Curated OER
Planning A Vacation Online
If you could travel anywhere in the United States, where would you go? Use this question to interest your fourth, fifth, and sixth graders as they experiment with Mapquest or other direction-based resources. They choose where they'd like...
Curated OER
Hoot: List-Group-Label
Word association is a great way to explore vocabulary and new ideas. In a unit about Carl Hiassen's Hoot, kids think about the word environmentalist and come up with additional words that they associate with environmentalism on...
Curated OER
Shared Birthdays
Students gather information on their classmates birthdays and create a spreadsheet with the dates. Using the internet, they find a famous person who shares their own birthday. They research the life of the famous person and develop a...
Curated OER
Problem-Solving Processes and Figurative Language
Nonfiction texts about people on the move provide young readers with an opportunity to examine not only the problem-solving strategies employed by immigrants, but to also find examples of figurative language these writers use to tell...
Curated OER
Math Prefixes
Students use a dictionary to gather appropriate information for writing simple definitions. They recognize prefixes that relate to numbers, such as mono-, bi-, and tri-. Pupils use their creative abilities to extrapolate new words to...
Curated OER
Editing
Explore the writing process by reviewing previously written work. First, middle schoolers analyze a handout in which they must read the text and correct the mistakes with an editing checklist. They proofread their editing and share their...
Curated OER
Dancing through Poetry
Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...
Curated OER
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Students use the internet to research the location of their summer vacation trip. Given the demographics, they plot the location on a world map. They create a brochure using the information they collected. Using PowerPoint, they develop...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Before-Reading Organizers
Sixth graders discover how to create graphic organizers using the titles and subtitles of informational texts. Following a teacher demonstration, they work in pairs to create their own organizers based on assigned texts. Upon...
Curated OER
Problem-Solving Strategy: Make an Organized List
In this organized list worksheet, students review the problem solving strategy of reading for information and using a math model or organized list to solve the problem. Students then complete the two problems by using organized lists.
Curated OER
Functional Public Sculpture? Let's build a"Reading Wall"!
Students interview a brick sculptor and aid in building a brick wall. They write expository paragraphs explaining the sequential process of building a reading wall. They create reading wall sketch designs. Students carve their names and...
Curated OER
How To Use the Internet To Make Student Glossaries
Students use an internet dictionary to produce a glossary of words related to a particular subject area being studied. They choose the correct meaning of the word for their glossary, based on it's relationship to the subject matter being...
Curated OER
It's a Mystery to Me
Students read a variety of mysteries to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Using a worksheet, they define and practice using new vocabulary. In groups, they read stories from Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and write an...
Curated OER
Can You See It?
Students explore the concept of visualization and how it works to help them comprehend what they read. They read 'Tuck Everlasting' and visualize what has happened in the story. They draw a picture of what they visualized and then watch...
Achievement Strategies
CCSS Unit Design Template for PE
From baseball and tennis to capture the flag and four-square, here is a great document that will help you design your next unit on a sport-related activity.
Scholastic
Bingo Lingo
Word roots can be great fun when part of a game! Practice a variety of different roots with this nicely put-together bingo game that comes with plenty of instructional ideas.
Scholastic
Ask the Author
Here is a quick activity that could help your kids with their reading comprehension. They practice a classic strategy that gets them to start asking questions about what they are reading, while they are reading it. They write out...
Curated OER
Summarization Superstars
How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...
Curated OER
Building Vocabulary
Decode and acquire new vocabulary! Readers use new vocabulary in their writing and use synonyms to determine meanings. Visual learners label pictures and group words together to increase understanding.
Curated OER
The Pumpkin Patch - A Venture in Agritourism
After reading an article about how agritourism is helping boost the financial stability of local farms, middle schoolers answer comprehension questions. This is a case-study of Canadian pumpkin producers. It could be useful as a...
Curated OER
Storing CD's
Students will solve a word problem as an in depth investigation,. The lesson is based upon standards that are foundational to further development of math skills. The learners use logic and higher order thinking skills to accomplish the...
Curated OER
Perfect Numbers
Sixth graders classify numbers as abundant, deficient, or perfect based on the relationship between the number and its factors. They review factor game using the completed lab sheet. When playing the factor game which type of numbers...
Curated OER
Mayan Farming Practices
The introduction of this lesson requires reading a from The Maya by Jaqueline Dembar Greene. Learners sketch a Mayan during the reading. Teaching strategies include direct instruction, grouping the young scholars for discussions,...
Curated OER
Review of Literary Devices
Sixth graders review literary devices. They use both fiction and nonfiction texts to review metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism and personification. This instructional activity has a scripted guide for the teacher to follow.