Novelinks
Walk Two Moons: Story Impressions
Story chains connect literary concepts, reinforce context clues, and even help learners predict what's coming next! Using words from the next chapter of Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, middle schoolers craft story chains to...
Curated OER
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Vocabulary Strategy
In order to truly understand The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, you'll need to provide middle schoolers with background information about the Holocaust. After contributing as many words as they can associate with the Holocaust, such as...
Curated OER
Pretending with Prefixes
The book Fortunately provides an excellent opportunity to discuss prefixes and suffixes as they appear in context. The class goes over a list of prefixes and suffixes with the teacher. They then write two sentences; the first...
Novelinks
Man's Search for Meaning: Anticipation Guide Instructions
To prepare readers for the major concepts in Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, an account of his life in Auschwitz, class members respond to a series of statements on an anticipation guide.
Curated OER
What Makes the Writer Write
Your 11th and 12th graders are ready to critique society! Channel that inclination by studying a novel that offers social criticism of other eras (book recommendations included). This resource presents a well-thought-out overview of such...
Curated OER
Football Math
Develop an understanding of positive and negative numbers using football. Pupils create a football field and game pieces. The teacher gives plays and the pupils move pieces to see who wins the game.
Curated OER
Buoyancy: Integrating Science and Literature
Integrate science and literature by using the scientific method to test the veracity of the floating peach described in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Clips from a Bill Nye: The Science Guy episode about buoyancy frontload...
Curated OER
Extreme Poetry Vocabulary
Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...
Curated OER
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
Second graders use literature journals and discussion groups to summarize and improve their reading comprehension. In this reading skills lesson plan, 2nd graders discuss animals they've loved and read the story The Girl Who Loved Wild...
Poets.org
Ghosts and Spirits
Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...
Curated OER
Multiple Meatballs
The book Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, is read aloud,and students listen for regular and irregular plurals in the story. They record their words on a worksheet which is embedded in the plan. This lesson provides good practice...
Curated OER
Arrest
High schoolers become active participants in the legal process as they take on the roles of witnesses, jurors, and defendants in a trial simulation. An understanding and appreciation of the legal system is fostered through the experience.
Curated OER
Author's Purpose
A simple activity for young readers, this introduces the idea of author purpose. Learners analyze various types of texts (newspaper articles, magazines, books, advertisements, etc.) and determine if the author's purpose for writing was...
Curated OER
Goldie Girl and There, Their, and They're: Homophones and Homographs
Instruct your class on homonyms and homophones. Learners take a pre-test and examine a list of homophones. They also play online word games to practice spelling and usage and write a fairy tale in which they use at least 10 homophones....
Curated OER
Introduction to the American Civil War
Eleventh graders participate in a drill activity in which they review the political, social and economic causes of the Civil War. Individually, they complete a Civil War pretest in which they test their misconceptions about the war. They...
Curated OER
Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar
Upper graders write word problems and research the uses of multiplication. They start off by taking a pre-test on multiplication and then read the book, Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar. They make up word problems to go with their...
Curated OER
Folk Tales for ESL Students
Using the folk tale "The Man, The Boy, and The Donkey" (linked in the lesson) and a SMART board, teachers can help pupils access multiple skills. Reading the story allows learners to create a timeline of the sequence of events based on...
Nazareth College
Chronological Order
First, next, and last, the elements of chronological order. In every story or text one can find a series of events that occur one after the other. To help learners with visual impairments conceptualize chronological order, this...
Curated OER
Learning About Prediction
The skill of prediction as a reading strategy is explored. Learners are shown how to use clues within a story, along with pictures, to make predictions as to what's going to happen in the story. A clever in-class game which uses objects...
Curated OER
"The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson
Middle schoolers who are about to read the chilling tale, The Lottery, do some writing beforehand. They are asked to write how their lives would change if they won a huge lottery jackpot. Then, they read the short story, and will be...
Curated OER
The Prado Museum
Young scholars visit the Prado Museum website. They explore the website, answer questions in Spanish, interview a classmate, and compare/contrast various artists' works and the Prado museum with a U.S. museum.
Curated OER
Music for Alice
Third graders explore Japanese culture. They read the story Music for Alice. Students write a paragraph defining what happiness means to them. They discuss Alice's culture and their own cultures. Students create a brochure about Japanese...
Curated OER
Creating a Found Poem
Teach your English learners about theme through this found poem project. Class members read two versions of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi": the original version and a synopsis. After learning about themes and connecting theme to their...
Curated OER
Getting Hooked, Introduction for a Narrative
How can you interest your reader? Here is a great lesson on reading and discussing the characteristics of a narrative. Elementary schoolers explore writing techniques to hook the reader. They identify their hook and share their...