Curated OER
What About Us? Women in the Civil War
Learners research the role of women in the Civil War. In this Civil War unit, students research the role women played during the war. This unit includes eight different activities including vocabulary, writing prompts and a literature...
Curated OER
Writing Book Reviews
Students explore new authors and genres they might like to read. The understand the ingredients of a book review. They write book reviews using persuasive language to recommend books.
Curated OER
Unearthing the Secrets of the Garden
Students analyze the literary class, The Secret Garden. In this literature unit lesson, students complete a unit of activities to help them with their reading comprehension of the book The Secret Garden. Students complete webs,...
Curated OER
Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
Students read a book from the Dear America series and contrast different points of view. They respond to the book either by participating in a literature circle or completing a journal entry. They compare and contrast two books or a...
Curated OER
Amazing Autobiographies
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. They apply knowledge of language structure,...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
Curated OER
A Soldier's View of the American Civil War
Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing activity. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The activity includes several options to...
Curated OER
Introducing Biographies - Getting to Know You
Students explore several different types of biographies to determine their area of interest, choose one notable person they would like to explore, complete online tutorial on biographies, and use written and Internet resources to...
Curated OER
Personal Experience Narratives
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...
Curated OER
Character Bust: Ceramics Lesson
Whether it is a protagonist, antagonist, hero or heroine, characters are a must in any story. Learners analyze a character from a narrative they are reading, then use that character as inspiration. They create a ceramic bust depicting...
Curated OER
William Apess and the Mashpee "Revolt" of 1833
Prompt your class with the following question: What was the status of American Indians in Massachusetts during Jackson's presidency? To answer this question, class members will read a series of primary source documents (attached),...
Curated OER
Letter Writing
Keep the art of letter writing alive in this age of Tweet and Twitter! The 10 activities detailed in this resource lead pupils through the process of crafting classic forms. A list of and links to famous letters is also included as part...
Curated OER
There Are Two Sides to Every Story
Students examine point of view in real life and in fairy tales. In this point of view instructional activity, students discuss how people see things such as television shows from different points of view. They listen to two versions of...
Curated OER
Wycinanki and Polish Folktales
Students, with the use of the Internet among various other resources, research/locate Polish folktales and re-tell the Polish folktales in their own words. In addition, they examine the art of Wycinanki, Polish paper cutting.
Curated OER
Author In The Spotlight
Complete an in-depth study of the works or a specific author. Working in pairs, students read at least four works by the same author. After completing the reading, they create an essay comparing and contrasting the works and create an...
Curated OER
Reading Literacy- Books on CD
Students explore the importance of learning to read. They work with other students to create audiobooks to share with younger students, or classes.
Curated OER
Jabberwocky-Identifying Adjectives
Elementary learners identify adjectives in sentences. They read the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll and highlight the adjectives. A good supplemental lesson if you are studying Lewis Carroll and/or "Jabberwocky."
Curated OER
Pizzeria (reading Encouragement)
Students create a pizzeria atmosphere in the classroom with Italian music, pizza menus and checkered table cloths. They compare their different tastes in pizza toppings to different tastes in reading. Then they use a reading menu to...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Strategy Ideas
Students participate in pre-reading activities, journal keeping, vocabulary lists and other reading comprehension boosters. These activities can be applied to many genres.
Curated OER
Checkmate
Students start identifying the cause and effect relationships in games of Chess. Using the internet, they research the history of the game and how the roles for each of the pieces. They develop a skit based on the roles and...
Curated OER
50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
Students examine a poster of Brown v. Board of Education and discuss what the important details are. They read the story behind the poster and court case. They role play different sections of the case such as the court case or Linda...
Curated OER
Portraits Visual and Written: Louisa May Alcott and Samuel Clemens
Students discover the life and work of an American author, either Samuel Clemens or Louisa May Alcott. In this study of visual and written portraits instructional activity, students take a look at the authors through four different...
Curated OER
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Students discuss and define folklore, locate town of Sleepy Hollow, NY, on map, calculate distance from Sleepy Hollow to their school, if applicable, review vocabulary list from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, read story aloud, and write...
Curated OER
Pioneering Children on the Move
Students inquire about life for pioneer children. For this pioneer period lesson, students analyze photographs of children, make information foldables, and create a covered wagon that was typical of the ones of the past. Students will...