Curated OER
Structured Diamante Poem
Youngsters review nouns, adjectives and verbs. In this poetry lesson, readers choose a set of antonyms and create a list of synonyms, verbs and adjective for each. Students use the words to write a Diamante poem.
Curated OER
Poems: Humourous Verses
First grade is a great time to build strong reading skills. Here are three short rhyming poems or common nursery rhymes that are intended to help boost reading fluency. Because most children know these rhymes, they will have an easier...
Curated OER
Holocaust Studies: Five Poems by Dan Pagis
Teaching a unit on the Holocaust? Consider using the personal statements of Dan Pagis’s poetry to contrast with the more “distanced” historical accounts found in textbooks. Five poems, discussion questions, and background notes are...
Core Task Project
Whatif by Shel Silverstein
What a skillful way to incorporate Shel Silverstein, a wonderful author, into the classroom. Composed of three tasks, children are led through a series of text-dependent questions that force them to unveil the meaning of Silverstein's...
Lakeshore Learning
Presidents' Day Poem
What a great way to combine English language arts with your celebration of Presidents' Day! Youngsters are guided through the reading of a poem sung to the tune of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on the jobs of the president of the United...
Curated OER
HS 204: Introduction to Literature: Poetry Section
This outline introduction for a college course covers the idea of humanities and various language forms and literature genres. Beginning with the human species and our influence on the world around us, take a very thorough look at the...
Curated OER
War Poetry, Journals and Letters: Viet Nam
Examine letters written during war-time. In this cross curricular history and English instructional activity, middle and high school scholars read letters and poems written by soldiers in the Vietnam war. They will examine the...
Curated OER
Research a Poet and Explicate a Poem by that Poet
Using your school's media center, internet research, and a SMART board, 7th graders research a chosen poet and write a research report. Additionally, 7th graders explicate one poem by the poet within their report. Several resource links...
K12 Reader
Adventures with Alliteration! - Adjectives
Have hearty humor with a handy, helpful handout! Kids work on their alliteration skills with a figurative language worksheet that focuses on alliterative adjectives and phrases. After kids add nouns to ten adjectives, they create five...
EngageNY
Comparing and Contrasting: Seeing and Hearing Different Genres
Let's compare and contrast! Scholars use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the experience of reading a poem and listening to its audio version. Next, they complete graphic organizers, comparing two different genres: a poem and a...
EngageNY
Analyzing, Comparing, Sharing: Modern Voices
What do modern voices sound like? Scholars explore the topic, reading two concrete poems from John Grandit's Blue Lipstick and analyzing them using a graphic organizer. Next, they read a third poem and work with partners to look for...
EngageNY
Analyzing and Discussing: Modern Voices
This is the way we go to school. Scholars take a look at two poems about different ways to get to school, TyrannosaurBus Rex and Point A to Point B. Pupils work in triads to analyze the poem images and determine the theme.
Curated OER
A Poetic Place
Here is a nice way to introduce your young learners to poetry and writing their own poems. Children create their own poems about their favorite quiet-time places. After listening to some poems read aloud by the teacher, each child gets...
Curated OER
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Nonsense Poetry and Whimsy
Primary learners are introduced to Lewis Carroll's whimsical poetry. They read "The Nursery Alice" Carroll's adaptation for younger readers, view story illustrations, listen to poetry and write whimsical verses of their own about food.
Curated OER
Literature and Art Through Our Eyes: African-American Artists
Examine the contributions of African-Americans in the worlds of art and literature. Over the course of a few days, young scholars will read and analyze a poem, a short story, and a piece of art. They complete a range of...
Curated OER
Native American Poetry
Identify text features, make inferences, and discover the cultural significance of Native American Poetry. Sixth graders read several Native American poems and use graphic organizers and literature response logs to record their feelings...
Curated OER
Western Medieval European Poetry and Literature
One of the Common Core standards requires learners to make connections between literature or media of the past and the present. Provided here, are key elements found in medieval poetry and literature that are connected to several more...
Teacher's Corner
Free Verse
The sixth in a series of poetry writing exercises asks young poets to craft a free verse poem.
EngageNY
Introducing Final Performance Task and Analyzing Statistics
How do statistics help people understand the universal refugee experience? Using the resource, scholars engage in an activity called a Chalk Talk, working in teams to analyze statistics from informational texts about refugees. Also, they...
EngageNY
Reading about Freaky Frogs: “The Glass Frog”
Freaky frogs are the focus of a lesson plan designed to boost reading comprehension skills using text features and asking and answering questions. Informational text and a poem supply scholars with animal-related vocabulary and facts. A...
Curated OER
Guess Again!
Students define and read riddles, and differentiate between poems and riddles. They complete a class Venn Diagram comparing poems and riddles, and play an attribute guessing game with the teacher. Students then identify the rhyming words...
Curated OER
Bucket List Poetry
What is on your pupils' "Bucket Lists" - the list of things they want to do before they die? Their choices of activities for this list could be very revealing, and is a great source of inspiration for a personal poem. The lesson prompts...
Curated OER
Romantic Period in Music, Art, and Literature
“Romanticism aims at enlarging experience by exploring the real.” This excerpt from Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence introduces a PowerPoint that examines the characteristics of and the major figures in music, art, and literature...
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: January 2016
Poetry and prose often have more in common than it initially appears. A sample comprehensive English exam has test-takers compare and contrast two passages to answer short response questions. The exam, which is part of a larger set of...