Oral Reports Through "Personality Bags"

Young scholars prepare an oral book report on a biography they have read. They bring in a bag of objects they associate with the report's subject and use them as props for the report.

What is oral tradition, and what unique tool did the Native Americans of the Northern Great Plains use to help them remember their complex histories? Through pictograph analysis, discussion, research, and an engaging hands-on activity,...

Have your class explore active reading strategies! In this guided reading instructional activity, learners make personal connections to characters having a bad day as a prior knowledge activation discussion. After reading Gettin' Through...

Search a variety of sources to create a multimedia or book project about Japan. Learners use the independent investigation method to plan and conduct research about Japan. They use the information they discover to create a computer book...

Get up-close-and-personal with history using guidance for an oral history project. An engaging resource takes pupils through brainstorming through feedback for a project to interview and collect oral histories from members of their...

Students research a not-so-famous person and write a report about that person. They conduct interviews in order to find out information about their chosen person. Students share what they learned about the person with the class.

If your class will be studying biomes and you also want to address some technology standards, check this out! Each class member becomes an expert on 1 biome through online research, and writes a 4-page report that covers climate,...

How well do you know stories told in your family? Could you recite them by heart? Middle schoolers study the importance of the oral tradition by telling a partner a story, having the partner recite it back, and then interviewing a family...

Introduce your sixth graders to oral presentations. This instructional activity has the teacher lead the class through brainstorming, writing, and delivering an effective speech. It's very basic, so consider adding to the plan as needed. 

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...