Curated OER
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Students explore the 5 themes of geography. In this cross curriculum literacy and geography lesson, students listen to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, and make a list of the needs of the people in Chewandswallow....
Curated OER
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
After reading Ernest Hemingway's well-known novel The Sun Also Rises, print these study questions for your class. There are 10 questions listed, and some require more than just basic recall. There are compare and contrast questions and...
Curated OER
Armadillo: Reporting on War
Point of view is everything, especially when reporting about the war in Afghanistan. Class members compare and contrast the same event from the war in Afghanistan as reported by five different sources. Learners are also asked to rank the...
Curated OER
Applying Elements of the Graphic Novel to Traditional Literature
The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan, provides a series of exercises designed to be used with a reading of the graphic novel version of Hosseini’s The Kite Runner....
National Endowment for the Humanities
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...
Curated OER
Career Magic
Fifth graders gather information about the roles, responsibilities, skills, and training and education requirements of workers. Then they input this information into a graphic organizer chart and identify the similarities and differences...
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...
Curated OER
Poetry Comprehension: Alfred Noyes' "The Highwayman"
Eight questions regarding Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman" assess comprehension; readers infer, recall details, summarize, draw conclusions, compare and contrast, and respond to literature. A clean, useful resource if this poem is on...
Curated OER
Historical Fiction: A Wealth of Interpretations
How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this lesson to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear America" or "My...
Armory Center for the Arts
Place Value Collage
How can art represent math? Use a lesson on place value collages to illustrate the different meanings that numbers have in their designated places. Kids observe photographs and paintings that show place value, then work on their own.
Curated OER
Write a Short Story
Students compare two paintings, depicting urban life in America in the 1940's, answering a series of questions, then create a short story about the paintings' characters. They compare 'Nighthawks' and 'Nightlife.'
Curated OER
Ambitious Women Artists at Work
Examine the works of Luisa Roldan and Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun. Learners view various pieces of art from each of the artists and read about their lives. They discuss the information and construct a Venn diagram, comparing the two...
Curated OER
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, wrote Silas Marner in 1861. While you're compiling materials for your Victorian unit, consider printing off these essay questions to help readers really explore the text. Some...
Curated OER
Reading Practice: Winnie-the-Pooh
Whether your first graders can read or not, they will enjoy this comprehension activity. They read or listen to an excerpt from a Winnie-the-Pooh story, they predict what will happen next, then draw Pooh Bear's favorite food. A compare...
Curated OER
"The Most Dangerous Game" Study Guide
After reading Richard Connell's best known work, "The Most Dangerous Game," have your class complete the 12 study questions included here. Readers answer plot related questions, compare and contrast characters, and analyze story...
EngageNY
Inferring About Characters Based on How They Respond to Challenges (Chapter 4: "Los Higos/Figs")
How do you know what a character's personality is like if an author doesn't tell you? With a focus on character development in Esperanza Rising, pupils complete a jigsaw activity to analyze the actions of Mama, Abuelita, and Miguel. Once...
Curated OER
Mozart vs. Beethoven - Real Classical Composers
Elementary schoolers are given an overview of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods of music. They focus on the lives of Beethoven and Mozart; two of the greatest composers of all time. After listening to samples their...
Brooklyn Museum
HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture
Visual arts lessons don't always mean the children need to make art. Here, they will practice using their visual literacy skills to analyze four images through the compare and contrast method. The first two images deal with gender...
Curated OER
From Page to Stage
Students, utilizing video clips and Web sites, compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, analyzing similarities and differences between them. They adapt literature into a...
Curated OER
Color Me Happy: Color, Mood, and Tone
Young scholars examine how artists use color to set the tone of a painting. They analyze and discuss various paintings, complete a chart comparing the artists' color schemes and tones, and write a paragraph comparing two images.
Curated OER
Our Town: Using Song Lyrics in the Classroom
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...
Curated OER
Determining Importance
Middle schoolers hone their skills at identifying the principle story in a work of art and text. Through discussion, students assess the central and supporting stories of a work of art that is characterized by multiple layers of action...
Curated OER
Musical Form of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Students use a recording of "The Star Spangled Banner," to identify the AABC form of the anthem and describe the repetitions and contrasts in the piece of music. They memorize the music in eight-measure phrases being aware of the form...
Curated OER
Introduction to China
Compare and contrast the distinctive characteristics of art forms from various cultural, historical, and social contexts, and describe how the same subject matter is represented differently in works of art across cultures and time...