Curated OER
Four Storybook Apps to Add to Your Class Library
Young readers will love the colorful illustrations, whimsical narration, and interactive extras included in these digital tales.
National Council of Teachers of English
Writing Acrostic Poems with Thematically Related Texts in the Content Areas
Scholars scour thematically aligned texts to gather a bank of words they can use in an original acrostic poem.
Curated OER
Burr Airlines Flight to Asia: Building Inquiry Skills
What a wonderful way to explore this topic! Learners take an imaginary trip to Asia, take a visual tour, and formulate questions for a research project. As a final project, they create a travel brochure.
Curated OER
That's the Spirit
Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...
Education World
Edible Resource Maps!
Young scholars discuss resource maps and examine examples from library resources. Working in groups, they create edible resource maps by drawing examples, such as popcorn on the border of Iowa and Nebraska. Then they use cookies in the...
Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Anne Frank: Facing Hatred, Daring to Dream
The stories of Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White illustrate the power of children to make a difference. The three lesson in this must-have resource are designed to inspire young people to make a difference in their world....
Curated OER
Colonial Broadsides and the American Revolution
Students access the Library of Congress's collection of Broadsides (printed material with news, entertainment, advertisements, etc.) and explore their impact on events leading up to the Revolutionary War. They create a timeline with...
PBS
The Pursuit of Excellence
Who doesn’t love French pastries and the idea of hard work? Discover different philosophies on hard work, and the skills of French pastry chefs as the documentary concerning the “Best Craftsmen in France” or Meilleures Ouvriers de France...
Curated OER
Catch-22
During or after reading Catch-22, have your high school scholars complete this research project. First they'll brainstorm a list of people they might like to research, then they'll dive into your library's resources! There are...
Curated OER
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage: Grades 6-8
To gain a better understanding of Hispanic heritage and culture, as well as to build informational comprehension skill, learners explore facets of Hispanic American History. They engage in a class discussion, research three facts, and...
Curated OER
Motion in the Ocean
How does the formation of currents and waves in the ocean happen? High schoolers will learn about the primary causes for ocean currents and waves by calculating a wave's amplitude and nautical mile speed. Then they will complete a...
Curated OER
Literature in the Library
Students get familiar with their school library. In this library orientation instructional activity, students explore the layout of the library and challenge students to locate literature materials in a scavenger hunt activity.
Curated OER
Vocabulary Development and Writing
Engage pupils in practicing denotative and connotative strategies to understand particular words. They work in pairs and write a series of sentences using each word that has a positive connotation and negative connotation. Some example...
Curated OER
Giving an Outdoor Plan
Students utilize their acting skills to put on an impromptu play based on a book. In this performance art lesson plan, students read Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina and discuss how the story could be told through human action....
Curated OER
To Kill a Mockingbird: A Historical Perspective
Students research the Great Depression. In this Great Depression lesson plan, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of life in the American south during the depression era as they read Harper Lee's To Kill a...
Curated OER
U.S. Geography: The West
Young scholars explore the national parks of the American West. In this geography skills lesson, students watch "U.S. Geography: The West," and examine print and Internet sources about the national parks found there. Young scholars...
Curated OER
Tomas and the Library Lady
Students practice read aloud comprehension strategies. In this literacy comprehension lesson, students listen to Tomas and the Library Lady, stopping to discuss with a partner aspects of the story suggested by the teacher. Students make...
Curated OER
Water: Read All About It!
Students discuss newspapers and water and work in groups to develop their own paper focusing on water issues. In this journalism instructional activity, students discuss the value of newspapers and water as an issue. They work as a group...
Curated OER
The Equator
Students investigate cultures located along the equator. In this geography skills lesson, students research the geography, history, culture, and tourism of Ecuador, Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, and Singapore. Students write an article based...
Curated OER
Self-Portrait Unit - Lesson #1
Fourth graders create self-portraits using artistic elements found in Hispanic culture and, specifically, the art of Frida Kahlo. The activity can be adapted for any culture/country and requires an outside person with cultural knowledge.
Curated OER
Cutting Antony's speeches: "I am meek and gentle with these butchers"
Tenth graders identify Mark Anthony's scheming brilliance in his three major speeches in 3.1. They isolate the main idea by cutting the speech in half and then they perform the speech chorally. Each student also identifies three phrases...
Curated OER
Long Island Sound - A Research Skill Approach
Eighth graders examine the characteristic of Long Island Sound. In groups, they use the internet to describe how the Sound formed and what environmental changes have altered it. They also discover what humans have done to affect the...
Curated OER
Modesto City Schools Library Lesson Plan
Students read and understand a variety of genres in a library setting. In this library activity lesson, students act as detectives and use clues in text and pictures to hypothesize the title of the missing book for the library reading...
Curated OER
Sorting
Students sort class books into categories to help classify and organize them so they are easier to find. In this sorting lesson plan, students go to the library and see how they organize their books and do the same in the classroom.