Curated OER
Langston Hughes: Artist and Historian
Students examine the life and works of Langston Hughes. In groups, they research the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and how Hughes' poems relate to the era. They use the themes in his writings and relate it to the Great...
Curated OER
Poetry Tea Party
Studetns make inferences based upone one-line poetry and group comparison. In this poetry lesson, 9th graders read strips from a poem and write prediction sentences for the poem. Students read each other's poetry lines and then read the...
Curated OER
Informational Writing
Fifth graders study Paul Revere. In this writing lesson, 5th graders discuss the elements of writing that help a reader be engage. They read about Paul Revere's life, taking notes about what made his life seem heroic, and write about...
Curated OER
Trait Variations for Survival
Young learners examine how different traits could give one organism an advantage over another. In groups, they view two different organisms in different environments. To end the lesson, they complete a Venn Diagram on the two organisms...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—12th Grade
Two sample lessons from a curriculum unit on bullying provide high school seniors with an opportunity to assess their online and cell phone behavior and to consider how they can offer support to bullied students. Each plan includes an...
Curated OER
Brave New World: Biopoem
“Words can be like x-rays if you use them properly—they’ll go through anything.” Readers of Brave New World will be pierced by an activity that asks them to use details from the text to craft a biopoem for one of the characters in Aldous...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Mrs Twit
"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly." The second activity in an 11-part unit that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl uses poetry to encourage positive character traits. Mrs. Twit has ugly thoughts, but those...
Curated OER
Fall Similes
Fall is like a beautiful painting come to life—or is it more like an overflowing cornucopia? Practice writing similes with a instructional activity on figurative language. As learners review simile structure, they come up with their...
BBC
The Role of a Monarch (key stage 2 and 3)
What makes a good monarch? Elementary and middle schoolers examine popular symbols of the British monarchy before designing a television advertisement about the qualities needed in a monarch. Next, they write poems using metaphors and...
Curated OER
Poet James Whitcomb Riley: Famous in His Own Day
An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...
Curated OER
Creating a Science Fiction Story
As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...
Curated OER
Measurement
Students explore the concept of measurement. In this measurement lesson, students discuss what specific measurement tools such as an odometer measure. Students recite a measurement poem. Students make a foldable with conversion units...
Curated OER
"NSN, Fractions, Percents, Ratios, Rates" Investigations
Sixth graders engage in an investigation about the concepts related to fractions. They read, represent, compare, and order proper and improper fractions, and mixed numbers. They demonstrate an understanding of relationships involving...
Curated OER
Responses to Literature
Middle and high schoolers hone their writing skills by reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. They fill out a graphic organizer (included here), and use the organizer to write an...
Curated OER
Design Life: Exploring Society Through Art
Introduce learners to the design elements and artifacts of interior environments in Victorian Canada (or any people and era you care to explore) based on artwork that represents their world. Your secondary social historians view the art...
Curated OER
Fall
Students read "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf" then they brainstorm words about fall that begin with the letters F, A, and L. They compose and decorate their own acrostic poem then they write a Fall story and complete a final copy in the computer...
Curated OER
"Compression of Emotional Power"--Responding To Unseen Poetry
Eleventh graders identify the structure, rhythm and style of a selected poem, experience utilizing poetic devices and analyze an annotated poem. They evaluate the themes and inferred meanings to a variety of poems from their textbooks.
Curated OER
Becoming a "Gringo" Immigrants, Language Learning and Acculturation
Young scholars examine the experience by immigrants coming to America who are Spanish-speaking. As a class, they define "Gringo" and read poems whose authors first language is Spanish. In groups, they participate in different sections...
Curated OER
Remember
Seventh graders mention any recent racism or discrimination they have seen placed on an ethnic group other than their own. After reading an autobiography, they read and write poems based on past events in the Hispanic culture. They are...
Curated OER
Thematic Poetry Videos
Students pen poetry regarding global issues. In this information literacy lesson, students research global issues and use their findings to compose poems regarding the topics. Students create videos that include images and the the text...
Curated OER
Oral Language
Students explore rhyming words. In this rhyming lesson, students discuss rhyming words, brainstorm words that end with 'at,' read poems with rhyming words and create their own rhyming books.
University of Southern California
Coming to America After the War
As part of their exploration of the American dream, class members examine primary source materials to compare immigrant experiences of those arriving early in our country's history to those arriving in the US after World War...
Curated OER
The Voices Within Theirs and Mine
Students create new words to convey their thoughts. They find, list and discuss the poetic devices used by the poet in creating his or her war poem and create their own war poems. They use sensory perception words and memory in...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Awesome Authors Website
Students examine the writing techniques of professional authors and apply them to their own work. In pairs, they email authors to discover the tricks of the trade. Students create their own Website for their work.