Curated OER
Komm mit! Our Vacation
Learners study the German language. They research in small groups and create a Power Point presentation, write an essay with 15 sentences in German, prepare a food or wear a costume, and give an oral presentation.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Segmenting, Say and Slide Phonemes
Develop phonological awareness using this partner activity, where scholars segment words into phonemes. Using Elkonin Box picture cards, pairs practice orally segmenting sounds and physically representing the phonemes using counters....
Curated OER
Mi Mochila (My Backpack)
Here is a way to practice using Spanish vocabulary about school. This exercise offers real-life examples of school items, oral practice, and ideas for working in pairs. Note: Using real-life examples is a great strategy in teaching a...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.2
What are diverse media formats? Have your class figure this out on their own through small-group brainstorming. The resource includes two related activities about different kinds of data that will help your class get a grasp of media...
Curated OER
"The Gunny Wolf": American Folktale
While you tell the story of "The Gunny Wolf," your class will actively participate by asking questions and clarifying. Next, they answer questions about the story to increase comprehension before creating a storyboard to document the...
Curated OER
Aesop and Ananse: Animal Fables and Trickster Tales
Learners complete compare and contrast activities dealing with fables and trickster tales to determine how each uses animals to portray human characteristics, specifically strengths and weaknesses, as well as pass wisdom from one...
Curated OER
You Can Say That Again!
A discussion of the Supreme Court’s Opinion of Tinker v. Des Moines generates a discussion of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. Although the key elements of this activity are based on a video that is not included, the...
Curated OER
Speak Vocabulary Strategy
A scarlet letter “V” stands for a desktop teaching vocabulary activity designed for Speak. Prior to reading Laurie Hales Anderson’s young adult novel, individuals sign up for a word, design a handout that illustrates the word, includes...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Puppet Scenes
Explore character, plot, and setting through dramatic puppet play. Second graders discuss basic story elements and then practice making a character with their sock puppets. After they've crafted a dynamic puppet, they pair up to create a...
California Department of Education
Planning for Middle and High School
So, what's the plan? Seventh graders begin their college and career journey in the first of six lessons. After creating their online profiles on a career resource website, individuals conduct extensive research to determine the courses...
Curated OER
How Long is Too Long?
Young scholars examine the legal term statute of limitations and how it varies based on the type of criminal or civil activity under discussion. They discern the applicable statute of limitations given an hypothetical or actual situation...
Curated OER
Como Se Hace...?
Students work in groups to give step-by-step instructions to the rest of the class about an activity of interest. They write presentation proposals, research the activity and then draft and edit a presentation. Students present their...
Curated OER
"The Wind" by James Reeves
Inntroduce primary learners to essential critical reading strategies with an activity based on James Reeves' poem, "The Wind." Learners listen as the poem is read, first as a riddle, and then re-read with the title visible. The...
Curated OER
Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems
Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr.
After listening to a story about Martin Luther King Jr., first graders answer questions about the text. They discuss the importance of the illustrations, identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and complete a writing...
Curated OER
Japan Online Project Lesson Plan
Give your class this introductory activity to spark interest in the Japanese language. Learners look at the Japanese vowels and practice their pronunciation. Then the class works to match vocabulary words to their visual representation.
Smithsonian Institution
Mary Henry: Journal/Diary Writing
A great way to connect social studies with language arts, a resource on Mary Henry's historical diary reinforces the concepts of primary and secondary sources. It comes with an easy-to-understand lesson plan, as well as the reference...
Curated OER
Looking Back - An Art/English/History Interdisciplinary Unit
Students research historical events of the past century to recognize that society impacts the themes within art and literature. They then interview an individual to develop a biographical narrative, a collage and finally an oral...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2
One way to get your class to evaluate and synthesize multiple multimedia sources is through a research project. The idea here is that class members will watch videos and listen to scientific debates in order to create a casebook about...
New York Public Library
What's for Lunch?: New York City Restaurant Menus
Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...
Vancouver Island University
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
A good story is a great way to support skills that are necessary for encouraging strong reading skills. Here is a class I do, You do, We do style lesson that stars the tale, Ming Lo Moves the Mountain. Included are two fun pre-reading...
Curated OER
Classroom Capers: Creating a Magazine
Fourth graders build language skills in the context of creating a classroom magzine. They participate in activities which help students communitcate ideas and information for a variety of purposes and for specific audiences using the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Encoding and Decoding, Digraph Delight
There are three spinners to use in this phonic activity. Spinner one contains digraphs, spinner two contains vowels, and spinner three contains consonants. Learners spin each spinner, write down the letters they get, blend them to make a...
Curated OER
Deconstructing Disney
Tenth graders analyze animated Disney movies. They demonstrate their awareness of how the artful use of language can affect and influence others. They evaluate how both genders and cultures are portrayed in mass media.