California Academy of Science
Optimal and Sustainable: Renewable Energy Revamp
More than 100 cities around the world have shifted from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Scholars investigate a city wanting to make this switch, but needs help determining how to make the shift. Groups consider all options,...
Curated OER
Choose Your Words Wisely
Improve word choice! Writers use dictionaries and thesauruses to aid them in choosing exciting words to incorporate in their writing. They rewrite sentences and practice identifying words that can be replaced using a better word....
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The Red Badge of Courage: ReQuest
Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage provides the text for a reading comprehension activity that asks class members to develop questions based on the novel.
Curated OER
Style and Voice
Develop the writing skills of your high school class. Writers consider their personal style and voice, read selections by other authors, and then write pieces that challenge them to experiment with their own style.
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Hide and Seek Vocabulary!
Third graders practice word recognition and vocabulary building. They find word cards in the classroom. Then they practice reading the words and using them in sentences. Additional practice is gained by writing the words and using them...
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The Kite Runner: The Pomegranate
To better understand the conflict between Amir and Hassan, two characters in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, readers assume the voice of one of the boys and craft a letter to the other that explains his feelings and concerns.
Curated OER
From Photo to Printed Word: Getting Second-Graders to Write
Use photographs to entice your children to write! In this digital storytelling lesson, students study the functions of digital cameras. They review their sentence-writing skills, then take digital photos and write sentences that describe...
Novelinks
The Book Thief: The Power and Influence of Words
To culminate a study of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, individuals craft a persuasive essay in which they assume the voice of a member of one of the political parties during the early 1920s, and advocate that their party offers the...
Curated OER
Cartoon Vocabulary
Third and fourth graders complete a vocabulary log which includes a definition, and a sentence that demonstrates the meaning of the word. Then make an illustration that represents the definition of the word. The trick is that they may...
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Butterfly Life Cycle
Focused little scientists will flitter their arms back and forth across the room with excitement as they learn the life cycle of a butterfly and how living things grow and change over time.
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The Kite Runner: What is Afghanistan Like Today?
After completing Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, readers research a topic of interest and prepare a five-minute presentation, and share their findings with the class.
K12 Reader
Repeated Subtraction Is Division
Here's a reading comprehension worksheet that not only provides a skill building opportunity but also introduces readers to the idea of repeated subtraction.
Curated OER
The Kite Runner: Personality File
Readers of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner assume the voice of one of the characters from the novel and draft eight reflective journal entries and a one-page collage that depicts the character's interests, personal beliefs, etc.
Novelinks
Count of Monte Cristo: Unsent Letters
To demonstrate their understanding of the relationships in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, readers are asked to assume the voice of one of the characters and draft a letter addressing another individual in the story.
K5 Learning
Susie and Rover
Reinforce reading comprehension skills with a two-page worksheet offering a story about a young girl, her dog, and an important life lesson. Scholars read the text then show what they know through four short-answer questions.
Curated OER
The "Write" Stuff: Strategies and Conventions for Expository Writing
Students develop their expository writing skills while integrating various other subjects. In this writing skills lesson, students complete 4 multiple activity lessons to improve their expository writing skills.
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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.
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Learning About Lemurs - A Summarization
Learners discuss the importance of comprehension and the use of summarization. Through guided practice, they follow five steps in finding and highlighting important information, while deleting information that is not needed. They write...
Curated OER
Reading to Learn: How Do We Sum That Up?
Students explore the topic of summarizing. They read the book, Dolphins at Daybreak, to practice summarizing. They determine what information is important and choose sentences to summarize the passages they read. They write a summary...
Curated OER
Scholarship and Learning in Islam
Students explain what a madrasah represents in Islam. Using the Muslim world as an example, they identify and describe two or more centers of learning. They explain the contributions that Muslims have made to science and math and...
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Reading Strategies for Elementary Students
Young scholars practice using strategies to help them read. They participate in activities that help them sound out words and determining the main idea. They also examine good and bad reading habits.
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The Jigsaw Strategy: Students Put Pieces of Reading Together
Students demonstrate the jigsaw strategy by individually reading different selections of a text, and then coming together to share what they have learned.
Curated OER
Cubing Strategy
Fifth graders interview each other in the role of civil war personalities. In this Civil War lesson, 5th graders create a script and video of an interview with classmates who are portraying characters from the Civil War. Students are...
Curated OER
Comparing Languages: News Clips
Students analyze newspaper articles. They review their assessment task and rubric and read newspaper articles to compare languages. They answer questions related to their articles using dictionaries as needed. They compare word usage...