Curated OER
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: "Teach Each Other" Discussion
Challenge your class to hold a discussion about the theme of death in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead without direct teacher guidance. After going over the discussion protocols and quotes from the text, learners move in a circle...
Facing History and Ourselves
Socratic Seminar
New to the socratic seminar format? Check out a resource that not only provides the rationale for the procedure and step-by-step directions, but also provides a list of suggested topics, rules and model statements.
Curated OER
Picture Perfect Poetry
Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this instructional activity to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several...
Curated OER
Writing Myths I
Explain a natural phenomenon in an original myth. After researching the phenomenon they have chosen, young readers use factual information to include in their myth. They find synonyms and new phrases to create vivid images as they write...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Numbers Are Made of Parts
Children play with barnyard animal cards to practice composing and decomposing numbers. With their "secret number" of animal cards in a cup, they shake and spill them onto a barn story board, counting how many animals fall in the barn...
Curated OER
Milton Hershey Quilt Activity
Learners extend their understanding of Milton Hershey. In this notable figures lesson, students create a paper quilt about Milton Hershey. Learners use the template provided to design their own quilt square, including an illustration and...
Curated OER
A Great Beginning
Students create tri-fold biographical brochures. Each of the sections of the brochure refers to either the past, present or future of the student. They use the back of the brochure to list ways to be successful in high school and reach...
Curated OER
Crisis Management
Students research the issues facing President Bush and write short political commentaries predicting what course the president take. For homework, they write editorials stating what they think the president should do to best serve the...
Curated OER
Gatsby and the American Twenties Newspaper
Students research 1920's US History. In this historical literature lesson plan, students use the novel The Great Gatsby as a tool to examine the era. They work in individually to create newspaper articles based on different historical...
Curated OER
On the Run
Students research famous F.B.I. "Most Wanted" cases; they then create PowerPoint, or other informational and visual displays, to present their case studies in class.
Curated OER
Poppin Popcorn
Young scholars use their senses to write descriptive sentences. In this descriptive writing lesson, students discuss their senses. Young scholars are asked to look at and feel unpopped corn kernels. Students then write descriptions of...
Curated OER
Understanding Persuasive Writing
Students give examples of how the media glamorize violence and desensitize viewers to the horrors of real acts of violence. They identify factors in addition to the media that contribute to the problem of violence in society.
Curated OER
Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Learners create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition instructional activity, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In...
Curated OER
Marine Poetry
Young scholars identify characteristics of good poetry and compose their own. In this marine poetry lesson, students are introduced to several different types of poetry with a marine theme. After discussing the elements that make up a...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Working with Words Teacher Directed Activity by Mark Cogan for Elem. Test Prep
Students build word families. For this interactive language arts activity, students visit a website where they play a game creating word families. Students may print out their work when finished.
Curated OER
Speech Therapy Students Interact Between Schools
Students use technology to improve their communication skills and have the ability to interact with other speech students attending other elementary schools. Through riddles, games, and other activities, students attain their speech...
Curated OER
Guidelines for Recognizing Persuasiveness, Propaganda, and Stereotypes
Students investigate advertisements for examples of persuasiveness, propaganda, and stereotypes. In this persuasion instructional activity, students find examples of advertisements that are unusual or common. Students discuss...
Curated OER
Writing Myths II
Students complete a final draft of a myth. In this writing myths instructional activity, students complete their rough drafts, have a one-on-one meeting with the teacher to enhance ideas, and peer edit. Students use the comments and...
Curated OER
Current Events Activity
Students investigate world news and create a performance from their research. In this current events lesson, students identify major political or news stories in the media and create a performance based on a character they will...
Curated OER
Community Journals
Students visit a multimedia online journal as a model for their research and journal about their own communities. They examine writing for themselves and writing for an audience as they study the community and present it in more than one...
Curated OER
Where I'm From: Personal and Cherokee
High schoolers write a poem about the land they are from. They research the previous inhabitants of the same land - the Cherokee Indians - and write a poem about the land from a Cherokee perspective.
Curated OER
A Courtin' We Will Go
Learners investigate dialect in poetry as an indication of a people's culture in literature. They write a poem about dating in this era.
Curated OER
Getting Green for Christmas
Students examine their family's particular spending habits for a holiday they celebrate, research the financial expectations of retailers during the holiday season and at other times during the year.
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...