Curated OER
Screen Play
High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a...
Fluence Learning
Writing Informative Text: Did Shakespeare Write Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...
Curated OER
Fun Plays on Famous First Ladies
Students inquire about the lives of the First Ladies in our country. In this First Ladies activity, students build knowledge about the contributions of First Ladies and how their childhood made them the person they are. Students do a...
Curated OER
Macbeth News Broadcast
Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...
Curated OER
Doctor DeSoto's Foxy Persuasion
Who is Doctor DeSoto? Start by playing a video clip (included). Discuss different methods of persuasion, and then analyze two different persuasive letter examples. What should your class be looking for? Send them off to work in groups...
Curated OER
Hunger in the World
Consider various aspects of world hunger in this writing instructional activity. After taking a pre-test, middle and high schoolers play a map game, analyze and discuss world statistics, and write a report on an assigned country. The...
Curated OER
Writing Process
Students read Macbeth and work in groups to organize and create an outline for a persuasive essay. In this persuasive essay lesson, students work in tiered learning groups to organize their thoughts for a persuasive thesis about the...
Curated OER
Introduction to Greek Theatre and Antigone
Young scholars compare and contrast a website layout and the layout of a Greek theatre. In this Greek theatre lesson, students research the Greek theatre and produce a bulleted list of five facts about the Greek theatre. Young scholars...
Curated OER
The Great Debate
Groups of learners investigate the persuasive genre of writing as they research and present on an issue. They research the Internet (possible websites are included) for a topic and locate information to present to the opposing team. In...
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Water's Journey Expedition
Step into a scientist's shoes to go online and discover the Florida Springs Expedition, and participate in two activities focusing on how humans impact the environment. The first activity asks scholars to summarize the six...
Curated OER
A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
Curated OER
Dante's Peak Movie Review
Middle or high school volcanologists watch the 1997 film, Dante's Peak. They make observations as they watch and then write a movie review, focusing on what was accurately represented. They also point out what facts were stretched by...
Curated OER
Whodunit? Creating Mysterious Plays
Students examine mystery plays by reading a number of five-minute mysteries. They write and perform their own plays.
Curated OER
Write Your Own "I Have a Dream" Speech
Students listen to King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. They use a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet to express their dreams for the world in a format similar to King's speech.
National Energy Education Development Project
Great Energy Debate
If someone yelled for eight years and eight months, they could produce enough energy to heat one cup of coffee. A lesson on energy encourages scholars to research 10 different energy sources in groups before playing a game. Twenty...
Curated OER
Watch What You Say!
Explore how to use appropriate language for a variety of real-world settings. Here, middle schoolers determine the audience for various types of magazines, and identify words that are appropriate for various friends and family members....
Curated OER
Dear Peter Rabbit
Write dear old Peter Rabbit a letter with this lesson plan. First, youngsters listen to the story Peter Rabbit and analyze the story elements. Then they complete a story map graphic organizer in order to write a letter to...
Curated OER
Haiku Poetry
Third graders write their own haiku poem after a lesson on the history and format of a haiku. In this poetry lesson plan, 3rd graders write a haiku with the correct lines and symbols.
Curated OER
Stacy Bodin's "Digesting a Story" Unit
Second graders create a story and role-play the story using edible items to create a final story-video project. In this edible story lesson, 2nd graders write their own stories using literary format and elements. Students then create a...
Curated OER
Macbeth Madness
Students research Macbeth online and complete computer and graphing activities for the play. In this Macbeth activities lesson, students research Macbeth and bookmark the URL's. Students complete activities for the topic on spreadsheets...
Curated OER
Techno Author
Here is a great way to explore language arts by completing a computer activity with classmates. Youngsters read a fairy tale in class and analyze where the beginning, middle and end are. They create their own story using clip art and...
Curated OER
Writing a Classroom Constitution
Students work together to write a Constitution for their classroom. As a class, they discuss the need for laws and how the concept of compromise is important. In groups, they compare the process they used for writing the Constitution...
Curated OER
Report Writing in Primary Grades
Students learn how to read a short section and parepare a sentence to share with the group. Students listen to the reading of expository text, restate, in sentence format, one fact learned from that text, and produce a report.
Curated OER
Techno-correspondent
Students play the role of a correspondent and write a news article about a famous landmark. In this correspondence lesson, students use a computer template to build word processing skills. Students edit a story in order to...