Curated OER
What is a Haiku? How Do You Write a Haiku?
Haiku poetry is explored in this language arts lesson plan. Yong readers identify the characteristics of haiku and read several examples. Students make connections between their study of Japan and the poetic form of haiku, and they write...
Curated OER
Poetry Cyberbook
Emerging poets design a website and then post seven original poems as well as their written critique of these poems. Although the resource mentions Inspiration and FrontPage technologies, any software could be substituted.
Curated OER
The Three Little Pigs Pop Up Book Sample
Youngsters practice summarizing and retelling the story of The Three Little Pigsin their own words as well as the original version of the book. They color the pictures and cut out a similiar house on their own as well.
Curated OER
Capitalization and Punctuation
First and second graders explore writing conventions. They add question marks or periods to the end of teacher generated sentences on sentence strips. They locate punctuation marks in poems and write original sentences using appropriate...
Curated OER
Scrambled Stories
Character development, setting, and plot? Sounds like the makings of a good narrative story. Young authors read and analyze several narrative examples, and then they use what they know to pen an original composition. They work both in...
Curated OER
Understanding Fantasy
Explore fantasy as a genre. After working in small groups to identify literary elements in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, class members share their work and then use the presentations to help them prepare to write...
Curated OER
Stone Soup
First graders examine the use of logic, deduction, and inference to determine the answers to riddles. They listen to a teacher read aloud of Heather Forest's, Stone Soup before discussing the story which gauges their comprehension....
Curated OER
Essay: The Importance of Physical Education
Originally designed for a physical education classroom, this lesson plan asks learners to argue for their school to keep their PE class during budget cuts. Whether your school is facing this challenge or not, it does pose a great...
Curated OER
Calling All Directors
Interpret Shakespearian scenes with your middle and high school classes. Groups select scenes from plays that they are familiar with to perform for their classmates. They should attempt to recreate the emotions they think the characters...
Curated OER
Slang
Students examine the term 'slang' after reading two stories, "'Cool' is your favorite word!" and "Bling bling makes it into dictionary". Students work on composing their own rhyming words and phrases after studying slang.
Curated OER
Ancient Greece
Students explore the origins of modern language. In this etymology lesson, students discuss the cultural influences of Ancient Greece on modern society. Students design and complete charts that demonstrate the original and contemporary...
National First Ladies' Library
Latin: The Language of Ancient Rome
Middle schoolers gain understanding about where some of today's words originated by reviewing a list of Latin words and their meanings. They work in small groups to create dictionary pages which will then be compiled into a large...
Curated OER
Rooting One's Way To Meaning
Students use a thesaurus on the internet to explore the meanings of Greek and Latin roots. They find definitions of given words, draw a concept map for root words, and write four synonyms for each word. Students discover how Latin and...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Building Cards
Students select vocabulary words from their reading each week then complete a card for each word which includes definition, source and a sample sentence. They share their cards with the class and complete vocabulary building cards...
Curated OER
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Students explore the origins of a traditional Christmas song. They adapt historic lyrics to have meaning in their lives today and fabricate, write, and illustrate an accordion book or card. They compare this song to the words of other...
Curated OER
Very Voracious Animal Voices
Students draw a picture of an original animal and then write a poem with words that begin only with the same first letter as the animal. Individually, they must decide how it might sound, where it lives and eats. To end the instructional...
Curated OER
Search Warranted?
Young readers work on evaluating claims in a piece of informational text with the article "In New York, It's Open Bag or Find Exits" from the New York Times. They analyze current search procedures implemented to fight terrorism...
Novelinks
Man's Search for Meaning: Anticipation Guide Instructions
To prepare readers for the major concepts in Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, an account of his life in Auschwitz, class members respond to a series of statements on an anticipation guide.
Penguin Books
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Young Readers Edition
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...
Curated OER
Word Search Puzzles: Chinese Cultural Words
Students complete a set of word searches about Chinese foods, geography and culture. Follow-up, extension and modifications to the activity are given and include illustrating words of the puzzle, making original puzzles on another...
Curated OER
Latin Expressions
Ninth graders complete spelling activities using Latin expressions. In this Latin expressions lesson, 9th graders complete an oral class activity using Latin expressions and complete a worksheet where they research to explain the...
Curated OER
Exploring Greek Spelling Patterns
Students investigate Greek spelling patterns. In this Greek words activity, students complete an oral spelling activity with their teacher and then a worksheet to learn about Greek spelling patterns.
Curated OER
Beowulf Lesson Plan
Students analyze the text of Beowulf. In this epic poetry instructional activity, students explore the themes and imagery in the text to evaluate their meaning. Students analyze the Old English language and examine the cultural and...
Curated OER
Words That Will Haunt You
Students create taxonomies of Halloween-related terms. Drawing from their compiled vocabulary lists and previous reading, they compose personal essays of their own memories of the holiday. Students present their essays at a...