tell a story about it. In this early writing lesson, students then create their own picture for story telling by painting....
Curated OER
Interative History Notebook Mini-lesson
Students respond to Holocaust literature. In this interactive history instructional activity, students select quotes from chapter 1 of Elie Wiesel's Night and reflect on their meaning as they record their thoughts on poetic, prose,...
Curated OER
Learning to Analyze Characters
Students discover writing strategies authors use to enhance characters. In this character writing activity, students are read the Knuffle Bunny books by Mo Willems and analyze the story, characters and settings as they listen....
Curated OER
The Desert Alphabet Book
Students use a book to discover an interesting fact from the desert using each letter of the alphabet. Using a United States map, they identify the meanings of symbols and locate deserts within the U.S. In groups, they participate in...
Curated OER
Stories of Our Lives!
Students write their own books based on a life experience that they have had. In this life experiences lesson plan, students practice the writing process along with illustrating their book.
Curated OER
Short Story Inspiration
Tenth graders write an original story using a picture of a scene inspiration. In this short story lesson, 10th graders write short stories using a picture.