Curated OER
Christmas Games
Your class will practice language and dialog skills by playing games associated with Christmas through these activity ideas. Learners practice English conversation skills while simultaneously acquiring insight into their new culture....
Curated OER
Individuality: India Arie Music Video
Students examine individuality. In this music video lesson, students listen to music by India Arie to determine how music shapes our ideas of what normal is as well as how music is a form of poetry. Activities are related to...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Literacy Criticism
As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites for literary...
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Power Writing to Elaborate: Paragraph Writing, Main Idea
Students are walked through an outline (Power Writing) and shown how to elaborate on a main idea in their writing.
The New York Times
Kidding Around Down Under
After reading an article, "From an Alternate to a 'Miracle Kid' in a Flash," youngsters discuss the kind of commitment required for a teenager to become an Olympic athlete. A variety of activities is suggested, and the popular topic...
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The Twentieth Century
Fifth graders summarize a decade in the twentieth century and compare it to another decade. They present facts in a Hyperstudio document that includes text, photos, and audio to describe the decade.
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Huddled Masses Still Yearning to Breathe Free
Students examine the experience of modern-day immigrants through learning about the personal experiences of a variety of immigrants.
Curated OER
In the Heart of Your City
Students analyze the changes in the community described in "Still a Contender on the Waterfront" and evaluate how the history of a city can be seen, regardless of changes, in a city as it exists today.
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Faces Behind the Guns
Students use the New York Times article profiling ordinary citizens who legally own guns as the basis of a role-playing exercise in which they explore the types of people who own firearms and their personal reasons for doing so.
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Step by Step
Students analyze the importance of each step, person, and technology involved in the production of goods from raw materials to finished products.
Curated OER
A Civil Action
Students explore the roles of law enforcement officials, the news media, and civilians in crime prevention and criminal apprehension. They envision ways to build and strengthen community partnerships to address concerns about crime.
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Fish Stories
Students conduct background research about a Pacific Rim country to develop a premise for a documentary film about the fate of traditional fishing industries in the area.
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Making the Future Present
Students draw and describe a new system for prison surveillance. After reading an article, they discover the use of a wearable computer by prison guards. In groups, they develop a proposal for a new type of technology to be used in a...
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Wheeling and The Big City Lesson 1
Eighth graders consider how immigration impacted the East. In this West Virginia history lesson, 8th graders research the effects of immigration on Wheeling, West Virginia. Students also gather information about immigration on a field...
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What is Wrong with My Pet? - An Introduction to Zoonoses
Students describe how ringworm and roundworm cause diseases in both humans and animals. In this life science lesson, students research how these diseases can be transmitted. They create an information brochure to promote public awareness...
Curated OER
Traits of Nonfiction
Here are some lesson ideas for teaching students about the traits of nonfiction text.
Curated OER
Unit Plan for Mark Twain and American Humor
Students create brochures about the humor of Mark Twain. In this literature-analysis lesson plan, students read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and other short stories by Twain. Students write analytical paragraphs and...
Curated OER
Literary Criticism
Students evaluate and debate whether movies, television shows, and other mass media cause violent behavior in students and whether books are the same as or different from these other media in their potential for causing violent behavior...
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Tour de Force on the Tour de France
Students explore the incredible obstacles that Lance Armstrong overcame to become the second American winner of the Tour de France. They choose a person whom they admire as the subject of a 'Man in the News' or 'Woman in the News' article.
Curated OER
A Nation in Mourning
Learners reflect on what the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette mean to them. They then work to compose and read aloud found poems from The Times' coverage of the burial and memorial services.
Curated OER
In the Melting Pot
Students work in small groups, each group examining a different aspect of the immigration process (such as visas, work permits, and citizenship exams) or of illegal immigration (such as deportation), to better explain the immigration...
Curated OER
Rights-Minded
Students expand their knowledge and understanding about the civil rights movement by investigating the lives of some of the people who contributed to it.
Curated OER
The Taming of the Few
Students consider the cultural, historical, and social implications of domesticating animals as pets. They create informative posters of various animals, illustrating their histories as pets.
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Kid-Created Biographies
Students create biographies on the people they know best-- their teachers! students use various skills to collect information, organize details, publish the biographies and present the information.