Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
Curated OER
Language Acquisition
Detailing the stages of language, sound, word, and grammar acquisition for babies, this presentation is a great addition to a lecture that focuses on how the English language is developed in small children. Additionally, the slideshow...
Film Foundation
The Day The Earth Stood Still: The Filmmaking Process
How are films made? As part of their study of film, middle schoolers investigate the pre-production, production, and post-production process and consider the role of the director, the screenwriter, production designer, cinematographer,...
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Double Jeopardy-Homophones
Second graders identify homophones as words that sound alike but have different meanings. They, given a pair of homophones, are to explain the meanings of the words using gestures, role playing, or drawing a picture with their partner.
Curated OER
iPod Audio Tours
Students cooperate in small groups to create an audio tour of a zoo exhibit during a field trip. They record personal reactions, zoo sounds and information learned about the exhibit. They then edit the audio recording and add music to...
San Francisco Symphony
Music Reflects History
Exploring the baroque era can be exciting and fun when it's done thorugh the arts. Middle schoolers examine the music and art history of the baroque era through research. They use their findings and class notes to create an expository...
Curated OER
Connotation and Denotation: How Word Choice Affects a Paragraph
Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation graphic...
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Everyone Sang - Moods in Poetry
Start by reading the poem "Everyone Sang" by Siegried Sassoon. The archive also houses an audio clip, so consider playing that instead of reading it aloud. After hearing the poem twice, middle and high schoolers will discuss a list of...
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Thomas Edison's Bright Ideas
Thomas Alva Edison may be one of the most well-known scientists to elementary or middle schoolers. Use his story to show that he invented more than just the light bulb and to inspire youngsters to work hard! You could use this on the...
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Initial Ss Blends
In this beginning blends worksheet, students practice listening for the initial blends. They circle the correct sounds for the beginning blend - middle vowel - and final sound. They write the word that names each of 8 pictures.
Ken Baker
Phonemic Alliteration Lesson Plan
Old MacDonald had a ... dragon? A shared reading of this funny take on the classic children's song engages beginning readers as they learn about phonemes and alliteration.
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Practicing Letters a and b
Start out your alphabet practice right using this phonics and printing worksheet. Pre-readers begin by tracing and printing lowercase letters a and b and adding them to an incomplete alphabet at the bottom. They connect each letter to...
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Descriptive Prompt: Precise Language
Incorporate sensory details into a piece of descriptive writing. First, elementary and middle schoolers improve a piece of writing by using precise, vivid language, as well as appropriate word choice. They then listen to a variety of...
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"I am a pirate with a wooden leg": Stomping Iambic Pentameter
What is blank verse? Iambic pentameter? Meter? Use the attached document to review these ideas with your middle schoolers. This plan has learners get up and stomp to iambic pentameter, which is a fun change from just clapping the meter!
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Letter Practice: Short O
In this letter worksheet, students fill in either beginning or ending sounds to make a word match a picture. All words have a short "o" in the middle, pictures appear in the middle of springtime "flowers."
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School-Home Links 34
For this middle sounds in words worksheet, 1st graders circle the words that have the same middle sound as the first word in each row.
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"Gazunheit!"
Students study the /a/ phoneme by determining how the mouth move when it makes the sound by imitating a sneeze. They recite a tongue twister, practice writing the lowercase "a" and listen to a story while identifying the letter sound....
Curated OER
Initial R Blends
In this initial r blend learning exercise, students look at pictures and write the correct sound for the beginning blend, middle vowel and final sound of each picture.
Curated OER
Initial R Blends
In this initial blend worksheet, students say picture words slowly, listening for the initial, middle vowel and ending sounds, then write the word that names each picture.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World
Students complete poetry analysis activities. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students consider the use of imagery and sound devices in poetry. Students translate poetry into another art, read a diverse selection of...
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Trucks and Community Workers
First graders identify community helpers and their roles. In this transportation lesson, 1st graders complete a series of lessons integrating technology and literacy. Students decode sounds of short u, c/s/ and g/j/ words and improve...
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Senior English Beowulf Test
The first thirty-seven questions on this assessment check for knowledge of the events in Beowulf. The short answer prompt asks readers to identify five characteristics of an epic and to give examples from Beowulf in support. Finally,...
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Segmenting and Blending Words
Students listen to words, then segment them into sounds, and hear sounds and blend them into words.
Curated OER
Lesson 1 - Skill 1 - CVC WORDS - Recognition Memory
In this CVC recognition memory worksheet, students examine 20 pictures, say the picture words listening to the sounds, and circle the 1 letter from each of the 3 columns to spell the word in each of the 20 problems.