Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Timbre: Identifying the Tone Color of the Saxophone

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Students explore the concept of timbre. In this timbre lesson, students experience timbres produced by saxophones in contemporary music. Students explore the science behind the music.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Table This!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students create a table in Microsoft Word. In this word processing lesson, students create a table in Microsoft Word. They fill this table in as if it were a BINGO card, but they use their vocabulary words instead of numbers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Portrait of a Hero

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students complete a series of interactive activities to explore their beliefs about heroes and heroism. In this hero analysis lesson, students define the meaning of the words hero and heroic. Students research U.S. heroes and everyday...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chef Solus Cooking Academy Game

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students evaluate human health by participating in an interactive activity. In this food choice lesson, students discuss the decisions they make each day in order to stay healthy with the food they eat. Students utilize the Internet to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Harry Potter Alive and Well In the Sorcerer's Stone

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students brainstorm author's purpose, and use their imagination to draw pictures that illustrate what the purpose is. In this literature and writing lesson plan, student's use Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a guide from which...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rockin’ the World: Rock and Roll and Social Protest in 20th Century America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore protest songs. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students examine issues-based music by summarizing lyrics and revealing inferences, generalizations, conclusions, and points of view found in the songs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the American dream. In this contemporary music lesson, students analyze the lyrics of songs by Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, and David Massengill. Students create 3-D representations of the American dream and write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chaucer

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers discuss characterization in "The Canterbury Tales". They examine professions that could be held by a travelers. They write a script for a new person on the trip. They may also write a poetic version for the script.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Haiti: Still in Crisis, but No Longer in the News

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students study the Haitian crisis and learn about the needs and ways to help the situation. In this Haitian crisis lesson, students study the Maslow's "Needs Pyramid". Students study the media coverage of the earthquake and then answer...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What is Communication

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students recognize the process of communication. In this communication lesson plan, students work in pairs and interview each other. Students report on their two minute interview. Students participate in an activity where students must...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventure Stories

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students write an adventure story. In this writing lesson, students listen to an adventure story and identify the elements of an adventure story. Students use story starters to create their own adventure story.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Turkey Feather Writing

For Teachers K - 3rd
Learners create a Thanksgiving writing piece. In this holiday lesson, students use a turkey picture to write a short story about the things they are thankful for.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Influences Our Perception of Gender Roles?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research gender equity and the media.  For this gender equity lesson, students evaluate the influence of various media on both individuals and society.  Students discuss examples of media that portray gender roles and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Moby-Dick

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners take on the persona of a sailor or a captain of a whaling vessel in New England in the 1800s and write five journal entries as that person.  For this Moby Dick lesson, students research the whaling industry in 19th...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

From Light to Dark and Back

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Experiment with light and dark in a series of interactive activities that lead up to reading and writing poetry. Class members have the opportunity to observe their feelings while sitting in the light and dark and to play with shadow...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Poetry Archive

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Listening to poems about feeling lonely and feeling like an outsider set the stage for a group activity that focuses on Stevie Smith's "Not Waving But Drowning." Groups examine the three stanzas of Smith's poem separately and identify in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Book Discussions in a Reading Partnership

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Do you have a lot of different reading levels in your class? Pair kids up by level and have them choose a book to read independently. They will make predictions, ask questions, make connections, etc. Consider creating a general reading...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

We Are All Authors

For Teachers K
Read and discuss a variety of books by different authors and have your class create their own book. They will identify the different parts of a book, then using a story they have already written, they enter their story and information...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"World Enough, And Time"-Andrew Marvell's Coy Mistress

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read and analyze the poem, "To His Coy Mistress," by Andrew Marvell. They identify the theme of each stanza, complete a worksheet, take an online quiz, and write about a single metaphor or image from the poem.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: Learning About the Historical and Geographical Setting of Esperanza Rising (Chapter 1: “Aguascalientes, Mexico, 1924”)

For Teachers 5th Standards
Set up your class to read Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, through a class read-aloud and exploration of the setting. The detailed instructional activity outlines each step. First, class members read over the first few pages and...
Lesson Plan
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PBS

Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Lesson Plan
Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Section One: What is Biodiversity?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Four intriguing and scientific activities invite learners to explore the natural resources of their town. The activities cover concepts such as genetic traits, organizing species in a taxonomy, the differences between different species...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What a Character!

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Middle schoolers read a novel and discuss character personality. First, they analyze a character in a novel and keep a chart or web of the character's identity, which includes specific examples from the book. They then write a script...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pourquoi Tales

For Teachers 5th
Lead a web search for information on writers and discuss the craft of purposeful writing as a class. Your students investigate "pourquoi tales" which are "why" stories. and then write their own examples of pourquoi stories to share in a...