Curated OER
Dr. Seuss Author Study
Students listen to a story, then use the same format to write a class book.
Curated OER
Me: A Visual Essay
Students familiarize themselves with photo editing and montage techniques. They create a montage that tells the viewer about themselves.
Curated OER
Analyzing Persuasion
A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...
Curated OER
Journey Into Self
Eleventh graders examine the concept of the journey into self through a variety of literary genres. They express the personal notion of self by creating a picture poem and writing a personal reflection esssay.
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Separate is Not Equal: Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown vs. Board of Education was a landmark case, but what other cases were influenced by its decision? By researching 1 of 14 civil rights legislative events, scholars follow this court case through recent events. Keeping in mind 6...
Curated OER
The Class Garden Essay
Fifth graders use a class garden as inspiration for a specific writing assignment. They conduct research into different types of flowers in photo images taken with a digital camera. Students write a creative essay and draw a picture to...
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Hyper for Expository Writing!
Fifth graders use the internet to research a plant or animal they read about in "The Talking Earth". Using notes, they develop a graphic organizer and use the main topics to create a HyperStudio stack. Using all of this information,...
Curated OER
Creative Autobiography
Students brainstorm and outline ideas for their autobiography. They begin composition of it as well. Students create a timeline of important events to help them get started and discuss the elements of a what makes a good story.
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Change Over Time
Learners write a personal narrative that is designed to help them reflect on the nature and meaning of change in their lives.
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The Cause & Effect Model
Students analyze the plot of the story, "The Little Engine That Could" to provide a model for writing creatively, developing critical essays, producing themes, and making predictions.
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Short Story Framework
The class gets creative after listening to a short story containing a definitive structure. They are required to think about character, relationship, and setting, while attempting to show rather than tell, in their writing. Dialogue,...
App State
Brainstorming
Get your young writers outside of the traditional essay writing mode with Free Write Friday. Free Write Friday encourages your class to use personal experiences or knowledge to write more creative pieces. Young writers could experiment...
Curated OER
Free Enterprise System
What are the benefits of a having a free enterprise system. In groups, your young entrepreneurs create a new business concept and brochure, then work independently to write a brief essay on business freedoms. This a fun and motivating...
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Finding the dress code balance
Learners write a persuasive essay, expressing their opinions of how the school dress code should be changed. Students investigate their own school's dress code, developing their own opinions of whether the dress code should be more or...
Curated OER
Creating a Science Fiction Story
As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...
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So Foul and Fair a Play
Students watch various interpretations of Shakespeare's Macbeth in film. In groups, they examine the setting, characters, music and sequence. They compare and contrast the various films and discuss the differences. They write an essay on...
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Breath as Metaphor - Poetry Exercise
Students are required to critically read two poems, answer factual questions concerning the pieces, and then discuss the different uses of breath as a metaphor. They use the samples as a starting point for their own creative efforts.
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Celebrating Women: Toni Morrison
Students research Toni Morrison's life, work as a writer, and major contributions to the field of literature; students choose one of her novels to read, & perform a scene from it; each group member writes an autobiographical essay...
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Relating to Franklin's Age of Reason
Fourth graders read a selection describing 13 virtues from "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." They keep track of their behavior and whether or not they can keep up with 5 chosen virtues. They write a 5 paragraph essay on their...
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Strong Verb Image Makers
Learners use description language to clarify ideas and create vivid images in an essay focusing of strong verbs. They discuss weak verbs and explore that the better image the words create, the better the reader understands the text.
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The History of the Holocaust From A Personal Perspective
Students research and identify how Holocaust events affected lives of real people who lived in Europe from 1933 through 1945 and after, and create original artwork, poetry, and essays that reflect understanding of Holocaust, and its...
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Famous Person Admired
Middle schoolers research a famous person they admire. Students conduct Internet research to gather and store facts about the historic person in order to write essay, they also collect pictures for a collage.
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The Judiciary in American History
Students investigate the influence of political and societal forces on judicial decisions. Among the topics they examine are the selection of judges and the cause and effect relationship between politics, society, and the law. to...
EngageNY
Evaluating Evidence: Adversities Faced in the Middle Ages
How is that relevant? Scholars gain an understanding of the words relevant and compelling. They then go back to the End of Unit 1 Assessment Prompt: Adversity in the Middle Ages and look at the second bullet that pertains to relevant and...