Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 4: Listen, My Children - Poems for Fourth Graders
Over three weeks, fourth graders explore the world of poetry. They listen to authors such as Shel Silverstein and Maya Angelou, complete word work activities, and practice spelling skills. Budding poets take pen to paper with daily...
Literacy Design Collaborative
In Pursuit of Happiness
What ideas and philosophies guided the Transcendentalist movement in America? Scholars explore the topic, reading texts by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Additionally, they write essays comparing the authors' structural...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "When Giving Is All We Have" by Alberto Ríos
What makes giving meaningful? Class members discuss this question, then listen to Alberto Rios reading his poem, "When Giving Is All We Have." Finally, the class considers what the poet says about the question.
Smithsonian Institution
Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.10
Assess whether your class members can comprehend complex informational text with a series of drills based on selections from Emerson, Thoreau, and G.K. Chesterton. The exercises could also be used for group work or a full-class discussion.
Curated OER
Thoreau, Emerson, and Transcendentalism
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 13 multiple choice questions based on the Transcendentalist literary movement. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Annenberg Foundation
Spirit of Nationalism
What were the virtues and values that helped form America? Pupils watch and discuss a video, read biographies of early Americans, chart the differences between early American religious movements, write journals and letters, draw, and...
Curated OER
Poetry, Take Me Away!
Students explore a variety of poetry and poetry concepts. They examine figurative language, mood, and literary devices. The students write and recite their own poetry.
Curated OER
A Literature of Democracy
Eleventh graders analyze how American literature shows a lot of different genres. In groups, 11th graders create a short report about the passage they have chosen.
Curated OER
Anonymous Patriots: Songs of the Revolution
Give your class a deeper understanding of the context and meaning behind early American song lyrics. By reading the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle" and "Revolutionary Tea," high schoolers will practice analysis by examining the structure and...
Curated OER
Experiencing Nature
Students create their own landscapes based on the topography of their region after studying the artwork of Cincinnati-based artist William Sonntag and other "Hudson River School" artists.
Curated OER
The Evolution of Transcendentalism
Key concepts, major writers, and historical events related to Transcendentalism are explored in a student-produced PowerPoint about this movement. The presentation could be used as an introduction to a unit or as a model that class...
Curated OER
Six Trait Writing with Jonathan Swift and Washington Irving
Fourth graders demonstrate and evaluate the six traits of writing. They read and identify good writing and bad writing, utilize a rubric to self-evaluate their own writing, participate in a Reader's Theater, and publish a class book.
Curated OER
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 10 multiple choice questions about Sparks's The Notebook. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
Louisa May Alcott
Students explore life of author Louisa May Alcott, define Transcendentalism, discuss the children's books Alcott wrote, read two selections she wrote, and compare the writing style of one of her children's stories with a story she wrote...