Curated OER
Citizen Advocacy
Students examine how citizens can influence legislation. They watch a video, develop a list of how citizens can influence legislation, answer video discussion questions, conduct Internet research, and write a recommendation for change to...
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What Makes Jokes Funny?
Explore how language is used for comic effect. Middle schoolers determine which of the three formulas for jokes (double meanings, unexpected outcome, humorous mental image) make each of 18 classic, corny examples funny. They complete a...
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Technological Grand Conversations
Conduct a written literary discussion and diminish stress about public writing. Class members, already arranged into literature circles, compose and post responses to novels, signing with initials or class number. The process continues...
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Explore your Culture through Storytelling
Explore the cultural heritage through of your class through reading, writing, and speaking exercises. They create illustrated mini-books that express their unique cultural and personal experiences. They share their stores with the class...
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Structured Diamante Poem
Youngsters review nouns, adjectives and verbs. In this poetry lesson, readers choose a set of antonyms and create a list of synonyms, verbs and adjective for each. Students use the words to write a Diamante poem.
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The Stock Market and the Great Depression
How does the Stock Market work, what was Black Tuesday, and how did the Market crass of 1929 lead to the Great Depression? Have your class play this stock market game for two weeks to better explain how the stock market works.
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Feelings and Emotions
Students discuss and write about different feelings they or someone else may have. In this feelings lesson plan, students discuss different ways they express their feelings. Then they get a picture with someone who is demonstrating a...
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Cuentitos para ni
Vamos a escribir! Your older learners will love writing a children's book for learners at the elementary level. The resource suggests having small groups write their stories and create PowerPoint slides with illustrations, but this can...
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Pedometer Activities to Enhance Cross-curricular Learning
Students complete different activities involving pedometers such as writing a creative story, calculating step averages, researching pedometers, calculating calories, and much more.
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Pretending with Prefixes
The book Fortunately provides an excellent opportunity to discuss prefixes and suffixes as they appear in context. The class goes over a list of prefixes and suffixes with the teacher. They then write two sentences; the first...
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Approaching the Regents' Essay Exam
Prepare your scholars for the Regents' Essay Exam with these helpful tips. Advice from what one will need to bring, to how to develop a thesis are included. Writers are given a suggested timeline and sample questions as well. Reduce test...
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Reintroduce /o/
There are many words that begin with the /o/ sound; scholars study this letter in multiple contexts including intial phoneme examples, pronunciation, and letter recognition. Write the letter on the board to see if learners can identify...
Film English
Paper Is Not Dead
Now that much of people's lives center around their electronic devices, paper is being used less often. However, sometimes you do need paper. Have your class brainstorm the uses of paper and of electronic devices and compare their...
iCivics
Drafting Board: Military Intervention
Should countries use their militaries to stop humanitarian crises in other countries? Learners make claims, organize their reasoning, and provide evidence for their arguments with this rich resource.
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Prosecution or Persecution
Investigate the future of the presidency in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Clinton. The class brainstorms both sides of the argument, reads and discusses an article, then analyzes and writes a journal...
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Martin Luther King
Identify contributions that Martin Luther King, Jr. made to society through assigning a research project! Third and fourth graders write about how it felt to be discriminated against during the game. They describe something they can do...
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Thanksgiving
First graders summarize similarities and differences of life in England and America for the Pilgrims by reading a mini-book. Then, they write a journal entry in first person on what it is like to be a pilgrim in England and in America....
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Heart of Darkness: List Group Label Strategy
Heart of Darkness can challenge even the best readers. Here's a pre-reading strategy that will engage class members and provide background and context for Conrad's study of racism, savagery and imperialism. Class members brainstorm,...
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Regarding the Fountain: A KWHL Strategy
A KWHL strategy prepares young readers for the different type of writing found in Kate Klise's story of the Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain. Step-by-step directions, student and teacher copies of the KWHL template, and...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
Making a Difference
After learning about the effects of water pollution, your class will discuss ways to make people in their community aware of the importance of water conservation. Then, your young environmentalists will write a letter to the local...
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Social Class Stereotypes
Encourage your learners to think about how and why people and categorized in terms of social class. They decide what "class" they belong to, and then brainstorm about the indicators that society uses to define class and to categorize...
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Introduce /m/
Start by drawing a large letter m on the board for scholars to see. Do they know what letter this is? Once you've demonstrated the sound it makes, use these tips to help them make the same sound. There is even an audio...
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Introduce /f/
Hook your scholars by drawing a large f on the board; do they know what letter this is? Once you've demonstrated the sound it makes, use these tips to help them make the same sound. Although the audio function is neat, it may not be...
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Introduce /d/
Give youngsters a better grasp of the letter d by combining letter sounds, pronunciation, recognition, and word examples. Scholars examine the letter shape then listen to you make the /d/ sound and try it on their own....