Novelinks
The Good Earth: Biopoem Strategy
To gain a better understanding of characters in Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, kids create a biopoem for one of her characters.
August House
The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog
Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...
Curated OER
Meet Our Teachers
Learners of all ages interview, record, and photograph teachers and staff at their school. They organize the photo with a soundbite into a PowerPoint presentation. They transcribe the interview and write a response to it.
Curated OER
Women Call Out: The Personal Narrative
After reading and discussing several personal narratives written by women in the 1920's, class members write a personal narrative of their own about a time in their lives they felt controlled. Sample narratives can be accessed through...
Curated OER
Goals and Perseverance
Define the word perseverance to have learners understand why it is important in reaching goals. Young scholars research how Martin Luther King needed perseverance to accomplish his goals. They write acrostic poems using the word...
Curated OER
Lesson One: Characterizing Philanthropic People
Familiarize your class with philanthropy and involve individuals in philanthropic activities. First, determine the traits of philanthropic people. Class members attach sticky notes with character traits written on them to each side of at...
Curated OER
Let's Edit!
Students in fourth grade pair up with students in second grade to edit writing convension.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Writing Lead Sentences
Sixth graders discover the importance of lead sentences and practice writing them. After reading lead sentences in books, they determine the qualities that attract and hold readers' attention. Finally, once they have identified the...
Curated OER
Successful Traits of Mentors
Students engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the traits that mentors share. They brainstorm in order to create a definition of a mentor that is shared in groups while writing in journals. Students also write about...
Curated OER
Biopoem: Bud, Not Buddy
Young poets focus on one character from a story they are reading, collect details, and use a biopoem template to analyze this character. The activity can be used with any text.
Curated OER
Men of Steel
Students explore early 20th century steel making. For this U.S. history steel making lesson, students view and describe a postcard and a picture depicting exaggerated aspects of the steel industry. Students listen to a poem...
Curated OER
Human Traits
Students study vocabulary and complete a survey. In this human traits lesson students collect and analyze data then discuss what they learned.
Orange County Department of Education
The Hero: Writing and Responding
Pupils identify heroic character traits that they admire and that inspire trust and result in service to others. They identify the heroic traits of a character of their choosing and defend their reasoning using evidence from the text and...
Curated OER
"All About Me" Paragraph
Fifth graders write a paragraph titled "All About Me" in the computer lab after they have drawn graphic organizers to fill in background information about themselves and used a "10-Point Writing Checklist" to do peer editing.
Curated OER
Trickster Tales
Students study folk tales and moral lessons from cultures around the world. In this character traits lesson, students study moral lessons through the character traits in various cultures folk tales. Students complete 11 activities...
Curated OER
Life Size Characters
Sixth graders analyze character traits and create a life size character outline. In this character analysis lesson, 6th graders analyze character traits of a character using character webs and poems. Students then create a life size...
Curated OER
In Character
Students fill out a character trait graphic organizer about characters in a book that they are reading. In this characters lesson plan, students see how traits relate to character actions.
Curated OER
Heredity Worksheet: Blood Type
In this genetics learning exercise, students use Punnett squares to determine the possible genotypes of offspring based on blood type. This learning exercise has 6 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Creating a Persuasive Travel Brochure
Students create a county and develop an illustrated travel brochure to persuade elementary students to visit their county. In this persuasive writing lesson, students use descriptive language effectively in a travel brochure. ...
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Cell 1 Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic
Young scholars differentiate between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. They examine pictures of prokaryotes and eukaryotes and write down the differences between the two. They complete a Venn Diagram on the cells.
Curated OER
What's the Scoop on Slang?
Students examine examples of sports jargon by reading sports articles from a newspaper. They write a news article about a fictional sports event using examples of sports jargon.
Curated OER
What Color Is Your Apple?
Third graders spend time identifying the characteristics they have and ones they would like to develop for their own personal growth. As a class, they brainstorm ways they can tell they are growing up or being mature. Individually, they...
Curated OER
Tell Me; I’ll Listen
Encourage respect, responsibility, and caring within your classroom with a collection of lessons that spark dialogue and self reflection. To address character traits, lessons touch on topics such as staying safe in the...
Curated OER
Yo! Conventions!
Learners get in groups, take a list of words, put them into story form, and punctuate them. They present their story to the class and consider how punctuation changes meaning. Great excercise.