Curated OER
Egyptian Weather Lesson
Students chart temperatures in Egypt on spreadsheet to determine how weather conditions affect lifestyles.
Bright Hub Education
Jabberwocky - A Creative Writing Lesson Plan
Make some sense out of Lewis Carroll's famous nonsense poem "Jabberwocky." After reading through the poem, introduce the word portmanteau and send small groups off to alter the original poem.
Curated OER
Improving Your Spelling with the Virtual Thesaurus
Learners study spelling words. For this word study lesson, students use the Visual Thesaurus and play the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee.
Curated OER
Description and Modifying: What's On Your Plate?
Young scholars create a food product and an advertisement promoting it. In this description and advertising lesson, students read children's book for inspiration and discover advertising techniques. Young scholars complete their ads...
Curated OER
Lesson 5:Web Page
Learners create a webpage. In this technology lesson, students choose a topic and work in groups to create their own webpage using Microsoft Frontpage. This lesson includes directions on how to make webpages and cover pages.
Curated OER
Poetry: What's on Your Plate (Part 2)
Students write a short paragraph using strong descriptions. For this using modifiers lesson, students define modifier, adjective, adverb, metaphor, and simile. Students then write a journal entry in which they write about a favorite...
Curated OER
Shades of Meaning
Examine and distinguish between words that have similar definitions but different connotations. Middle schoolers define connotation and denotation and participate in a "shades of meaning" contest in small groups. Groups use the Visual...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Word Meaning, All For One
Given a deck of cards with different words printed, pairs draw cards and work together to locate definitions for each multiple-meaning word. Learners complete a worksheet that challenges them to write the word, two of its definitions,...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Geometry in Architecture #1
Discover how to analyze architecture from a geometric standpoint. The fourth installment of an 11-part unit on architecture first provides a presentation on axis, balance, basic form, formal, pattern, proportion, symmetry, and tripartite...
Curated OER
Become an Expert
Students are assigned a separate species of plant or bird to research. Using a worksheet, they are responsible for finding a variety of information on their assigned plant or bird. They also complete a mini-poster and give an oral...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Weekly Test
Readers take the main characters in Matilda and individually describe them through a mnemonic. To get there, group members create an acrostic poem describing the character they were given, and choose one of the words from the acrostic...
Curated OER
Creative Writing Using the Senses
Fifth graders, utilizing a thesaurus to identify alternative word choices and meanings, eat a sweet treat and then list eight different adjectives for each of the five senses. They then describe a sweet with at least then adjectives...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Lesson One: Decoding Strategies
Review decoding strategies to read a chosen text. Readers tape themselves reading out loud, listen to the recording, and mark where they have misread words or phrases. They then discuss which words were misread and review how to correct...
Curated OER
Learning Vocabulary by Using Reference Materials
Finding engaging ways to help your middle schoolers build their vocabulary is not easy to do. The lesson presented here offers a great way to motivate them to build vocabulary by making it into a game. Teams of pupils use a dictionary...
Curated OER
Beyond the Dictionary: Meaningful Word Study
Engaging lesson and activity ideas that grow pupils' word knowledge in all content areas.
Curated OER
Musical Change
Young learners record observations about different coin denominations and create a song about coins to the traditional song, "The Wheels on the Bus." This instructional activity is based on the Tennessee Quarter Reverse, and has all...
Curated OER
Salinger and the Vocabulary of the Vernacular
Writers explore vocabulary and expressions used in the English language. They use visual word maps to become aware of the different uses of words which will allow them to more readily interpret texts. Then they listen to/read excerpts...
Curated OER
Down the Knoll Without the Water
Students use a thesaurus to find synonyms for selected words in fairy tales.
Curated OER
"To Be Or Not To Be" And the VT
Using the online Visual Thesaurus, nascent actors work in groups to analyze and interpret Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be" monologue. Individuals then craft a contemporary version of this famous speech and present their adaptation to the...
Curated OER
The Continents and Oceans of the World
Students explore world mapping skills. In this world geography lesson, students identify and label the continents and oceans on a world map using the Visual Thesaurus. Students generate mnemonic devices to help memorize these terms.
Curated OER
Know Your Polygons!
Learners identify and categorize different polygons. In this polygons lesson plan, students research and identify properties of polygons, identify different polygon shapes, and categorize different triangles and quadrilaterals.
Curated OER
Making Sense of Homographs
What is a homograph? Develop your students' vocabulary with a word association tool. Language arts classes discover what a homograph is and how it can be used as a visual thesaurus. They discover the other uses for homographs such as...
Curated OER
Take the Prefix Challenge
Students form words using prefixes. In this prefix lesson, students compete in a "prefix challenge" to see which team can combine a set of twelve prefixes with a set of twelve words fastest. Students enter their words in a word log and...