Novelinks
Tuck Everlasting: Similes, Metaphors, and Personification in Imagery
Poetic language is abundant in Natalie Babbitt's beautiful novel, Tuck Everlasting. Learners note the examples of similes, metaphors, and personification they find as they read, and illustrate how the language creates a sensory...
Curriculum Corner
Coniferous and Deciduous Trees
What are the differences between coniferous and deciduous trees? Supplement your tree lessons with a set of activities that has learners describing, naming, comparing, and reading about deciduous and coniferous trees. The activities are...
US Institute of Peace
Characteristics of Peacebuilders
Can anyone become a peacebuilder? A lesson on character education challenges scholars to examine the characteristics of well-known peacebuilders. Pupils then look within themselves to discover their own strengths as they relate to...
Columbus City Schools
Moon Phase Mania
Now you see it, now you don't. Our moon seems to pull a disappearing act from time to time—but why? Take your seventh grade scientists above and beyond to discover the truth about the moon and the role it plays in Earth's little...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Word Analysis, Analogy Basketball
Give grammar instruction a boost with a basketball-themed game all about analogies! Working in pairs, learners quiz each other's analogy knowledge testing how many they can complete and earn the most points.
For the Teachers
Cause and Effect Matrix
Study cause and effect in both literature and informational text with a lesson plan designed for several different reading levels. After kids review the concept of cause and effect, they read an article or story and note the causes and...
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Question Answer Relationship Strategy
Help middle and high school readers access the text with a series of question-answer relationship (QAR) strategies. Using Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as an example, the resource prompts learners to ask and answer questions using...
Curated OER
Peter and the Starcatchers: QAR Strategy
Examine different types of questions while studying Peter and the Starcatchers. After learning about the different types of questions, pupils read passages from the text, answer the questions, and label each question with its...
Getting to Know
Shape and Form in Art
Introduce youngsters to the important role shape and form play in art with this extensive collection of activities and projects. From teaching first graders how to create mandalas to engaging third and fourth graders in the design...
Urban Education Exchange
Lessons and Units: The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963 5TH GRADE UNIT
Get ready to read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 with a lesson about historical fiction. Spanning several centuries, the resource prompts learners to guess the historical era of a story based on a word or phrase...
Curated OER
Unwind: Vocabulary Strategy, Creating an Unwind Glossary
Prior to reading Unwind, Neal Shusterman's 2007 young adult science fiction novel, class members research the common definition of words drawn from the novel that will come to have a very different meaning to them as they are...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Definition Context Clues
Model for young readers how to recognize definition clues and how to use these clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Then distribute this activity that offers them an opportunity to practice recognizing the clues and...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Surprise!: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 2)
Surprise! is the theme of this series of ESL lessons. Cover an array of topics such as where we live, different times of day, shapes, the city and the country, what we do for fun, jobs, and games, all while practicing how...
Curated OER
Stone Fox Plot Frame
Fifth graders recall the major plot points of a chapter book. After reading the chapter book "Stone Fox," they students describe the plot framework through use of a worksheet. Students are then divided into group to act out selected...
Curated OER
Creepy Crawlers
Students identify the characteristics of an insect and their habitat. They read books about insects, research different types of insects, and create their own insect art. The project also includes the creation of an insect song and...
Curated OER
Classifying Monocot And Dicot Plants
Sixth graders identify the parts of a flower, and tell the difference between monocots and dicots. They group plant by leaf types and characteristics placing the information in table form on the computer.
Curated OER
Organ Systems: Excretory, Digestive, Immune, and Nervous
Eighth graders identify and describe the components of various body systems. They create vocabulary flash cards identifying the excretory, digestive, immune, and nervous systems and describing their functions. Students complete a...
Curated OER
From McGee's Farm to the Movies
Students participate in several plant-themed activities. They keep a food log, identify any plants they have eaten and then classify these foods by the part of the plant that is edible. Students sing songs about plants, make collages,...
Curated OER
A Beary Good Beginning
Students complete first day of school activities. Through instructor modeling and demonstration, they become acquainted with the rules and procedures for the classroom and school. Students create a book of their first day experience.
Curated OER
Oh, Say Can You See
Students explore different parts of the eye and functions of each part through a video and a dissection of a cow's eye. They discover different causes of blindness.
Curated OER
"The Story of Ruby Bridges"
Third graders examine the role of Ruby Bridges in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. They listen to the teacher read the book "The Story of Ruby Bridges" by Robert Coles, identify what is fact or opinion in the story, and sequence events in...
Curated OER
Literature Circle Reflections
In this literature circle reflections worksheet, students answer yes, no, or somewhat to how they read a certain piece of literature. They identify the contribution they made to the discussion and an important idea someone expressed. ...
Curated OER
Searching for a New Home
Students investigate pilgrims. In this pilgrim lesson, students read the book If You Sailed on the Mayflower and identify the path from England to Holland on a map. Students write in a journal about how they would feel if they were a...
Curated OER
Growing Jack and the Beanstalk Plants
First graders investigate how plants grow by growing their own "beanstalk", (after reading "Jack and the Beanstalk") and record their observations daily in a science journal.