Curated OER
Dictionary Detective
Build your class's dictionary skills with this fun game. The activity allows learners to better understand dictionary usage, spelling, and vocabulary. By the end of this activity, they should be skilled word finders.
Curated OER
Knowledge or Instinct? Jack London's "To Build a Fire"
Learners examine the relationship of man and nature in "To Build a Fire" and discuss the juxtaposition of knowledge and instinct. They investigate third person, omniscient point of view.
Odell Education
Reading Closely for Textual Details: Grade 7
Enhance the reading experience with a set of lessons designed to improve textual analysis. Seventh graders use guiding questions to read both informational text and literature closely in the first part of the unit. Next, they work on...
Curated OER
Word Roots 2: Fin, Sed, Fer Intermediate-Word Search
Make learning Latin roots a game! After you have introduced the roots fin, sed, and fer, learners can use this word search to build their vocabulary. (Within the word search are words containing these roots.) You can further the activity...
Curated OER
Take the Mystery Out of Building Suspense in a Narrative
Good thing, bad thing; a fun technique for building suspense in a narrative.
Curated OER
Word Roots 1 dict, vent, duct Advanced Level Synonym or Antonym Word Puzzle
Play a bit of a matching game with the words addicted, intervene, abdicate, circumvent, seductive, and conducive. Using the provided word list, select a synonym and an antonym for each vocabulary word. Quiz your class or use this as a...
Curated OER
Word Roots 3 cern, jur, leg Advanced Level Synonym or Antonym Word Puzzle
Does your class know the meaning of abjure, perjury, certify, discriminate, illegitimate, and relegate? Find out by assigning this exercise, where learners choose both a synonym and an antonym from a word list to go along with each...
Curated OER
Relationships, Day 1: Self-Esteem
Expose your secondary special education class to the importance of belonging and feeling accepted. They define self-esteem, pride, and appreciation. Then create a self collage and share what they like about themselves with the class. A...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme Segmenting and Blending, Break and Make
Young learners build phonemic awareness and strong phoneme blending skills. Pairs guess the image on the card based on the word segment sounds given by blending what they hear.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Pocket Rhymes
Rhyming is fun and it helps build phonological awareness that is key in early reading. Learners use a pocket chart and a set of 40 cards that make 20 rhyming sets to practice recognizing rhyming words. Peer one picks a card from a bag...
Curated OER
Lessons for Young Children with Autism
Here are a variety of lessons geared for young children with Autism. There are 12 short activities intended to build attention, imitation, communication, independent living, social, motor, and literacy skills. Each skill is geared toward...
Curated OER
Communication, Day 5: Saying "No"
There are many ways to say, no. Secondary special needs young scholars need to know when and how to say no when they feel they are in an uncomfortable situation. They sign, say, and role-play how to say no. Worksheets and role-playing...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Isolating, Move and Tell
Build phonological awareness with this fun game focused on isolating and identifying medial phonemes. This game board contains an image on each square; when the child lands on a square, they must say the medial sound of the word they...
Curated OER
Private & Public
Some disabled students have a difficulty understanding what is and what is not publicly appropriate behavior. Help them build healthy social skills by defining public and private behaviors, labeling public and private places, and...
Curated OER
Exploitation, Day 1: Touching
Developmentally Disabled young scholars need to know they types of touch, appropriate touching, and their personal rights. They brainstorm types of touch, go over their personal rights, and discuss social skills. Very appropriate lesson...
Smithsonian Institution
POWs
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars? To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the voice of...
Brookly Museum
Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe
Modern art is great to experience because it brings contemporary issues into everyday conversation. Upper graders consider the work of Mickalene Thomas, an artist that uses photo collage techniques to capture the beauty of African...
Curated OER
Lesson: Tomma Abts: Abstract Painting
One must first learn how to analyze art before they can properly respond to it. Here, young analysts examine six abstract pieces in a systematic and formal way. They then respond to one of the pieces in either a poem or an essay. An...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Literacy Criticism
As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites for literary...
Curated OER
Celebrate National Financial Literacy Month
Boost achievement and engagement with real-world financial literacy lessons!
Learning for Justice
Beauty is Skin Deep
If you are in need of a lesson on tolerance or the impact of media, this plan could be useful. The class begins with a brainstorming session in which they reflect on their own experiences with bias based on appearance. Next, they...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Radio Reception and Transmission
After reading about radio transmission, application, and the difference between AM and FM, small teams of engineers use a kit to construct an FM radio and then send and receive broadcasts. This is an ideal activity for middle school STEM...
Curated OER
Savvy Surfers: Website Evaluation and Media Literacy
Sixth graders strengthen their understanding of what a high quality website is composed of. Learners evaluate three websites for accuracy, credibility, and reliability by completing a chart.
Curated OER
Unit 1: Water is Life: The Heart and Science Behind this Phrase
Water, water, everywhere — but will there be enough to drink? Check out these detailed lesson plans to meet NGSS water cycle and CCSS literacy standards in your science classroom. Learners do a close reading of a challenging, poetic text...