Curated OER
Horatio's Drive
Students assess the literary quality and elements of Jackson's journey to write a ballad about his automobile adventure.
National First Ladies' Library
We're off to see the Wizard!
Students explore the process of play and movie making from books. They study the basic elements of drama and write and produce a play based on a chosen theme. Students explain the basic elements of a play by looking at "The Wonderful...
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Mammal's Around the World
Fifth graders, exploring all the ins and outs of using a computer, publish their own mammal papers with the use of word searches, thesaurus and spell checks. While in the computer lab, they research their mammal and country on the...
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Exploring the Self
Students examine a variety of songs, poems, and books exploring and analyzing the theme of self reliance and being true to one's self. They write a poem, essay, or letter that captures their true spirit and individuality and then they...
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Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...
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Acting Up
Students, in groups, study a Tony Award winner from the past through researching its history, watching the production, and reading the written origin of the production. They create programs for these productions and assess
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Our Side of the Story: African Americans Share Their Experiences of Slavery
Seventh graders listen to a variety of folktales sharing experiences of slavery.  As a class, they compare and contrast reading a story and telling a story.  They participate in a role play activity to discover the journey of a slave and...
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Creating Characters
Students identify simple pictographs and ideographs from Chinese writing. They create their own images, and combine characters to communicate ideas to one another, introducing basic foundations of how elements of the Chinese writing...
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Painted Dreams
Third graders explore the importance of art in Haitian culture by analyzing the cause and effect within the story, "Allie's Basketball Dream." They examine all the aspects of the story and characters including their goals, dreams,...
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Master Spy
Students explain that a code is a system of symbols, letters, words, or signals that are used instead of ordinary words and numbers to send messages or to store information. They practice deciphering a variety of secret codes used in...
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The Cleverest Thief
First graders read The Cleverest Thief and participate in various activities across the curriculum areas. In this story lesson plan, 1st graders arrange an anagram of the word monastery.  Students complete worksheets to alphabetize...
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Moccasins Are Made for Dancing
Students explore two Native American legends. For this cultural traditions lesson, students read "The Legend of Blue Bonnet," and "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush." Students then study basic Native American dance movements prior to...
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Propaganda: Making a Commercial
Seventh graders study different propaganda techniques. In groups, they write and perform a 60-second TV or radio commercial. Classmates rate the effectiveness of the commercial and whether or not they might buy the product.
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"Taming the Bicycle"
Eighth graders discuss invention of bicycle and early obstacles to riding, listen to and discuss short story "Taming the Bicycle" by Mark Twain, define vocabulary words from story, and create and present humorous "how to" project to...
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Mitten Lesson Plan
Students compare The Mitten by Jan Brett to other versions of the same story, then create their own version.  In this early childhood lesson plan, students create their own version of The Mitten, then use software to record a podcast. ...
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The Clever Monkey Rides Again
Students explore a West African folktale. For this folktale lesson, students read the book The Clever Monkey Rides Again and discuss the trickster characters from the tale. Students participate in a discussion about the folktale and...
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Take a Breath, Steal Some Time
 
Students explore the art of haiku's by listening to, modeling and creating them.  For this haiku poetry lesson, students choose an object to focus their haiku on.  After hearing a brief history of the haiku; students...
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Uncommon Heroes of Today
Learners create a photo-biography of someone they consider a real life hero.  In this character sketch lesson, students define a hero and identify heroic characteristics in short stories.  Learners use descriptive words to...
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Scrambled Eggs Super!
Students explore the concept of rhyming words.  In this rhyming word lesson, students decorate eggs and place words inside the eggs.  Students use the eggs to play a rhyming word concentration game. 
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Best Breakfast Authors
Third graders write a story. In this breakfast authors lesson, 3rd graders write about a breakfast food and why it is a good selection. Students may illustrate stories and share with their peers.
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Scrambled Eggs Super!
Learners study rhythm and rhyme. In this rhyming lesson, students read Scrambled Eggs Super! by Dr. Seuss. Learners explore the rhythm of rhyming words found in the book. The students decorate eggs and place rhyming words inside to use...
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Play with Words: Rhymes & Verse
Learners listen to poems and rhymes, clap out syllables, and sing along with familiar tunes. They use puppets and crafts to help recall and retell favorite poems, and craft their own poems.
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Conflict Diamonds
Students examine how diamonds are portrayed in American culture.  They identify the political and social implications of conflict diamonds and the locations of these diamonds in Africa.  They evaluate the effectiveness of the Kimberley...
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Poetry In Motion
Fourth graders read and analyze poetry and examine the process of writing poetry. They read and analyze the poem "From a Railway Carriage" by Robert Louis Stevenson, and answer comprehension questions. They identify the similes,...