Curated OER
Teach Text Features & Read Nonfiction
Elementary schoolers examine the components of reading nonfiction. They use think-alouds to help them complete reading the selected sections. They also identify text features as they read.
Media Smarts
Bias in News Sources
As young consumers of media, it is important for high schoolers to explore concepts of bias and prejudice, and how they may be present in media. After discussing ideological messages that media can contain, individuals complete a warm-up...
Curated OER
Persona in Autobiography
A talkative old man? A naïve believer in Human Perfectibility? A Sage? Who is this guy, anyway? The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin launches a study of the way Franklin uses structure, style, and purpose, as well as different...
American Press Institute
In the Newsroom: The Fairness Formula
Reporting the news is easy, right? Think again! Show young scholars the difficult choices journalists make every day through a lesson that includes reading, writing, and discussion elements. Individuals compare the language and sources...
Curated OER
Check it Out...Nonfiction Can Be Fun!
Organizing information gathered for a research topic can be a challenge. Read aloud notes you have collected on a topic and use suggestions offer by the class to categorize and sort this information. Partners then follow this pattern,...
Prestwick House
In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote's groundbreaking work in the world of nonfiction literature, is the focus of a quick review resource. Readers solve a crossword puzzle that offers clues about the book's characters and events.
National Council of Teachers of English
Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction
With the emphasis on incorporating more nonfiction in language arts classes the question arises about how to design activities that motivate kids to engage with informational text. How about an assignment that asks class members to...
The New York Times
Writing Fiction Based on Real Science - NYTimes.com
Refuse to alienate your scientific-minded young scholars during your creative writing unit. Learners explore how literary writing can reflect observable fact, and be based in actual science. The links include examples of fiction and...
Curated OER
Supporting Opinions: Handling the End of a Friendship
Four thought-provoking questions encourage readers to develop and support their opinions about strategies to end a friendship after exploring excerpts from a New York Times article. The reading is brief so this could be a lead-in to...
Media Smarts
Cyberbullying and the Law
Dealing with the very topical subject of cyberbullying, this lesson plan will surely create some engaged discussion in your classroom. Young learners discuss the laws concerning cyberbullying in Canada, and then respond to a series of...
Scholastic
Prescription Pain Medication: What You Need to Know
The national epidemic of opioid addiction is making its way into high school populations. Educate the students in your class about the ways prescription opioids can both block pain and deliver large amounts of dopamine that make it very...
Curated OER
Elementary Reading: Five Passages with Questions
Five brief readings with questions support practice with various literacy skills. In some cases, learners identify whether underlined words are spelled correctly. Other times, they answer reading comprehension questions about the text or...
Curated OER
Do I Have a Story to Tell You!
Learners write a story. In this writing lesson, students practice their writing skills by writing a narrative story and sharing it with the class.
Curated OER
War Poetry, Journals and Letters: Viet Nam
Examine letters written during war-time. In this cross curricular history and English lesson, middle and high school scholars read letters and poems written by soldiers in the Vietnam war. They will examine the perspective and emotions...
Odell Education
Making Evidence-Based Claims: Grade 9
Sorry, Charlie. Scholars take a close look at Apology by Plato. Activities analyzing the text help pupils understand, make, organize, and write about claims. Learners work in groups, complete claim tools, and evaluate thinking by filling...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
A Mini lesson on Semicolons
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this...
Penn State
Early Childhood Education Lesson Plan for Good Night, Good Knight
The book Good Night, Good Knight is the inspiration for this plan. Learners get into small groups to search for words in books that begin with their names and fill out and illustrate their own personal letter and name pages.
Curated OER
Deduction
Learners investigate the linguistic devices used by writers to create meaning. In this writing lesson, students discover why writers write in different ways showing examples of different types of text. After reading each type learners...
Curated OER
Population Patterns
Students study patterns of population growth in an ecosystem and why populations must remain in balance. They interpret basic population graphs and suggest scenarios about different population growth patterns in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Where Is Saturn in the Solar System? Where Am I in the Solar System?
Students discover the planets and their location in the solar system. They complete a KWL chart on Saturn and discuss. They complete the lesson with a writing activity.
Curated OER
Where Is Saturn in the Solar System? Where Am I in the Solar System?
Students engage in a solar system activity, In this activity, students will read aloud as a class about the solar system. The students will then listen to the teacher read a solar system book prior to filling out a worksheet about their...
Curated OER
Sequencing
Students consider how cause and effect translate into sequencing in literary works. In this sequencing lesson, students read non-fiction passages about Eleanor Roosevelt and Clara Barton. Students complete graphic organizers based on...
Curated OER
Examining Ways to Organize Questions and Answers Within a Text
Students study questions and answers within a text to learn about writing structure and organization. For this writing structure lesson, students investigate books in class by asking questions for the text. Students then format their own...
Curated OER
Signs in the Stitching
Young scholars exercise their creativity by designing an original quilt and a written explanation of its meaning. They use primary sources to develop an understanding of Underground Railroad routes through Indiana.