Curated OER
Creating a Life Map
Students create their own life map in which they introduce themselves to each other by sharing what they are most proud of. They use a life map to expressive themselves creatively.
Thoughtful Education Press
Personal Narratives: Learning from Lessons Life Teaches Us
"First Appearance," Mark Twain's tale about overcoming stage fright, serves as a model of a personal narrative and gets young writers thinking about milestones in their own lives. After examining student models and considering the...
Curated OER
Writing an Autobiography
Students use their Life Map to write a strong introduction for an autobiography. They apply the Life Map to a written sequence, use guided imagery to visualize the writing process and experience peer editing.
Curated OER
Life Map
Students compose plans for their futures. In this writing lesson, students create life maps of past events and predict future events. They brainstorm events of their lives and decide which ones are most pertinent to the map. Students...
Curated OER
Writing an Autobiography
Young scholars identify life goals as they write an autobiography. They write a strong introduction for their autobiography. Students write a sequences of events using their Life Map as a graphic organizer. They write facts accurately...
Channel Islands Film
The Legendary King of San Miguel: Lesson Plan 3 - Grades 9-12
The documentary, The Legendary King of San Miguel Island, introduces the fascinating tale of Herb Lester, his family, and their life on San Miguel Island. Viewers have an opportunity to expand their study of the island and of Lester's...
Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment
Concept Muraling
Concept muraling helps learners improve their comprehension of a text by giving them a way to organize their understanding of the key concepts in that text. Introduce readers to this process with a carefully scaffolded instructional...
Penguin Books
The Curriculum Guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer
The death of a parent can turn a child's world upside down. A curriculum guide for The Secret Hum of a Daisy explores defining moments in the main character's life, including the loss of her mother. Chapter-by-chapter discussion...
Curated OER
Exploring Arizona's Biotic Communities Lesson 3: A Day in the Life
Junior ecologists examine Arizona's biotic communities and research an animal or plant that is found in this community. In this instructional activity, learnerss write a narrative essay about their assigned animal or plant. They research...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
How Did Relations between Britain and the Colonies Change after the French and Indian War?
What does the French and Indian War have to do with the American Revolution? Following the war, Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763 in an attempt to limit the colonists' western expansion. To understand how the proclamation, the...
Curated OER
Wagons West!
The first pioneers faced many obstacles on their journey west. Middle schoolers read different historical fiction texts (ideas are provided), make connections, and complete a detailed packet (included). Reading guides, journal ideas, and...
Curated OER
Louisiana's Tragic Hero - "Evangeline"
"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...
Curated OER
Arc GIS Project: Visualizing the Holocaust
A cross-curricular lesson for middle schoolers that covers language arts, social studies, geography, and math, this is a great extension activity if your class is reading The Diary of Anne Frank or learning about the Holocaust. Using...
Curated OER
100th Day Celebration
Students celebrate the 100th day of school with a variety of math and language arts activities based on the number 100. They make books, count objects, and draw their predictions about life 100 years from now. They also estimate the time...
Curated OER
Nutrition and Health and School Gardening
Students examine how healthy eating contributes to a healthy body and life style. They read nutritional labels on food items. They use the Five Foods Pyramid to evaluate their own eating habits. They plan, design, and create a school...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Curated OER
To Sum it all Up...
Learners observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. They read and discuss the steps to summarize text, then in small groups read and summarize an article about frogs from "National Geographic" online. Independently they...
Curated OER
Ecosystem Energizers
Fourth graders see how the flow of energy through an ecosystem made up of producers, consumers, and decomposers carries out the processes of life and that some energy dissipates as heat and is not recycled.
Curated OER
Information Problem Solving
Middle schoolers present information about an author of young adult literature using a HyperStudio stack.
Curated OER
A Colony is Born : Lesson 5 - Dear Mem
Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...
Curated OER
The Progressive Era in Illinois
High schoolers collect photographs on the Progressive Era in Illinois, then write three newspaper articles, using one photo per article. The article will highlight an event in Illinois during the Progressive Era. The newspaper must also...
Curated OER
Capitalization and Washington, D.C.
Second graders learn and practice capitalizing names of cities, states, countries, streets, buildings, bridges, and geographical places around the theme of Washington, D.C. through activities at learning centers in the classroom.
Curated OER
Music To My Ears: The District of Columbia Quarter
Students practice identifying different genres of music by creating posters. In this music appreciation lesson, students research Duke Ellington and complete worksheets based on his style of music, Jazz. Students collaborate in small...
Curated OER
Impacting Indiana
Fourth graders become familiar with the culture and history of Indiana. In this James Whitcomb Riley lesson, 4th graders read poetry which includes the dialect of Indiana. Students analyze the poem. Groups memorize and recite stanzas...