Curated OER
Writing in Different Viewpoints
Young scholars read and analyze the point of view of a selected classic short story. They take notes while reading the story, select a character, and rewrite the story from a different viewpoint.
Curated OER
Lesson 5: Publication After the Interview
Learners lear about the publishing/writing process such as the outline, rough draft, MLA Guide for listing sources, and evaluating, revising, and proofreading.
Curated OER
Immigration in Massachusetts, 1880-1920
Students, in groups, research immigration in America at the turn of the century. They put together a series of original written essays, letters, newspaper columns, etc. that show what it was like to live as an American citizen and as an...
Curated OER
Killer Coal
Students explore some of the environmental health risks involved with both the mining and burning of coal. They read articles on coal in the Balkan Peninsula, view the photographs, and then discuss what feelings and thoughts they have...
Curated OER
Alaska's Cultures: Regions & Native Peoples of Alaska
Students read the essay "Did American Aborigines have Culture?". They discuss culture and what is meant by culture.
Curated OER
Author, Author!
Third graders, in groups, select and research a favorite studenT author or illustrator. They answer questions about the author, conduct research and prepare a PowerPoint presentation with their findings.
Curated OER
Exploring the History of Canyon De Chelly: The Navajos
Students are introduced to the novel Sing Down The Moon written by Scott O'Dell. Throughout the book, after each chapter is read, class discussions and journal writing is incorporated into the unit.
Curated OER
Social Studies: Heroes in American Culture
Students examine heroes and discuss their characteristics, values, and actions. They produce Powerpoint presentations on real-life and fictional heroes. Students interview veterans for an oral history project.
Curated OER
The Thrill of Big-Wave Surfing
Students view a PBS Nature program about big-wave surfing and participate in a class discussion about their experiences with surfing, body boarding, or body surfing. Students create a drawing based on a reading and post their art around...
Curated OER
When You Put It All Together!
Learners review information from variety of news sources found on the Internet, and compare and contrast the information.
Curated OER
Holes
Students watch the movie Holes. They list 5 key events from Holes and use a pyramid to rank the events in order of importance to the story. They determine cultural differences between the character and themselves.
Curated OER
A Broadside View of Independence
Students are introduced to and read examples of broadsides used during the American Revolution. Using the internet, they review the broadsides and decide whether or not they played a role in the struggle for independence. They report...
Curated OER
Political Cartoons: Thinking Broadly, Communicating Succinctly
Learners think broadly about the tsunami disaster and its aftermath through studying cartoons. Students critically think about the literary devices the authors/artists use, such as satire, metaphor and personification.
Curated OER
Independent - To Be or Not Top Be - Day 1, Lesson B: To Arms!
Fifth graders explore the verbal and non-verbal parts of an oral presentation.
Curated OER
Quotable Women for Peace
Students read various quotes by women regarding violence, war, and peace. They analyze and discuss the quotes and participate in various writing and role-play activities.
Curated OER
Looking After Pets
Students work in groups to compose their own "Duty of Care" for pets and make their own individual list from this discussion and illustrate it with drawing or images taken from magazines, websites or newspapers.
Curated OER
How to Write A+ Essays!
This lesson, which promises to improve the essays of your middle schoolers, contains a list of characteristics an essay should include. It breaks it down into the introduction, thesis statement, body, etc. There's also a list of things...
Curated OER
Strong Convictions
How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...
Scholastic
Straight Talk on Prescription Drugs
Young scholars discover how doctors custom fit prescription drugs to patients. For this health science instructional activity, young scholars explain the risks associated with drug abuse. They discuss common myths about prescription drugs.
Curated OER
The Art of Persuasion-Analysis of Argument
Analyze advertising techniques in order to pinpoint persuasive strategies that writers use. These same techniques are then examined in persuasive speeches. You will have to find your own advertisements, but speeches are included. Finish...
Curated OER
School Newspaper
Fifth graders write a website based school newspaper using a variety of literary forms to present the news of the school.
Curated OER
Magazine Sales Talks
Students role-play to determine the best types of magazines that should be purchased for their media center. They create a sales presentation for a particular magazine in small groups. As they listen to each presentation they evaluate...
Curated OER
Chameleons Are Cool!
Have your learners review what they know about camouflage using this lesson plan. Learners fill out a graphic organizer listing what they know or have questions about. This could be enhanced with the addition of a writing assignment in...
Curated OER
Independent - To Be or Not Top Be - Day 1, Lesson 2: Scavenger Hunt
Fifth graders research the thirteen significant events that lead to the start of the American Revolution.