+
Activity
Curated OER

Love That Dog and Hate That Cat Teacher's Guide

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
This teaching guide for Love That Dog and Hate That Cat includes suggestions for how to integrate Sharon Creech's books into a poetry unit, as well as writing activities, discussion questions, and tips for making poetry accessible to all...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Facing History and Ourselves

Speaking Up and Speaking Out

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The final lesson in the Standing Up for Democracy unit offers class members a way they can stand up and speak out by crafting spoken word poetry, or Slam poetry. After analyzing several examples, individuals reflect on one positive...
+
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

“Every Day We Get More Illegal” by Juan Felipe Herrera

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A study of Jan Felipe Herrera's poem "Every Day We Get More Illegal" opens the door for a discussion on immigration. To begin, class members examine the photograph "Desert Survival," record their observations of the image, and then...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Learning for Justice

Maya Angelou

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...
+
Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Out of the Dust

For Teachers 6th Standards
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Looking Closely at Stanza 1—Identifying Rules to Live By Communicated in “If”

For Teachers 6th Standards
Here is a lesson plan in which pupils connect themes and rules to live by from the story Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis to those found in the poem If by Rudyard Kipling. First, scholars discuss their reading and review Bud's...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Introducing “If” and Noting Notices and Wonders of the First Stanza

For Teachers 6th Standards
After reading chapter 14 of the story Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, scholars take part in a read-aloud of the poem If by Rudyard Kipling and compare it to the reading of Bud, Not Buddy. Learners then go deeper into the poem...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Notices, Wonders, and Vocabulary of the Third Stanza of “If”

For Teachers 6th Standards
How does one's experience reading a poem's text differ from listening to its audio version? Delve into the insightful question with the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, as pupils compare and contrast their experience using a note-taking...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Looking Closely at Stanza 3—Identifying Rules to Live By Communicated in “If”

For Teachers 6th Standards
Just as Bud, from the novel Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, had rules to live by, so does the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, but how do the two relate? Pupils delve deep into the poem's third stanza, participate in a grand...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Comparing and Contrasting: Seeing and Hearing Different Genres

For Teachers 6th Standards
Let's compare and contrast! Scholars use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the experience of reading a poem and listening to its audio version. Next, they complete graphic organizers, comparing two different genres: a poem and a...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing, Comparing, Sharing: Modern Voices

For Teachers 6th Standards
What do modern voices sound like? Scholars explore the topic, reading two concrete poems from John Grandit's Blue Lipstick and analyzing them using a graphic organizer. Next, they read a third poem and work with partners to look for...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing and Discussing: Modern Voices

For Teachers 6th Standards
This is the way we go to school. Scholars take a look at two poems about different ways to get to school, TyrannosaurBus Rex and Point A to Point B. Pupils work in triads to analyze the poem images and determine the theme. 
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Reflections in Songwriting and Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 11th
Learners analyze, discuss and compare sources of inspiration, use of words and imagery, and other differences in writing styles between two featured songwriters. This is an introductory lesson to a creative project unit.
+
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson Two: The Earth, Introductory Activities

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Determine what young pupils already know about earth science with a brainstorming activity. After class members work together to complete a KWL chart about the Earth, they craft an acrostic poem to demonstrate their understanding.
+
Lesson Plan
National Gallery of Art

The First African American Regiment

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young historians examine a memorial sculpture of the first African American regiment in the Civil War, and then compare how the experiences of the regiment are portrayed in letters and poetry, as well as in the motion picture, Glory. 
+
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Clotilde, The Last Slave Ship

For Teachers 4th - 11th Standards
The Clotilde was the last known ship to bring slaves from Africa to the United States - good riddance! Dive into the details of the ship, its cargo, origin, and route, and learn about the future of the Africans on board with a...
+
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Reading, Writing, Reciting Exciting Poetry!

For Teachers 6th
Students complete a poetry analysis unit. In this poetry analysis lesson, students study poetry by reading, reciting, and analyzing poems and their poets. Students study poetic devices, write their own poems, and complete hands-on...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

America Poems

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine examples of how other Americans have expressed their feelings about America through songs and poetry, and write their own poems to express their relationship with America.
+
Lesson Plan
Denver Art Museum

Putting Images into Words

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...
+
Unit Plan
1
1
Echoes & Reflections

The "Final Solution"

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Nazi policies shifted from deportation and imprisonment to extermination of the Jewish people in death camps in the "Final Solution." Learners examine photos of artifacts, read poetry written by survivors, analyze testimony from...
+
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

The Immigrant Experience

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
The Buttonhook by Mary Jo Salter is the focus of a unit that explores the immigration experience to Ellis Island. First, scholars bring in an artifact that represents their heritage. A group-exercise allows them to share and discuss...
+
Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: 19th Century African-American Writer and Reformer

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Although some African American abolitionists—such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass—are well known, others, like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, remain in the shadows of history. Harper was a poet and activist who played an...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Conditions in China: Why Might One Leave Home Forever?

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Primary source texts provide scholars with the background information they need to understand why Chinese peasant farmers were driven to emigrate. After underlining keywords, phrases, and/or lines in the texts, individuals craft a...
+
Unit Plan
Washington University in St. Louis

Teaching Jazz as American Culture

For Students 6th - 12th
Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...

Other popular searches