Curated OER
Inferring Character Traits
Here is a lesson which is "flexible," and can operate as an individual or whole class activity. After reading a book of their choosing, with the use of a semantic map, learners identify character traits. They infer how their feelings...
Curated OER
The Power of Words in Charlotte's Web
"How can a few good words save a pig's life?" Posed with this question, your ELD students explore E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in a meaningful, valuable way. By analyzing specific word choice from the book, especially the excerpts...
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Analyzing Literature via Literature Circles
Introduce literature circles with Roland Smith's novels. Your seventh graders will see the activity modeled as you read The Three Little Pigs together and apply the format to a Roland Smith novel of their choice. The lesson includes...
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Chaucer's Wife of Bath
A thorough and well-designed resource for older learners, this lesson focuses on Chaucer's character the Wife of Bath from his classic novel, The Canterbury Tales. As a way of understanding Chaucer's complex characterization and...
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The Sorcerer's Apprentice: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Upper graders view the animated short, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and analyze how the music score was chosen to express the scene. They create an animation as they listen to a classical recording to experience the connection between...
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Place and Character in Poetry
Young scholars examine how place in poetry helps give clues about character. In this poetry lesson, students read a poem while focusing on the descriptions of the room that is being described and predict what type of person would live...
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Ornithology and Real World Science
Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson plan! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson plan incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research,...
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Story Elements/Characterization
Students investigate language arts by analyzing a book with their classmates. In this children's literature lesson, students read the story Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant and discuss the setting and characters. Students create a T-Chart in...
Digital Public Library of America
Teaching Guide: Exploring Little Women
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is a literary masterpiece as well as a timestamp of the formative mid-nineteenth century in America. Using a primary source set of photographs, letters, and portraits, readers discuss the ways...
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Analyzing Two or More Nonfiction Texts
How does recognizing the author's purpose help you draw conclusions about a topic? Using two articles (both are attached), learners brainstorm why each author wrote each article. Are their purposes similar or different? Learners use a...
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Understanding Characters
Learners analyzing characters from a story by creating an article about one. In this story analysis lesson, students read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, and pick one character to write descriptively about....
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Classification of Animals
Sixth graders examine two-way classification systems using four mutually exclusive groups and two dimensions simultaneously. They then are given a set of plastic animals, asked to create a two-way classification system, then asked to...
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Science: Fossil of a Carbonized Plant
Students classify leaves by shape and margins and use them to create models of plant fossils. By using paper over a leaf, they simulate fossilization of organisms onto sedimentary rocks. Following instructions on worksheets, students...
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The Egg "Airbag" Lab
Students use what they know about momentum and impulse to construct an effective "air bag" to protect an egg dropped from the top of the football stadium or other tall structure. They complete a final written report of their findings.
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Fictional Hereos
Students are introduced to the definition of a hero. As a class, they compare and contrast the difference between non-fictional and fictional hereos they have read about. They read a story, create a story map of one of the heroes and...
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Plant Phylogeny
Students examine live potted plants and create a hypothesis regarding their relationships in this upper-level introductory lesson on phylogenetic reconstruction using morphological characters. The lesson can be accomplished in...