Curated OER
Note-Taking: K.I.S.S. "Keep It Short and Simple"
Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...
Curated OER
What is Proofreading?
Is your essay coherent? Does it make sense? Is it formatted correctly? Does it adhere to standard English conventions? This helpful and informative slide-show walks learners step by step through the editing and proofreading process. Each...
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Reader's Theater
Conduct a Reader's Theater. Third, fourth, and fifth graders rewrite books with a baseball theme to a Reader's Theater format. They form groups of four or five, practice reading the script, and then perform it for an audience.
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Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...
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My Daily Routine
Foreign language learners work in pairs to translate the daily routine of celebrities or everyday people, presented in daily planner format, into English. They then illustrate and record their own daily routines in storyboard (film...
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Using Aphorisms to Help Dealing with People
Here's a formal plan for what many effective teachers already do: Provide a week's worth of aphorisms and have learners choose one to write about in their journals each day. They reflect on the meaning of each aphorism and project how it...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Newsletter
What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...
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Dr. Seuss and Read Across America
What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class members write a...
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Determining Ideas and Adding Details
A handy TFDC (topic/fact/detail/conclusion) graphic organizer (included) allows young writers to outline and record their main ideas and supporting details in the prewriting phase. They then continue to add details to the topic sentences...
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Strong Verb Image Makers
Students use description language to clarify ideas and create vivid images in an essay focusing of strong verbs. They discuss weak verbs and explore that the better image the words create, the better the reader understands the text.
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Henry and Mudge: The First Book by Cynthia Rylant
In this short story worksheet, students read and analyze the short story "Henry and Mudge: The First Book" by Cynthia Rylant and then the students answer thirty five comprehension questions in a variety of formats.
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Day four: Writing a Sports Article
Students write a newspaper article related to a sports event. In this article writing instructional activity, students read sports-related articles, complete a graphic organizer to help them see the format of a newspaper article, then...
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3R Activity (Reading-Relating-Responding)
Students read for detail. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read a passage and share their thoughts with a small group. Students reflect upon the passage and develop an oral summary of the text.
Read Works
Retelling A Life
Use comic strip format to help organize and sequence events in a story. The lesson here focuses on The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball; however, this strategy could be used for summarizing any text. Pupils must choose...
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Creative Book Reports Make Reading Fun
Giving students a variety of options for reporting on chapter books is simple to do.
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Basic Letter Response to a Writing Prompt
Students respond to a writing prompt using appropriate letter format. For this letter writing lesson, students discuss the format for letter writing and use the worksheet format to write the heading, inside address, and salutation....
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BioPoem Multicultural Activity For A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Students write a biopoem. For this literature and poetry writing lesson, students write a biopoem about the characters in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry following a specific given format. Examples and format are included.
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Using a Matrix to Compare, Contrast, and Analyze Connections
Students explore writing techniques by comparing fiction vs. non-fiction. In this literature analysis lesson, students read stories from Aesop's Fables and compare the themes and characters to stories from their own life. Students...
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Christmas-Tree-Shaped Poems
Students create poems in the shape of a Christmas tree. They write an original poem detailing how a person can spread joy during the holiday season. The poem is formatted in the shape of a Christmas tree.
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Let's Read the Newspaper
Learners investigate the format of a typical newspaper. In this journalism lesson, students read a newspaper from a target language and discover the vocabulary associated with the news. Learners work together as a newspaper group each...
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Concrete Detail and Commentary
In this writing skills worksheet, students practice writing with facts or quotes from a text by following the graphic organizer format. Students write the concrete detail and then list two commentaries for their facts or quotes.
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Researching and Writing About Another Country's Holiday: Documenting and Communicating Information
This lesson is a culminating lesson which follows students researching, collecting citations, evaluating and selecting text, graphic materials and visual aids. In this concluding lesson, 5th graders discuss the assessment task and how to...
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Writing Away For Information
Students review the format used to write a friendly letter which they will use to write an e-mail. They use questioning techniques as they write a letter of inquiry using a number of drafts. Using a word processing program they develop...
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Scrambled Paragraphs
Students examine the structure of paragraphs. In this writing skills lesson, students examine a scrambled paragraph with no formatting or punctuation. Students rearrange the text to create a well-developed paragraph.