Virginia Department of Education
Counterarguments
Create an urbane battle royal in class with the old Coke vs. Pepsi challenge that develops upper level high school learners skills in developing counterarguments in essay writing. The educator divides the room according to tastes, and...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 5
I have an idea! Scholars examine closely how Du Bois develops a central idea in paragraph four of the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings." They also begin finding significant and relevant evidence to support a topic and complete...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 19
Scholars look at paragraphs two and three in the "Atlanta Compromise" speech. They analyze how Washington uses a story about a ship lost at sea and rhetorical devices to develop his point of view. After class discussion and completing...
Curated OER
Blubber Mittens:Adaptation to Cold Climates
Students get a first hand look at the benefit of a "blubber layer" in cold climates through a simulation using vegetable shortening and icy water. Through this simulation, students examine how adaptations help organisms survive.
Rainforest Alliance
Trees and Carbon
You'll find everything but the kitchen sink here ... or just a carbon sink. In the activity, pairs or groups of middle school learners go outside and measure a tree's circumference and height to estimate its carbon storage potential and...
Health Smart Virginia
Stress Management - Doctor Disease
Doctor, doctor, help me please! As part of their study of the correlation between disease and illness, middle schoolers take on the role of doctors. They rotate through 10 learning stations, read about patients' symptoms, and write a...
Curated OER
I.C.E. - Cite Sources Like a Pro
Here is a fantastic poster that you can easily and frequently reference in your class whenever you are asking your young writers to cite their sources. Using the acronym ICE, learners are reminded to introduce, cite, and explain...
University of Minnesota
Sheep Brain Dissection
Bored with frog and earthworm dissections? Had your fill of fetal pigs? Anatomy students will be intrigued by the sheep's brain, and you will be prepared with guiding questions, extension activities, and pictures as they dissect one —...
Curated OER
Venn Diagram for Compare/Contrast
Use this lesson to focus on a compare and contrast writing structure in your middle school language arts class. Here, young writers compare and contrast two texts using graphic organizers. They use a double bubble format for their...
Curated OER
Descriptive Prompt: Precise Language
Incorporate sensory details into a piece of descriptive writing. First, elementary and middle schoolers improve a piece of writing by using precise, vivid language, as well as appropriate word choice. They then listen to a variety of...
Virginia Department of Education
The Writing Process for Expository Writing
Struggling on what steps to take in your expository essay lesson? Or confused on what to include for your scribes? This exercise in the process of expository writing provides concepts and structure for the educator on what the writers...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
African American Life After the Civil War - Sharecropping
What is the sharecropping system? What role did it play in the post-Civil War economy of the South? Who were the sharecroppers? Who employed them? How were they paid? To answer these questions, kids examine a series of sharecropper...
Curated OER
Studying the Life of Henry Bibb
After reading primary and secondary source materials about the life of Henry Bibb, individuals identify a core democratic value Bibb demonstrated and give examples drawn from their readings.
Curated OER
My Antonia: Magic Squares (Vocabulary Strategy)
Help your pupils discover the power of context clues by teaching the this vocabulary strategy. Designed to go with words from Willa Cather's My Antonia, this exercise focuses on having individuals use their own words to define new...
Curated OER
The Basics: Physical Science
Young scholars view a video on friction and examine how friction and gravity affect some sports. For this investigative lesson students write a paragraph and draw a picture that illustrates how friction and gravity affect sports.
Curated OER
D.E.W. (Drop Everything and Write!)
Learners gather, determine validity and reliability of, analyze and organize information. They employ the most effective format for purpose and audience. Students write fully developed paragraphs that have details and information...
Curated OER
Pieces of the Past
Students study the importance of preserving the archaeological record. They write a paragraph describing an object and why it is important to them. They cut their paper into a puzzle and compare their own to the student they trade with.
Curated OER
J. Peterman Descriptive Writing Assignment
Twelfth graders hone descriptive writing skills by making a J. Peterman Catalogue. They bring to class a favorite piece of clothing or jewelry item and create their own description of it. They accompany each description with a hand-drawn...
Curated OER
A Five-Step Plan for the Ohio Country and the Northwest Territory
Students complete five worksheets which correspond to the five problems the American government faced and the five solutions they instituted, accompany this lesson. They select and research one of the steps in this plan and write a...
Curated OER
Writing Topic Sentences
For this writing worksheet, students read a topic sentence or supporting details of ten paragraph. Students fill in the missing information to create a complete outline.
Curated OER
The "Write" Stuff: Third Grade Strategies and Conventions
Students analyze the writing process through the ten lessons of this unit. The expository lessons address topic and detail sentences, paragraph organization and development, note taking, reports and letter writing.
Curated OER
Research Writing-4th Grade Multiple Choice
In this research writing worksheet, students solve a total of 25 multiple choice problems related on research writing. An answer key is included.
Curated OER
Shared Writing (Whole Group)
Students participate in a whole class shared writing activity. They create an original text while examining the thought process of writers.