Curated OER
Mountain Creation: A Drama Exploration
Students explore mountain formation. In this cross curriculum earth science and legend writing lesson, students listen to the poem "The Way to make Perfect Mountains" by Byrd Baylor and identify examples of vivid language used. Students...
Curated OER
Writing a News Report
Students explore journalism by analyzing current events. For this news report lesson, students identify important questions to ask during an interview and discuss a fictitious news story about a missing teacher. Students read published...
Perkins School for the Blind
Daily Journal
Keeping a daily journal is fun. It builds strong writing skills and provides an expressive outlet. For children with visual impairments, it's even more important. It provides a way for them to connect written word with real events, which...
K12 Reader
Adjectives Add Interest
A world without adjectives would be a sad place indeed! Make sure adjectives stay around by teaching your class about what they are and how using them can make a boring story truly interesting. Learners put this idea into practice by...
Virginia Department of Education
Using Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Phrases and Clauses
Learners practice subject-verb agreement in a practical activity. As a class, they see examples of subject/verb agreement provided by the instructor. In groups, they assemble the provided subject/verb cards and make creative sentences...
Curated OER
Back to the Future
Students imagine what it would be like to travel back in time. In this creative writing lesson, students watch parts of the film Back to the Future and examine artifacts from the past. Students write a short story in which they travel...
Curated OER
The Learning Network: Re-envisioning Classic Stories
Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...
Curated OER
Life Reflections in Songwriting and Poetry
Learners analyze, discuss and compare sources of inspiration, use of words and imagery, and other differences in writing styles between two featured songwriters. This is an introductory lesson to a creative project unit.
Curated OER
Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable Listening Library"...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Purpose of a Newspaper Article
Shh! No talking during the discussion! Using the resource, scholars engage in a silent discussion called a Chalk Talk activity to analyze the purpose of a newspaper article. Additionally, they read a model newspaper article and try to...
Curated OER
Creating Compassionate Communities
Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...
Curated OER
Newsletter Requirements Sheet
In this newsletter activity worksheet, learners read a book and complete a newsletter activity as a novel analysis project. Students include a newsletter title, advertisements, news story, and obituary.
Polk Bros Foundation
History Dramatists
Bring the drama of history to life in your class and give your learners the opportunity to illustrate their understanding of a historical situation through the medium of a dialogue and/or play. Your young historians will consider a...
App State
Brainstorming
Get your young writers outside of the traditional essay writing mode with Free Write Friday. Free Write Friday encourages your class to use personal experiences or knowledge to write more creative pieces. Young writers could experiment...
Curated OER
Calligraphy, Handwriting And The Alphabet
Students produce calligraphy projects using writing skills and unique tools in this six-day Art activity. Emphasis is placed upon the work of Portland, Oregon calligraphy artist Inga Dubay and her experiences with "Italic" writing...
Curated OER
The Environment
Students, while engaged in a group discussion, collaborate a mini-project on environmental issues at home and/or in the classroom as well as incorporating environmentally related words and expressions within their daily diary writing...
Curated OER
Publishing a Magazine
Students work collaboratively to create, edit, and publish their own student magazine. The lesson suggests the use of iPhoto, a word processor, iPages, and digital cameras for the creative process.
Curated OER
On the Oregon Trail
Learners work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail. Working in groups, they write a scene for the movie that is historically accurate and based on the kinds of...
Curated OER
Solid Waste
Students examine how to use their vocabulary, writing skills, and creative thinking to address environmental concerns in this unit. They write messages to using creative writing to address the issues of solid waste and recycling.
Curated OER
Closing the Gaps
Students examine the defining characteristics of their own generation. They apply their analysis to learning about previous generations, and synthesize their learning by creating improvisational skits and writing creative essays.
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Pollution Solutions
Students study how industrial technology helps clean up and prevent air pollution. They role play as engineers to examine methods of engineering pollutant recovery methods such as scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, cyclones, and...
Curated OER
Autobiographies: A Jigsaw Puzzle
Students read The Autobiography of Ben Franklin. Using construction paper, they cut out five jigsaw puzzle pieces in different shapes using the entire sheet of paper. They write events from their own lives on the puzzle pieces, thus...
Learning to Give
Closing Ceremonies
Promote volunteerism in your art or writing classes. In this service learning lesson, middle schoolers create promotional materials that include photographs and newspaper articles based on their personal service experiences in local...
Curated OER
African Americans in Aviation: The 1940s- A Decade of Change
Students investigate African Americans in aviation. In this primary resources instructional activity, students examine primary resources to research the history of African American in aviation. Students answer two research questions and...