Curated OER
The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
With The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry as the hook learners discuss the rainforest, the animals that live there, and conservation efforts. Then, students write a letter to the man in the story asking him not to cut down the Kapok...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Exploring Text with the iMovie Application
Get your class going on one of the final assessments for a unit on short stories by introducing iMovie and its main features. In this tenth lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils take some time to explore iMovie before conducting an...
Curated OER
Creating Personalized Stationery
Young scholars write, format, enter, save, revise, edit a full block style letter with open punctuation for printing. They produce a personalized letterhead using a computer and access information from the Internet using a variety of...
Curated OER
Do They Agree?
Fifth graders review and practice subject-verb agreement by cutting and pasting, and by writing a simple paragraph in which the subjects and verbs agree. They utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan to practice subject-verb agreement.
Curated OER
Daily Oral Language Activities in the Classroom
Daily Oral Language is a great way for you and your students to begin the day.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension: Context Clues
Fifth graders use context clues to help them understand unknown words. In this context clues lesson, 5th graders practice identifying context clues on a worksheet, then work with a peer to write their own story. Stories are peer edited...
Curated OER
Reading a Newspaper
Students define the terms associated with parts of a newspaper. They identify various sections of a newspaper and the type of articles found in each and provide the responses to who? what? when? where? and why? contained in a ...
Curated OER
Vivid Adjectives
Students review adjectives and play a game where students compete to see who can write the most adjectives for a given noun. They write a story about one topic and try to use a variety of adjectives in sequence tto describe a noun.
Curated OER
United We Stand
Students recreate and simulate the secession of the South during the Civil War by having their class secede from the school. They write an essay comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of everyday life before and after...
Curated OER
You've Got Mail
First graders study the postal system and letter writing. They exchange class letters with another class in a different area and become pen pals with residents in a local nursing home.
Curated OER
Picture Dictionary
Students write and contribute one page for a class picture dictionary. They discuss how to alphabetize words, and examine both regular and picture dictionaries and how they are organized. Next they create a page for the class dictionary...
Curated OER
Las Misiones de California
Fourth graders work in partners to complete a series of activities. After reading the introduction, Students select a role of either a "Padre" or "Indigena." As partners, they need time on the computer for research as well as time to...
Curated OER
Novel Creation
Students create an alternate ending with digital animations to illustrate their text. In this novel creation lesson, students read a novel and analyze the plot in small groups. Students collaborate on an alternate ending...
Curated OER
The News Article and The Editorial
Here is an outstanding series of lessons on journalism, writing newspaper articles, and writing editorials. This type of writing has long-been neglected in our schools, so this collection of writing activities is most-valuable. Along...
Denton Independent School District
World Religions
Support your class members in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of cultures and perspectives around the globe with a project on world religions.
Curated OER
Plant Reproduction
Students plant seeds in order to investigate and explore the questions: "How do seed companies develop varieties of plants?" and "What is the ideal plant?" Students will study related vocabulary and sketch seeds as they emerge. Students...
Cornell University
Insect Anatomy
Young entomologists discover insect anatomy in a very detailed unit plan. Offering background information for teachers about various insects, class members explore the differences between bugs and insects—and yes, there are many...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
DNA Profiling Activity
Everyone loves a good mystery ... can your class actually solve one? Partnered pupils take on the role of forensic investigators during a three-part activity focusing on DNA evidence processing. Learners discover the methods used to...
Curated OER
Three Reasons Why I Want To Be...
Pupils investigate the process of writing an expository paper. The purpose of the paper is established in the introduction and the supporting details are sequenced in a logical order. The paper possesses punctuation and grammatical style...
Curated OER
WRITING AN ARTICLE FOR A CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE
Students engage in the writing of a magazine article. They focus upon the reading of a children's fiction book and create an informative narrative. They create main ideas and supporting details for the article. The supporting of main...
Curated OER
Happiness is A Warm Puppy
Students investigate dog breeds and write a short story from a dog's perspective. In this dog research and writing instructional activity, students watch the film, "Dog: The Early Years. They apply critical thinking skills to determine...
Curated OER
The Raven: Creator of the Universe?
Students explore biology by researching birds in class. In this raven identification instructional activity, students utilize the Internet to identify the anatomy, habits and habitat of ravens. Students write descriptive paragraphs about...
Curated OER
Wacky Web Tales
Students study the parts of speech and then review them. They identify each part of speech and place them on a tree map. Then they visit a website to create a "Wacky Web Tale" using information from the tree map. They print their tales...
Curated OER
Fun With Formatting
Learners investigate the concept of using a word processing program with the intention of improving formatting skills like centering text. They also highlight different text sections and demonstrate how to save changes made to a document...