Curated OER
Nudging Questions
Students choose one topic to write about. They brainstorm ideas about their topic or incident. They use sensory details to visualize their topic. They answer a variety of teacher directored nudging question to help them describe their...
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Lesson 8: Settings that Reinforce Characters
The best way to be a good writer is to read good writing. Learners read and discuss an excerpt from a book that will help them comprehend the relationship between setting and character. They will use what they've gleaned from discussion...
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My Alphabetical Autobiography
Design a pictorial autobiography using the letters of the alphabet. For each letter, writers select visual images that represent life events and interests. Younger writers add words or sentences of explanation while older writers narrate...
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Guidebook
Students create a guidebook page about a plant on the school grounds. In this life and plant science lesson, students identify plants around the school, then research the plant and write a narrative about it. Students publish the book...
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Follow the Drinking Gourd: Creative Writing
Students conduct Internet research to identify the conflicts and positions of slaves, slaveholders, and members of the Underground Railroad network in the time preceding the Civil War. Students write an essay about their findings written...
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Wagons West
Middle schoolers assume the personality of a pioneer on a wagon train and create daily journals. In this journal writing lesson, students read excerpts from The Way West: Journal of a Pioneer Woman. Middle schoolers use their...
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Writing: Memoirs
Young scholars examine web sites which explain how to write memoirs and include ideas for getting started. There are also some writing examples and lists of recommended studenT books that use this form of writing.
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An Adult Who Influenced Me
Writers are challenged to think back to their childhood, and recall an adult who had an influence on them. They use this simple worksheet to write down their thoughts and images of the person they remember. This would be a good worksheet...
Prestwick House
The House on Mango Street Activity Pack
Enrich a unit on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros with a selection of related activities. The packet contains nine activities that go from pre-reading through wrapping up the novel. Young readers work on studying author's...
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Dear Diary
Students analyze a piece of writing by creating diary entries based on a character. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an assigned book with their classmates and create a sketch of what they believe the main character...
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If I Could Talk Like the Animals. . .
Students read and discuss a film review of the animated movie Antz and then write a monologue from the perspective of a non-human organism.
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Digital Storytelling
Students write a personal narrative and convert the story into digital format. In this digital storytelling lesson, students write a personal narrative, record the story, create images for the story, add animations or transitions, and...
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The Newspaper Article
Have your class participate in an interview activity using an informational text about the Amazon. After reading a Cultural Connections story about a person from the Amazon, middle schoolers write interview questions based on the text....
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Lesson Plan for Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood by Cynthia Rylant
Sixth graders examine the elements of writing poetry. In this creative writing lesson, 6th graders discuss a book of poetry in the setting of Appalachia. Students incorporate childhood experiences into the development of visual and...
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A Life Lived Well
Students write poems based on words and phrases found in an obituatuary. They write autobiographical obituaries that imagine their own lives and future accomplishments.
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...
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Make Up Your Story
Putting together an interesting story can be hard, but this set of worksheets will guide your writers into the depths of their own creativity as they characterize both their main character and villain. Using humor to keep learners...
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Environmentally Friendly
What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...
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Author's Day
Have your learners choose an author to study. One resource link gives a list of approved authors. Scholars read at least three works produced by that author and produce three separate book reports as well as a two-page author report....
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Poetry and Our National Anthem
Students express the meaning of the Star-Spangled Banner. In this American history activity, students read through the national anthem and complete an activities from a list of choices. Some choices include: writing the anthem in your...
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Through Their Eyes: Perspectives on Slavery
Students write a personal account of slavery seen from the eyes of a slave trader, a slave plantation owner, a fugitive slave, or a working slave.
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We Are One World
Young scholars access prior knowledge to choose a country and research the living conditions in that country. In this living conditions lesson, students recognize the differences and similarities of conditions of another country to ours....
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Relative History
Students explore theories about how the Olmec civilization influenced other Mesoamerican societies. They research the Olmecs to create a museum exhibit of their findings and reflect on how an Olmec person might have understood the...
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Tall Tales Today
Students explore the attributes of American tall tales. In this folklore lesson plan, students read several tall tales, describe the elements of tall tales, and then use hyperbole to write their own tall tales.