Curated OER
Promises, Promises
If someone breaks a promise, is that person no longer trustworthy? Present your 6th and 7th graders with a series of statements and have them debate their opinions with supporting evidence. As an extension, have your students write a...
Goethe-Institut
Well-Known Tale: The Pied Piper of Hamelin
"The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is the focus of a lesson designed to shed light on the importance of keeping promises. As a class, scholars take part in a discussion on the topic of honesty and consequences. Independent readers then take to...
Annenberg Foundation
Utopian Promise
Scholars learn all about the Puritans in the third installment of a 16-part lesson series. After watching a video, they read and discuss biographies of Puritans and Quakers from American history, write journal entries and poetry, and...
Curated OER
Women Immigrants in the Promised Land
Learners examine the experience of female immigrants as they arrive in the United States. They create a timeline of women's rights in the U.S., write journal entries, conduct Internet research and read online excerpts from "The Promised...
EngageNY
Comparing Multiple Accounts of the Same Topic: Learning about the Great Migration (Promises to Keep, Pages 10–13)
Get the story straight. Scholars gather information about the Great Migration as they listen to a reading from Promises to Keep. They then examine the text to find evidence to support the feeling of resentment. Learners take part in a...
EngageNY
Introducing Promises to Keep and Drawing Inferences: Who Is Jackie Robinson and Why Is He Important? (Promises to Keep, Pages 6–7)
Scholars take a picture walk through the book Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America. They make predictions and complete a Notice/Wonder/Inference note catcher. They then define and analyze words on pages six and seven of...
EngageNY
Identifying Supporting Reasons and Evidence for an Opinion: Exploring Jackie Robinson’s Promise (Promises to Keep, Pages 38–45)
Readers take a look at pages 40-45 in Promises to Keep and identify evidence to support Sharon Robinson's opinion about her father. They divide up the text and complete task cards before writing vocabulary from the story on index cards.
EngageNY
Inferring Author’s Opinions and Writing Opinion Statements: Journalists’ Opinions about Segregation Post–World War II (Promises to Keep, Pages 22–25)
Let's play ball! Scholars summarize information from Promises to Keep about segregation in professional baseball after World War II. They then listen as the teacher reads pages 22-25 aloud. Pupils write the gist in their journals of the...
EngageNY
Comparing Multiple Accounts of the Same Topic: The Story of Bus Desegregation (Promises to Keep, Page 21)
It's all connected. Learners read event details in Promises to Keep to determine the connection between the bus boycott and Jackie Robinson. They watch a video and read Rules for Riding Desegregated Buses to discover even more details to...
EngageNY
Reading to Determine Important Relationships between People and Events: The Importance of the 1936 Olympics for African Americans (Promises to Keep, Pages 16–19)
Scholars look at cause-and-effect relationships while doing a close read of the 1936 Olympics on pages 16-19 of Promises to Keep. They complete a cause-and-effect note catcher and add their ideas to an anchor chart. Readers then work...
EngageNY
Determining Author’s Opinions, Reasons, and Evidence: Signs of Hope and Progress for African Americans in the 1920s (Promises to Keep, Pages 14–15)
Caption this. Readers look at the text features in Promises to Keep and pay special attention to the photographs and captions before adding to the Features of Informational Text anchor chart. Learners then answer questions about life in...
EngageNY
Synthesizing from Informational Texts: Main Idea and Key Details from Promises to Keep (Pages 8– 10)
Learners determine the main idea of a timeline on pages eight and nine of the text Promises to Keep. They use the timeline to complete a Main Idea and Details note catcher and then share their thoughts with the class. To finish,...
EngageNY
Identifying Supporting Reasons and Evidence for an Opinion: Exploring Why Jackie Robinson Was the Right Man to Break the Color Barrier (Promises to Keep, Pages 26–29)
Breaking barriers is not an easy thing to do. Scholars read a section in Promises to Keep and summarize how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. They write the gist of the passage in their journals and then complete a...
EngageNY
Letters as Informational Text: Comparing and Contrasting Three Accounts about Segregation (Promises to Keep, Pages 38–39)
Letters ... a lost art or good resource? Scholars add letter writing to their informational text chart and describe the features of a letter. They then look at page 38 in Promises to Keep and complete a Perspectives Venn diagram. To...
EngageNY
Developing an Opinion Based on the Textual Evidence: Jackie Robinson’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement (Promises to Keep, Pages 50–57)
Caption this. Scholars look at pages 50-57 of Promises to Keep and discuss the photographs on the pages. They analyze the captions with the pictures and then discuss vocabulary such as human rights and civil rights.
EngageNY
Developing an Opinion Based on the Textual Evidence: Jackie Robinson’s Legacy (Promises to Keep, Pages 58–63)
Jackie Robinson left a legacy beyond the field. Readers look at pages 58-63 of Promises to Keep and summarize Robinson's legacy. They then form and opinion about the legacy and support it with evidence. Working with partners, class...
Curated OER
Expressions With Keep
In this online interactive ESL learning exercise, students respond to 11 fill in the blank questions regarding expressions with the word "keep". Students check their answers immediately.
EngageNY
Writing a Second Body Paragraph and Conclusion for an Opinion Essay: Jackie Robinson’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement (Promises to Keep, Pages 50–57)
Class members begin to work on the body paragraphs of their opinion essays about Jackie Robinson started in the previous instructional activity. They analyze a model paragraph and underline reasons for the opinion. Learners then take...
Teach Hub
New Year’s Resolution Classroom Activity
Create a sense of accountability among scholars with a lesson that focuses on making and keeping New Year's resolutions. Writers compose a five paragraph essay focused on three resolutions—promises to self improvement, to their family,...
Apache
Gerunds and Infinitives
Learning proper grammar rules for a middle school student can be difficult, especially in a texting world, but this resource demonstrates how the verb changes by adding a gerund or infinitive. Keep up the texting, but use this to...
EngageNY
Explaining the Relationships between Events in a Historical Text: Contextualizing the History of Baseball (pages 8–9, 25)
In other words ... it's time to give a summary. Scholars work with a partner to paraphrase a timeline card referring to Promises to Keep. They then work to merge the two timelines to create one timeline. Pupils finish by writing a...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment: Writing an Opinion Essay with Supporting Evidence about Jackie Robinson’s Legacy
Learners complete the end of unit assessment by writing an opinion essay about how Jackie Robinson changed America. They use evidence from the text, Promises to Keep, to support their opinions.
Lesson Locker
Macbeth: Act Four Questions for Study
Readers of Macbeth can use these study questions to keep track of key events in Act IV of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Consider adding interpretative and evaluative questions to encourage analysis and critical thinking skills.
Curated OER
Treaties
Students talk about making promises. In this family life lesson, students listen to the story A Promise is a Promise by Robert Munsch and talk about what a promise is. This is part of a unit on how families take care of each other.