Oklahoma State Department of Education
Narrative Prompt
Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...
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Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
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Lesson Plan 18: Cleaning It Up
Careful proofreading is an important step in the writing process. After guided practice using a provided worksheet that details common grammar concepts, young writers refer to the worksheet as they proofread their own work. Although the...
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Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades
Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.
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Electricity Newsletter
Students create a newsletter about electricity. They view a completed newsletter and discuss its information and format and research the Internet to find facts about electricity. After researching their facts, they write a rough draft of...
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The Outsiders Project Guide
Hand out these project ideas when working with The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Pupils can choose from six different options or propose their own. The idea is that they will complete more than one project to meet the point requirement. The...
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A Way with Words or Say What?
Students explore the language of Shakespeare. For this literature lesson, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Students pantomime the meanings and then write a short story...
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Finding Your Story: Helping Students Begin Their Memoir
Students write their memoir. In this memoir activity, students study the differences between an autobiography and a memoir. Students construct an outline as the basis for their memoir.
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Writing - Story Ideas
Middle schoolers write their story in first person as a non-fiction story, or they can write the story in third person as a fictional story and use different characters. They can choose an idea from one of the story starters provided.
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In Hiding: A Choiceless Choice of the Holocaust
Students read various examples of children who lived in hiding during the Holocaust. Using the texts, they identify commonalities between the children and create a timeline of events. They read a first person narrative of hiding and...
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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...
Independence Public Library
Unmasking the Truth Behind the Red Death
"The Masque of the Red Death" provides readers with an opportunity to research and plan a presentation about a topic related to Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story.
University of Kentucky
The Great Spider Debate
Poor, misunderstood spiders! They are feared, disrespected, and detested by many people, yet they do so many positive things. A great addition to any insect unit, learn about some of the more common spiders, while hopefully dispelling...
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Great Expectations - 1st Stage
Students read and examine the novel Great Expectations. They work on receiving a certain grade in class and complete only those assignments underneath that grade. No objectives are listed for this lesson.
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Mix It Up Grammar!
Students review the parts of speech to begin the instructional activity. Using computers, they listen to instructions from their teacher and write the word under the categories respresenting the different parts of speech. Using the same...
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Macbeth
Students discuss the changes the characters go through in Shakespeare's play Macbeth. They discuss the themes of the play write an essay comparing current events to the themes of the play.
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Black Bayou Lake Short Story
Tenth graders use Microsoft Word to create an original short story. The setting must be Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The characters must be animals found at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The story must contain...
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Cheerful Hearts and Willing Feet
Students explore characterization in Little Women. In this literature lesson, students participate in written analysis and research in order to explore Alcott's characterization in the novel.
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 4
Foster's Rule? Allopatric speciation? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation, class members use Venn diagrams to compare endemic species on the Channel Islands with mainland related species. They then create a...
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The Art of Paraphrasing
Tenth graders participate in an activity in which they practice paraphrasing sections of primary and secondary documents. They are to share their paraphrasing with the class to help with their confidence speaking in front of a group.
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The Tudor's True Story
Learners take effective notes from a video documentary, create an oral report about an assigned aspect of the video, and express an understanding of the King's six wives' lives.
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The Fascinating World of Islam
Students participate in viewing the PBS video series Islam: Empire of Faith. They research aspects of the world of Islam by using the internet and other research tools. They create, in groups, an ABC Book of Islam based on their research.