Curated OER
Bearstone: A Novel Analysis
Seventh graders need to be able to distinguish between major and minor characters and need to have read the novel Bearstone and be familiar with the sequence of events as well as the qualities displayed by each character over the course...
Curated OER
Worksheet for Choosing a Research Paper Topic & Developing a Thesis Statement
How do you choose a research topic? This helpful graphic organizer is provided to aid middle and high schoolers in organizing their initial thoughts and choosing a topic. They have to narrow their topic by culture, time frame, event,...
Curated OER
The Origin of Life: Alternative Views
Students explore the topics of faith and science as they relate to the origins of life. They consider the major points of Darwin's Theory of Evolution and brainstorm various explanations of how life began. Students investigate different...
Curated OER
Career Education for Early Elementary Grades
It's never too early to connect children with the real world meaning of their work. A series of four one-hour sessions, plus a field trip, make up this unit on college and career readiness for first and second graders. After viewing a...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.3
Don't let your pupils take everything at face value! They should analyze and evaluate what speakers say. Practice this skill with the two related activities described here. After brainstorming critical questions, learners can listen to...
Curated OER
Author's Purpose
Sixth graders brainstorm the reasons authors write, and they list their responses on the board. Students discuss each purpose they have listed.Students work independently to read the selection "Tarantulas and Typhoid" by...
Curated OER
Poetry Gifts
What kind of shoe is this person? What time of day is this person? Aspiring poets’ responses to a list of questions provide descriptive words and phrases that can be crafted into a blank verse poem. A link to sample poems is provided.
Curated OER
Flipped: After Reading Strategy
Everyone can be an expert! After finishing Wendelin Van Draanen's book Flipped, divide your class into small groups. Then, assign each group a topic to become experts on. The resource suggests topics such as characters, themes, setting,...
Curated OER
Making Sense of Homographs
What is a homograph? Develop your students' vocabulary with a word association tool. Language arts classes discover what a homograph is and how it can be used as a visual thesaurus. They discover the other uses for homographs...
Curated OER
Stories
Read, discuss, and write short stories with your primary class. They read a short story and complete worksheets for the story. They also brainstorm ideas for a class story and choose an idea to write 3 ideas and then write the story as a...
Curated OER
Scrambled Stories
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
Curated OER
The Bill of Rights and Your Life
Learners review the contents of the Constitution by taking a trivia quiz and brainstorm the rights contained in the Bill of Rights. After discussing the Bill of Rights, students categorize and outline its content. Given a worksheet,...
Curated OER
Courage: Hero Traits
What does it mean to be a hero? Who qualifies as a hero? In groups, middle and high schoolers brainstorm a list of heroes and create a list of characteristics that a person must possess in order to be a hero. Extend this instructional...
Curated OER
Language Arts Writing Project
Young scholars practice writing open-ended questions about a specific topic. They use proper grammar and syntax in their questions that are typed into a word processing file. A rubric is included in this lesson plan to help with assessment.
Curated OER
Society Dominos
Students examine six victims of a crime. They role play characters in the scenario and relate feelings as the scene develops. they brainstorm and role play strategies to increase understanding of the rights and responsibilities of...
Teaching Tolerance
The Power of Words: Normative Sexuality
Students collect newspaper articles which discuss societies who enforce heterosexuality. They brainstorm how heterosexuality is enforced in their community. They answer questions to end the instructional activity.
Curated OER
Autumn Writing
Students review and brainstorm the signs of autumn through a PowerPoint presentation/ lesson with embedded video clips. After brainstorming ideas as a group, Students use Kidspiration to develop a graphic organizer and follow the writing...
Curated OER
MiniZine Writing Project
Young scholars write on a chosen topic. Students brainstorm topics and practice writing on the topic using a variety of templates. Young scholars print a final work and fold it in half to create a Mini Zine.
Curated OER
A Brief History of Fairfax County
Students brainstorm a list of things they already know about the history of Fairfax County, Virginia. After reading a primary source document, they discuss the similarities and differences between their prior knowledge and what they...
Curated OER
Graph Frenzy!!
Learners brainstorm for a survey question to ask classmates. They survey their classmates. They enter the results into a spreadsheet and create the best graph for the information. They share their graphs with the class.
Curated OER
Talk is Cheap
Second graders listen to the tale, "The Tortoise and the Hare" and discuss the moral of the story. Afterward, they brainstorm words that encouraged the Tortoise to accomplish his goal. Students then review the concept of goal setting and...
Curated OER
Class Books
Young scholars brainstorm a list of personal information based on a variety of categories. After writing positive comments on their classmates, they spilt into two groups with one entering the information into a database and the other...
Curated OER
Writing a Newspaper Article
The perfect resource for a beginning journalism teacher or someone designing a journalism unit, this activity prompts young scholars to write a newspaper article. It covers all aspects of the writing process, such as a guided warm-up...
Virginia Department of Education
Writing Effective Dialogue
Spend a productive hour in the classroom with this tutorial where junior high writers discover how to create snappy dialogue. The learning begins with an analysis of sample writing and discussion on the effectiveness of each piece. The...