Curated OER
How Music Motivates
Learners form conclusions regarding the motivational effects of music on the mind during the Civil Rights era. In this Civil Rights movement activity, students describe how music motivates, describe the motivational role in freedom songs...
Curated OER
A Picture is worth a Thousand Words, But a Word Can be worth a Thousand Pictures!
Students examine the process of creating mental images, or visualization, as a tool to increase reading comprehension. They practice visualizing while the teacher reads a passage to them by drawing what they hear focusing on including...
Curated OER
Racy Readers
Students increase their reading fluency through the use of various strategies. After discussing the importance of reading fluently, students complete an initial read of a novel text. Working with a partner, they read complete a timed...
Curated OER
Up, Up, and Away With Fluency
Student improve their reading fluency through the use of various strategies. After reviewing decoding and rereading strategies, pupils to complete a timed assessment of their words read per minute and record their progress after each read.
Curated OER
ART PROJECT
Eighth graders, after researching the properties of graphs of conic sections, absolute value and inverse relations, make a drawing of precise functions and relations from a specified list of equations. The final design should analyze the...
Curated OER
Language Arts, Word Choice
Third graders practice replacing words in a sentence to make it more interesting. In this word choice instructional activity, 3rd graders listen to the story The Hard-Times Jar by Ethel Smothers and discuss the author's word choice....
Curated OER
Mapping an Empire
How did the expansion of the Roman Empire during the first century contribute to its downfall? Using a map of the Roman Empire in 44 BC and one of the Roman Empire in 116 AD as references, class member use critical reading skills to...
Channel Islands Film
Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 1
As a practice writing test, fourth graders use the West of the West's documentary Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island and two print resources as source materials for an informative article that identifies information that is...
Curated OER
Making a Dance Involving Balance
Students make choices about dance elements and organize them in expressive ways. They plan and present dance works for a familiar audience. They identify dance elements in their and classmates work.
Curated OER
Basic Design Elements Computer Art Project
Students use PhotoDraw software to create original drawings. Using the basic design elements, line, shape, form, texture, value, and color, students create original drawings on the computer based on drawings previously rendered by hand.
Curated OER
The Outsiders Debate Project
Eighth graders read the book The Outsiders for understanding. They develop arguments, with support, for six assigned debate points. They write a position paper based on six debate points. The dress up as a character in the book and...
Curated OER
Biography
Transform a written biography into a video biography! Introduce your learners to the biography format by reading them a few examples (some suggestions are included). Then discuss the factors that make a good biography. What information...
Curated OER
Analysis Of Theme In The Scarlet Letter
Eleventh graders engage in the reading of the novel "The Scarlet Letter" while choosing a topic to write a literature response. They search the novel for textual evidence to include in writing a paper that supports a well thought...
CPALMS
Point of View: A Close Reading of Two Bad Ants
Chris Van Allsburg's Two Bad Ants provides third graders with an opportunity to examine point of view and how the point of view of others may differ from their own.
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing Using the Book Rumpelstiltskin
Use the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin to teach your third grade class about descriptive writing. Following a teacher read-aloud of the story, the class brainstorms a list of adjectives describing the main character. Students use this list...
Curated OER
Our Town
With the songs "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen and "Allentown" by Billy Joel, learners examine external versus internal conflict. When they have finished the first part of the lesson, they create their own poem (or song) about the...
Curated OER
Our Town: Using Song Lyrics in the Classroom
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...
ReadWriteThink
A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative
A picture's worth a thousand words—and even more inspiration! A visual activity uses photographs to inspire writers. The process teaches aspects of narrative writing, such as point of view and characterization.
Curated OER
Connotation and Denotation: How Word Choice Affects a Paragraph
Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation...
Penguin Books
The Curriculum Guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer
The death of a parent can turn a child's world upside down. A curriculum guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy explores defining moments in the main character's life, including the loss of her mother. Chapter-by-chapter discussion...
Curated OER
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Students compare and contrast characters from various texts and compile the collected data into several graphic organizers.
Curated OER
Welcome To Middle School Video
Students create questions to pose to adults working in Middle School. In groups, students create a video interviewing the Middle School staff. They edit the video and format present it as an introduction to Middle School for perspective...
Curated OER
School Uniforms: Debating the Issue and Creating an Advertisement
Fifth graders debate the issue of school uniforms. They research, finding supporting evidence supporting their stance. Using the Lincoln-Douglas form of debate, 5th graders discuss the positive and negative issues of the topic. They...
Curated OER
Like It Or Not?
Write a review of the film adaptation of Holes. After viewing the film, your young reviewers make recommendations about viewing the film. Using details to support their opinions, they highlight the important parts of the movie without...