ReadWriteThink
Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues
Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...
Education Foundation of Sarasota County
Problem Solving Skills for Home and School
Dr. Seuss' The Zax has a lesson plan to teach tweens and teens about the importance of problem-solving skills. After viewing the short video, groups identify conflicts that may occur at home, in school or in the community. They then...
Curated OER
My Mind is Blank
Investigate prewriting activities in this brainstorming lesson. Middle schoolers are divided into groups and are assigned a topic. They decide which prewriting technique to choose from, including free write, looping, brainstorming,...
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
Coast-to-Coast Book Design-Part 3: Brainstorming the Book
Learners examine the process of designing a book and identify the steps necessary to publish a book. In small groups they analyze ABC books, and discuss the similarities and differences between the books. Students then brainstorm ideas...
Overcoming Obstacles
Managing Stress
The final lesson in the High School and Beyond Module focuses on stress management. The big idea here is that situations themselves are not stressful, but how one perceives stress is the issue. With that point in mind, participants...
Overcoming Obstacles
Developing a Positive Attitude
The third instructional activity in the Goal Setting series looks at the impact of a positive attitude on achieving one's goals. Participants create and then share visuals that represent positive attitudes. They then brainstorm ways to...
Overcoming Obstacles
Managing Anger in Conflict Situations
The third lesson in the "Conflict Resolution Module" teaches participants strategies to reduce or control their anger. Class members first list situations that make them angry and then brainstorm a list of techniques that can lessen or...
EngageNY
Methods for Selecting a Random Sample
Random sampling is as easy as choosing numbers. Teams use random numbers to create a sample of book lengths from a population of 150 books. The groups continue by developing a technique to create samples to compare from two populations...
NOAA
To Explore Strange New Worlds
It's time to boldly go where your class has not gone before! The introductory lesson in a five-part series takes young oceanographers aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos to begin a study of ocean exploration. The lesson includes a comparison of...
Nemours KidsHealth
Germs: Grades 3-5
Infection prevention is the focus of two lessons. In instructional activity one, scholars take a brief quiz, survey peers, and discuss prevention techniques to stay healthy. Lesson two examines how germs workâtransmission, symptoms,...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Interview a Family or Community Member: Taking Oral Histories
Young scholars gain insight into how historians record events by engaging in an oral history project. In preparation, class members brainstorm open-ended interview questions and take part in and debrief a mock interview simulation....
Anti-Defamation League
Say Something: Discussion Guide for Grades 2-4
Empower pupils to stop bullying when they see or experience it with a lesson that showcases the book, Say Something by Margaret Paula Moss. After reading the tale and thoughtfully discussing its characters, they share their own...
Curated OER
Where is Flat Stanley?
Students create a story map of the basic elements and significant events of the book Flat Stanley. Students brainstorm places they would like to visit if they had been flattened and then, write about an imagined experience. Students...
Curated OER
Time for Design
Students are introduced to the design process used in engineering. They compare and contrast this process with the steps followed in the scientific method. Students then participate in a brainstorming session that asks them to design a...
Curated OER
Ad Targeting and Techniques
Students explore advertising techniques. In this advertising lesson, students discuss what a target audience is. They brainstorm what products might be targeted toward them and other target audiences such as their parents. Students also...
Curated OER
Bestiarity and Gargoyles
Learners complete an art project. In this gargoyles lesson, students learn about gargoyles and other medieval architecture features and discuss their purposes. Learners create their own monsters using an etching technique. This lesson...
Curated OER
Media Awareness: the Basics of Advertising
Students explore marketing techniques. In this media awareness lesson, students watch instructor-selected advertising and identify the marketing techniques used in each of them. Students then create advertisements for products.
Curated OER
High School Bag Design
Learners design a bag that they would personally use to carry needed items to school. In this bag design lesson, students observe real bags and assess needs and wants for a new bag. Learners brainstorm design solutions and render their...
ReadWriteThink
Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness
Inspire kindness in and out of school with a lesson that challenges scholars to perform 100 acts of kindness during the time between Martin Luther King Jr. Day to Valentine's day. Leading up to a celebration of friendship, learners...
Curated OER
Persuasive Writing
Fourth and fifth graders try their hand at persuasive writing. They listen to well-written persuasive articles so they can get a sense of what good persuasive writing is. Then, they brainstorm topics they'd like to write about and are...
Curated OER
Putting It Together in Writer's Workshop
This lesson about writing can be taught in small groups or large group settings. They examine basic writing techniques and practice using them to improve their writing.
Curated OER
Walter Cronkite: Witness to History
Students brainstorm a list of news sources. They interview people about today's media and discuss their results. After watching segments of a film about Walter Cronkite, they role play as reporters and subjects from an historic period...
Curated OER
Color Lifting
Students brainstorm and describe why far-away landscape features look less clear than nearby objects. They become aware of and recognize the effects of atmospheric perspective in realistic paintings and then create a realistic landscape...