Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Cultures
Using informational text to make cross cultural comparisons is a great way to build a global understanding and comparative analysis skills. With several handy worksheets and a Venn diagram the class will read to make cross textual...
Curated OER
Israel
The class creates and performs a movement performance of the creation story found in the Jewish tradition. This lesson begins with the research of Israeli culture and culminates in a performance of the narrated creation story....
Curated OER
Ban That Book!
Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique students' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book, get...
Curated OER
Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
Curated OER
Parts of Speech
Nouns, verbs, pronouns...they're all covered here! This presentation gives a detailed look at each part of speech, but know that you cannott skip slides or start at any slide except for the first. Create a guide to keep your class...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Focus: The Paideia Seminar
Compelling discussions are the result of open-ended, challenging questions. An introduction to Paideia discussions includes explicit directions about how to prepare readers and how to model the kinds of questions they should develop...
Curated OER
Finders Keepers: Vocabulary Instructional Routine Guide for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Like Oskar, the curious boy in Jonathan Safran Foer’s story, class members journey through other “stories that the mouth can’t tell” to find another sentence that uses a word found in novel. Individuals create their own vocabulary list,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Wrinkle in Time: The Board Game
Tackle some big questions about A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle with a board game project. As learners brainstorm for and complete their board games, they consider what helps and hinders Meg on her journey and why she succeeds in...
Special Olympics
A World of Difference
Kids engage in a series of activities that ask them to consider differences and similarities in characteristics, both visible and invisible. With this new understanding, the class investigates the Special Olympics program and develops...
Curated OER
Find Figurative Language
Meet with the school library specialist and work together to plan a visit and presentation on figurative language. After defining and examining examples of targeted terms, the class travels to the library where the SL has collected...
Curated OER
Growing Poems
Young scholars write garden inspired poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students go out into the garden and write poems about how they feel, what they see, and what is going on in the garden.
Denver Art Museum
The Poetry in Non-Events
The photograph, Nellie and her Italian Soda is viewed and discussed by the class. They are instructed to use the photograph as inspiration to write a poem about non-events, or things that are beautiful in every day life. Pupils use...
Curated OER
Shapes, Patterns, and Plants
Young scholars imagine they are animals in the Palace Facade painting. In this Palace Facade lesson plan, students observe and discuss the geometric and organic shapes in the painting shown to them.
Denver Art Museum
From the Hat’s Point of View
Here is a lesson designed for pre-schoolers and kindergartners that will pique their imaginations. They study images of a very interesting ceremonial hat from China's past called a Summer Official's Hat. These hats were worn by people of...
Curated OER
Civil War Diaries
Fifth graders examine excerpts from a diary of a Confederate soldier and his experiences in a Union prison camp. After receiving character cards, they write diary entries from the perspectives of their Civil War identity. As an...
Curated OER
Using The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a Bibliotherapy Technique for Foster Children
As the title suggests, this lesson is designed for a foster care therapy group. C.S. Lewis' novel provides children an opportunity to discuss life issues vicariously through fictional characters. However, the discussion questions and...
Curated OER
My Favorite Book
Class members select a favorite book and write and present a book review. They view and discuss a sample PowerPoint presentation, then write a rough draft for their own slide show book review. They create a six-slide presentation to...
Curated OER
What are Comfortable (good) and Uncomfortable (bad) Feelings and Situations?
First graders explore and discuss how someone feels when they are not in a safe place or situation and how someone might react when put in an unsafe situation. They view a demonstration performed by puppets that express good and bad...
Curated OER
...But What Does It Mean? Symbolism in Artwork
Students analyze the symbolism in the portrait The Artist in His Museum. In this symbolism lesson plan, students analyze the portrait and then create their own portrait containing symbolism.
Orange County Department of Education
The Hero: Writing and Responding
Pupils identify heroic character traits that they admire and that inspire trust and result in service to others. They identify the heroic traits of a character of their choosing and defend their reasoning using evidence from the text and...
Curated OER
Touch-Drawings
Students explore an object without seeing it then draw what s/he felt. In this touch-drawings activity, students partner and place objects in a paper bag so the other person cannot see it. Then students use their hands and...
Orange County Department of Education
Integrity and a Boy Called Slow
Fifth graders identify the character trait of integrity in the main character, Slow, in "A Boy Called Slow." They participate in a discussion to determine what steps the main character took to earn his new name. Students write an essay...
Curated OER
Portrait and Figure Drawing
Students practice their drawing skills. In this drawing skills lesson, students complete a self-observation drawing activity and then 3 methods of figure drawing.
Curated OER
Brown Bag Kites
Learners observe and discuss kites and how they function. They apply recycled materials to kite making. They utilize and develop self-expression. They appreciate art made by others and themselves. They fly their kites.