Agriculture in the Classroom
The Garden Chef
Introduce young chefs to nutritious eating with a cookbook that is divided into sections focusing on one of the five food groups. It includes lessons, activities, and recipes. How wholesome!
Curated OER
Crazy Critters Creative Writing
Students brainstorm animals with unusual characteristics such as a giraffe with a short neck or a zebra without stripes. They write paragraphs about their animals and work in peer editing groups to refine their stories.
Curated OER
Monster Writings
Fourth graders practice descriptive writing by describing a fictitious monster they created. In this language arts instructional activity, 4th graders illustrate an image of a monster character they imagine and practice using their...
Curated OER
Immigration in America
Fourth graders examine the musical traditions that immigrants bring to the United States. They discuss the concept of home, complete the "My Home" worksheet, participate in a class discussion, and write a letter to a fourth grade...
Curated OER
Hands on Essays
Third graders relate the concept of individuality of geometric shapes to the individuality of topic sentences. They write and revise a persuasive argument essay using an established rubric.
Curated OER
Adventurous Magic
Students investigate storytelling by creating their own dialogue. In this writing development lesson, students read the story Jeremy Thatch, Dragon Hatcher in class and discuss their own magical object they wish to write a story about....
Curated OER
Pioneer America: Legendary Westerners - Can One Person Really Make a Difference?
Fourth graders research famous Americans from the Westward Movement and complete an interview. For this Westward Movement lesson, 4th graders work in pairs to research someone who was important during this time period. They prepare and...
Curated OER
Survival of Native American Culture
Students research the five tribes of the Iroquois Nation focusing on housing, food, clothing, transportation, religion, and language. They research using Internet sources and book mark sites for reuse.
Curated OER
Step into the Painting: Social Studies, Literature, and Art
Travel back in American history to the era of slavery and abolition. After reading about the Underground Railroad, young historians examine a painting depicting the event, and write a narrative from the point of view of a person in the...
Curated OER
Artist Online Report Form
Get those middle schoolers ready for writing excellent reports. This outline provides instructions and organized space to help learners gather information in a thoughtful and useful way. They research the life and works of an artist....
Curated OER
Writing to Photography/Photography to Writing
Students improve their' writing by incorporating photography into descriptive and narrative writing exercises. They write descriptions of various professional photographic collections. Later they use their own and other classmates'.
Curated OER
Is That a Bird in Your Hat?
Second graders imagine they find an injured bird. They create a clay bird and nest to stimulate creative writing. The lesson includes an integrated week-long art, science, and writing activity.
Curated OER
How Owly And Wormy Became Friends: Using a Silent Comic To Inspire Creative Writing
Students view a wordless comic before using it as a story starter. They access a story that uses the same characters at a website in order to better understand the nature of the characters. They write a story inspired by the comic and...
Curated OER
Daily Writing from Self Selected Reading
Second graders practice their reading comprehension by analyzing stories they read in class. In this children's literature lesson, 2nd graders are assigned to read a book for 20 minutes each day in class and also reflect on it in their...
Curated OER
Poetry in Music
Sixth graders look at poetry in music. In this language arts instructional activity, 6th graders listen to and read the lyrics of songs to find the poetic aspects of them. They focus on similes and metaphors and write their own songs...
Curated OER
Drama in the Refuge
Students write and perform dramatic presentations about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They select formats from puppets, plays, improvisational skits, or screened silhouette.
Curated OER
Seeing Art in Historical Context: An Activity to Promote Visual Literacy
Students consider works of art in their historical context. In this art in historical context lesson, students are encouraged to think about and record their prior knowledge of the historical period and to make inferences about the...
Curated OER
Courage in the Movies
Students examine the decisions and behaviors of movie characters to encourage awareness of their own ethical decision making. For this character education lesson, students discuss integrity and watch one of the listed movies to focus on...
Curated OER
Horse of a Different Color: An Introduction to Color in the Visual Arts
Students examine how artists use color to create a sense of depth in a two-dimensional space. They view and analyze prints, complete worksheets, and write a paragraph on how color is used to draw the viewer's eye to a central figure.
Curated OER
Revolutions in Painting
Young scholars analyze Abstract Expressionist artists and their art. In this art analysis instructional activity, students view the works by Jackson Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler and analyze the pieces. Young scholars complete image...
Curated OER
Who Are the People in Your Family?
In this family members learning exercise, students view and study eight pictures in order to choose the appropriate answer to eight multiple choice questions involving naming specific family members.
Curated OER
Urban Life: What Lives in Our Schoolyard?
Students research living organisms by exploring their school grounds. In this microscopic observation activity, students gather materials, insects, and objects from their playground and schoolyard and bring them into class. Students...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Strangest Dream
Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final lesson in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the inside. Reflections...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Finding Your Voice: The Academy Is - “About A Girl”
The seventh in a series of nine exercises focusing on songwriting models for young lyricists on how to find and develop their unique voice. Class members suggest songs that they feel sound authentic and contrast the wording with songs...