Curated OER
Writing a Class/School Newspaper
Students use their interviewing skills to gather information for a school newspaper. They summarize their interview and create an article for the school newspaper. Students develop the article, edit it using the spell check and revise...
Curated OER
The Western Hemisphere on Review
Sixth graders research a country in the Western Hemisphere. They write a research paper and present a five-minute presentation on the country. They use PowerPoint to give their presentations to the class.
Curated OER
The Sequential Teaching of Writing Skills at Grade Eight
Eighth graders are introduced to the techniques to write properly. As a class, they practice writing complete sentences and discover how to avoid run-on sentences. In groups, they review action and state of being verbs and practice...
Curated OER
Failure-Proof Writing: Assignments for the Student Who Can't/Won't Write
Students with learning disabilities are introduced to the techniques of proper writing. After completing a warm up, they practice writing about what they saw to determine where they are at in the process. In groups, they complete a set...
Curated OER
Theatre- The Critic's Review
Students construct a critical review of a performance. In this theatrical lesson, students learn why critical reviews are important and create their own critical review. Students discuss their review.
Curated OER
Writing Process
Second graders create a Mother's Day Writing Project in this lesson. They review the assignment's expectations, and develop their rough draft letters and illustrations. They then peer edit their rough drafts and write their final copies.
New York State Education Department
Comprehensive English Examination: June 2015
Heroes rise from adversity. That theme forms the focus of the critical lens essay in a sample comprehensive English examination. The exam, which is part of a larger series of sample standardized tests, also includes two short response...
The New York Times
Teaching Orwell and '1984’ with the New York Times
Doublethink and alternate facts? Big Brother and Facebook? 1984 and 2019? Sales of 1984 have surged and so has the use of George Orwell's dystopian classic in classrooms. Whether new to teaching the novel or a seasoned veteran you'll...
Curated OER
Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: There Once Was?
Learners explore limericks. In this poetry writing lesson, students listen to and read a variety of poems written by Edward Lear. Learners count syllables and identify meter by clapping as they read aloud. Students complete a limerick...
Curated OER
Illustrated Children's Books
Students create their own illustrated book. In this illustration lesson plan, students review books given the Caldecott award. They create their own illustrations for a book and digitally scan them to a computer to make their pages.
Curated OER
Five Paragraph Essay
Students create a standard outline, using a word processing tool, while they are learning about the basic writing device of the 5 paragraph essay.
Curated OER
African Novel Study
Seventh graders participate in literature circles as they read African novels. They read, work on word studies, and complete comprehension activities. They share their reading with other literature circle groups in the class.
Brain Targeted Teaching
Tuck Everlasting Novel Study
The broad ideas included here provide clear ideas on how to use brain-targeted learning, what activities work best with Tuck Everlasting, how to apply the knowledge gained from their reading, and ideas for evaluation. Not teaching Tuck...
Curated OER
Research Techniques: Gathering Credible Sources
How can you spot a credible source? What even makes a resource reliable in the first place? Answer some of these questions with this presentation. Although intended for higher education, this PowerPoint could be modified for middle...
Curated OER
Developing Reading Comprehension
Developing reading comprehension is an ongoing process that begins the moment a child becomes engaged with literature. From learning the skills to navigate a picture book to reading an assigned chapter in a chemistry text, good readers...
Curated OER
Teaching "A Week in the Woods"
The book, A Week in the Woods is the focus of the very interesting language arts lesson presented here. After the book has been read, learners engage in study of certain parts of the book in order to gain a better understanding of how...
Curated OER
War Literature
Working in groups, young historians review a war poem written by Stephen Crane. After reviewing the poem, they present an oral interpretation of the poem and hold a panel discussion about their analysis. The panel is made up of five or...
Curated OER
The Rights of Bike Riders
Students write a letter to the editor of a newspaper about the bicycle helmet safety issue. They gather statistics about bicycle helmet use and discuss the statistics as a class and explain how to interpret the numbers accurately. They...
Ereading Worksheets
Figurative Language for Edgar Allen Poe
Are your classes weary of dreary worksheets? Are the learners nearly napping? Thrill them, fill them with delight with an interactive worksheet that asks them to identify the figurative language Edgar Allen Poe uses to add horror and...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 1
High schoolers apply sophisticated research skills to an inquiry-based project connected to Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation. Working from the prior unit and the model areas of investigation, including animal intelligence,...
University of Pennsylvania
Decoding Propaganda: J’Accuse…! vs. J’Accuse…!
Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...
Curated OER
Editing
Students write a paragraph and then revise it. In this editing lesson plan, students use a checklist and a scoring guide to rate their writing.
Curated OER
Pioneer America: Legendary Westerners - Can One Person Really Make a Difference?
Fourth graders research famous Americans from the Westward Movement and complete an interview. For this Westward Movement lesson, 4th graders work in pairs to research someone who was important during this time period. They prepare and...
Curated OER
Fifteen Seconds of Fame
A reading of Panic in Paris launches a review of the elements of narrative writing. Class members work in groups to find narrative devices in the book and record their findings on a provided worksheet. Using the completed pages, emergent...