Curated OER
Everyone's a Critic: Analyzing Sitcoms as Cultural Texts
Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...
Curated OER
Poetry Project
Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...
Curated OER
Making the Connection: Incorporate The Arts Into Every Subject
Art, music, movement, and drama will enhance and bring your lessons to life!
Curated OER
Heartsongs Poetry by Mattie Stepanek
Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...
Curated OER
Common Procedure Costs
Kids never think about the cost of medical expenses, because they never think they'll get hurt. To better understand personal financial planning, learners research common medical procedures and their costs. They use a worksheet and the...
California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
Curated OER
Discussion Questions for Shakespeare's Julius Caeser
Do not let Julius Caesar be Greek to your pupils. Rather, make the play a dish fit for hungry minds. Encourage your class members to lend their ears to a series of rich discussion questions so that they can become masters of the play, as...
Curated OER
Analyzing Literary Devices
Eighth graders identify figurative language and poetry in this literary analysis lesson. Using Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and a YouTube video for "The Walrus and the Carpenter," young readers complete a literary device...
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Distinguished Discoveries: Florida quarter reverse
Florida's state quarter has an image of a space shuttle and a Spanish Galleon on its reverse side. Pupils will examine the state quarter and think about how the Spanish explorers and Space explorers are the same and different. The class...
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Spirit of Enquiry
The lesson plan includes guided questions to help students to think about their own behavior and purpose in life. They do this through a quiet time of reflection that can include the writing of ideas. Then students act out a play to...
Curated OER
Reading Plays
Students examine the role of tone in a comedy play. They also discover how to paraphrase a passage and explain a character's point of view.
Curated OER
Algebra I: The Play
Students create their plays to demonstrate concepts from Algebra I. They collaborate in small groups to add music and dancing to their plays. They analyze the suggestions from the previous class as they revise their plays.
Curated OER
Spanish Drama: Latin America
Students explore Hispanic countries. In this Hispanic culture and language lesson, students choose an Hispanic country to research. Students explore given websites and prepare a dramatization incorporating the facts they...
Curated OER
Piercing the World of Silence
Students explore the sign language alphabet. They examine the difficulties faced by handicapped persons, and are introduced to Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan and The Miracle Worker.
Curated OER
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
In this unit, students examine the many different themes in Anne Frank's diary. They connect the themes to their own life and keep a journal to explore the triumphs and challenges in their own life.
Curated OER
From Formal To Slang
Tenth graders define the term slang, explaining its various social, historical, and racial contexts, so as to articulate when it can be appropriately used as a means of effective communication. They use their own personal slang lexicon,...
Curated OER
I Wonder What a Pest Is...
Pupils observe what animals are considered to be pests and why. They conduct a mock trial of a honeybee arguing if it is a pest or not. They determine pros and cons of honeybees to prepare for the trial.
Curated OER
Language Arts Written Drama Project: Creationism
Students create and perform science fiction drams based upon their knowledge of the solar system. In this solar system lesson students work in cooperative groups to create a short play and will also score the play.
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Drama Unit Skit
Students, in groups, as a culmination of a unit on drama, develop a skit that reviews the concepts taught throughout the unit. They agree on the topic and come up with a good theme and storyline. After rehearsals, they perform the skit...
Curated OER
Making Cents of Independence
Learners explore the causes and major events of the Texan and American revolutions. Comparisons and contrasts are made between the two revolutionary experiences and applied to the symbolism used on the Texas State quarter.
Curated OER
The Sound of Calm
Students examine the relationships that exist between ocean currents, wind and climate. Using those relationships, they discuss how they affect the oceans. They create their own music to represent the sounds of the ocean and share them...
Curated OER
Introducing Literacy Elements in Nonfiction
Explore nonfiction writing with your class. They will identify elements in nonfiction by reviewing elements of fiction. Then they use biographies, memoirs, menus, Time for Kids, and text books to identify elements of nonfiction. They...
Curated OER
A Good Man is Hard to Find
Young scholars, in groups, read and analyze the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. They present their findings tot he rest of the class and then connect the various themes discussed to outside material, events...
Curated OER
Whales
First graders investigate two different types of whales; toothed and baleen. They describe what the different types of whale eat. They listen to a cassette of Dyan Sheldon's, The Whale Song before making stick puppets to dramatize the...