Dream of a Nation
Big6 Research Project
Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...
EngageNY
Resource Materials and Gathering Information: Reading Another “Choice” Text from the Research Folder
Look it up. Scholars use a dictionary and thesaurus to verify the meaning of the research vocabulary words they defined in the previous activity. They then use sticky notes to write a synonym for each word. Finally, individuals choose a...
EngageNY
Presenting a Summary of a Statistical Project
Based upon the statistics, this is what it means. The last lesson in a series of 22 has pupils present the findings from their statistical projects. The scholars discuss the four-step process used to complete the project of their...
Mrs. Sol's Class
Solar System Project
Finish or launch your unit on the solar system with a jigsaw project covering major celestial concepts such as the Milky Way Galaxy, asteroids, meteors, comets, Earth's moon, and, of course, all the planets. Learners start by writing...
Minneapolis Public Schools
Cereal Box Book Project
If you need a new way to approach reading assignments in your class, use a creative cereal box project as a book report. With all necessary templates included for each side of the cereal box, the resource guides readers through the...
Novelinks
Sense and Sensibility: Final Assessment: Movie Maker
Assess your class's understanding of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with a fun and creative final project. Using what they have learned about the novel's characters, they create presentations featuring music and images that best...
Curated OER
A Pill with a View
Learners brainstorm a list of potential uses for micro-video technologies. After reading an article, they analyze the development of a new pill-sized camera. In groups, they create a children's book that shows them the various systems of...
Curated OER
What We Eat, Where We Sleep: Documenting Daily Life to Tell Stories
This is not just a New York Time article to read, this is a set of amazing activity ideas all related to the slide shows "Breaking Bread Everywhere" and "Where Children Sleep." Your class can view each show, read about what they mean...
Curated OER
Ender's Game: Ender's Shadow Projects
Most likely intended for a secondary remedial class. This lesson engages high schoolers in literary analysis through a creative project. They choose one project focused on taking the protagonist through a hero's journey. This link...
Curated OER
Group Newspaper Project
Explained as part of a whole-unit, a group newspaper project gives life to any study on WWI. This plan has historians using notes from class to "illustrate" WWI to their classmates through various articles. Not much information is...
Curated OER
Project Based Technology in Second Grade
The many activities in this resource serve to introduce second graders to the Macintosh computer and to various programs and their creative product options. They make sideshows using KidPix, practice using email with the Journey South...
Weebly
My Menu Project
If you don't mind using another teacher's website, this one has a simple project that would make a nice conclusion to your nutrition unit. Using a planning worksheet and peer review, nutrition nuts create a cafe menu using healthy foods....
Curated OER
During Reading Strategy for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations
Readers create a literary scrapbook for one of the characters in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and fill it with mementoes, journal entries, letters, etc. A great way to get kids to think about characterization.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Problem Solvers: Challenge Activities (Theme 4)
Creative activities help bring literature alive. The first of a set of lessons designed to accompany selections from Theme 4: Problem Solvers uses activities such as skits, responses to music, and social studies projects. These...
Curated OER
Storytelling
Show young readers how to put some personality and voice into their storytelling with an in-depth assignment. Kids practice saying the same thing, such as counting from one to ten, in different tones and perspectives, and then work on...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to the Works of Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson tackles challenging topics for teens. An educator's guide shares activities for many of her novels such as Prom, Shout, and Wintergirls. Questions, perfect to use as either discussion or as essay prompts, accompany...
Art Institute of Chicago
Lesson Plan: A Writer’s Odyssey
Looking for a fresh approach to an end-of-unit project for The Odyssey? Check out a resource that has class members write their own hero's journey short story and then craft an illustration that depicts their tale. Apollonio di...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Animals
Scholars explore the animal kingdom with help from two texts, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey and A Bed for the Winter by Karen Wallace. The literature and informational text set the learning stage for thoughtful discussion and...
Curated OER
The Things they Carried: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
To generate interest in and enable readers to connect to The Things They Carried, class members write about what they carry—both tangible and intangible things. The class then makes a list of these things and compares the list to...
Curated OER
Creative Writing: Children's Building Blocks
Your class can participate in a writing program involving four building blocks. By exploring words, sentences, writing forms, and story organization, they improve their creative writing skills throughout this year-long unit. Early in the...
Curated OER
European Explorers: Research Project
What will your students choose to include in their explorer's treasure chest? Youngsters research an early European explorer and gather items to reflect their research, such as a detailed map of the explorer's voyages, portrait, flag,...
Curated OER
Papier-Mache Masks
Read about, and then make culturally inspired masks. Learners watch the video, "Masks and Face Coverings," then design and make a mask with cultural significance out of papier mache. Tip: Have small groups research, write about, and make...
Curated OER
Mini Masks: Ceramics
Masks have been used for many reasons throughout human history. They are also great subjects for art projects! Included here are instructions, background information, and all the supplies needed to create mini masks in your class.
Lesson Plans
Analogy of the Cell Project
Intended to supplement your existing cell function and organelle lessons, pairs work together to develop a real-world analogy for cell structures. In addition to writing paragraphs about the comparison, each group will make a short...