Curated OER
MLA Documentation
What information needs to be cited? Give your growing writers some clues into plagiarism and how to avoid it. If they know when to cite information, they'll be far less likely to plagiarize! Several examples are available here to study...
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In Other Words: Using a Thesaurus
Help your young writers stay engaged with their writing through the practical use of a thesaurus. They work to reinforce the use of synonyms as a way of making writing more interesting and to determine word meaning by finding synonyms....
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Round-Robin Reading Quiz
Small groups of learners read text round-robin style, and then work individually to answer three questions based on the text. Next, they share their questions and responses and add ideas from the group. The reading strategies detailed...
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Main Idea in Informational Text
Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...
Curated OER
The Study of Theme and Figurative Language in Poetry and/or Prose
Identify and analyze the use of figurative language used in select pieces of writing. These pieces of literature will represent at least two pieces by one writer and at least two pieces by different writers. This instructional activity...
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Introducing Jane Eyre
"How can a magazine reflect a particular time and culture?" Using this prompt, your class explores the Victorian Era as it relates to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. They can also play the "Victorian Women's Rights" game for the year 1840...
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Sports Heroes and Private Action for the Common Good
Young readers explore philanthropy and its effects on the public good. They discuss athletes and their examples as philanthropists. They research a sports hero and play "The Match Game" to determine what they know about other sports...
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What Was That All About?
Through direct instruction, the teacher demonstrates how to identify the main idea and supporting details of a text when creating a summary. As a class, read a paragraph, highlighting relevant information and crossing out extraneous...
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Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...
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Pizza Biography
A biography writing instructional activity with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking...
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Reading Strategies: Main Idea
Identify the main idea and the supporting details of a story in a literacy resource from Discovery Education. Complete with procedures, vocabulary, and assessment activities, this is a great way for pupils to practice their outlining...
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"Blackbeard's Ghost" Differentiated Lesson Plan
Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this lesson to...
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The Effects of Slavery
The emotional and spiritual oppression of slavery in the African-American experience is the focus of this lesson. Middle schoolers analyze various texts by Frederick Douglass and Maya Angelou related to freedom and oppression. They use...
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First Lines from Shakespeare
You may know famous quotations from Shakespeare's plays, but do you know how the plays start?All twenty-five questions in this helpful resource consist of the opening lines of a Shakespeare play for which you choose the title. Test your...
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Effective Persuasion: Developing Persuasive Documents
Great guidelines for writing persuasively are presented in these slides, along with plenty of questions to lead your scholars as they research. This PowerPoint will help your writers be clear, focused, and incredibly persuasive as they...
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APA and MLA Formats: Their Main Differences
What is the difference between MLA and APA format? This presentation is geared towards a college audience, but it could definitely be useful with an eleventh and twelfth grade audience in high school. Differences are highlighted, but not...
Weber State University
Quoting, Paraphrasing, & Summarizing
Tattoos and piercings. Here’s a PowerPoint that uses an article on the tattoo and piercing craze to engage viewers in a presentation about citing sources. The 14 slides focus on how to add credibility to writing by including and citing...
Richmond Community Schools
Map Skills
Young geographers will need to use a variety of map skills to complete the tasks required on this worksheet. Examples of activities include using references to label a map of Mexico, identify Canadian territories and European countries,...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 3: Igbo Culture
What cultural concepts must readers understand in order to connect to Things Fall Apart? As part of their study of Chinua Achebe’s novel, class members research Nigeria and the Igbo culture to create a collaborative, web-based, annotated...
California Department of Education
I’m Ready to Work
Get ready to apply yourself! Lesson four in a series of five college and career readiness lessons introduces the basic parts of a job application. Pupils discover the necessity for good references and create a master job application for...
Curated OER
Abigail and John in Love
The second instructional activity in the series asks groups to analyze an exchange of love letters between Abigail and John Adams. Scholars identify the many allusions and references in the letters and consider what they can infer about...
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Citing Sources
Young scholars cite information for reports or projects when conducting research on the internet. They collect information by using a citation worksheet and complete a form for citing sources and/or use a citation website.
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Reference Source Four Square
Fourth graders play a four-square game on the playground while reviewing four main references -- dictionary, atlas, thesaurus, and encyclopedia. Students must throw the playground ball in the correct "square" identifying the correct...
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Finding Facts
In this facts worksheet, students use reference sources to respond to 5 multiple choice questions illustrating their knowledge of how to find facts.