Curated OER
Veterans' Voyages
Introduce your middle and high schoolers to a different perspective on war: that of soldier's. Read Guisseppi Ungaretti's poem "Vigil" to kick-start this activity. After discussing his perspective, read "The Screaming Eagles Fly to...
Curated OER
Read to Learn
Students explore the concept of community helpers. In this community helper instructional activity, students brainstorm the community helpers in their neighborhood after reading a book about jobs in the community. Students...
Curated OER
The Little Red Hen
Young readers access prior knowledge of how wheat becomes bread. Using "The Little Red Hen" story, learners make predictions of the events. Extension activities include singing a song about the story and making a list of...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
How Much Water Do You Use?
Incorporate reading strategies, math, research, and the scientific method into one lesson plan about water conservation. After reading a story about a landlady trying to determine how many people are living in an apartment, learners...
Curated OER
Expository Journal Prompts
Stuck for a journal topic? Download CAHSEE’s 21 “Expository Journal Prompts” as a pdf handout for yourself or class. A great resource for your writing program, print it up and add it your curriculum library.
Curated OER
The Whole Story
Students collect and convey information about a current event. By focusing on who, what, when, where, why, and how questions, students study to thoroughly analyze and report on important world events.
Curated OER
What's the Story?
Students explore how the same news story can be presented differently through various journalistic styles. They discuss the unique characteristics of each style and find articles on the same event in each of the different styles.
Curated OER
The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon
Practice comprehension skills using the story, The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon by Bea Uusma Schyffert. Learners answer questions, fill out graphic organizers, and engage in extension activities involving writing and...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Made Up Math
Is there a way to connect creative thinking, logical reasoning, mathematical understanding, and humor? You bet there is! Kids begin by creating creative math quizzes, which require creative thinking to solve. For example, 1+1=24, one...
Poetry Out Loud
Poems Put to Use
Why do we have to study poetry? Here is a lesson that demonstrates some of poetry's more practical and real-world applications for reluctant learners. Start by leading a brainstorming session about where poems or pieces of poems might be...
Curated OER
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Discuss the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt. This story, called "Franklin D. Roosevelt" by Laura Hamilton Waxman, is used to explore comprehension skills. Some of these skills include identifying prefixes and suffixes, making comparisons,...
Growing Minds
Potato Exploration: Projects All About Potatoes!
How many potatoes tall are you? Unearth this rich resource! A reading of John Coy’s Two Old Potatoes begins a cross-curricular exploration of potatoes. Class members read, write, weigh, measure, and experiment with potatoes. Additional...
Curated OER
Unit 10: Going Shopping Day 1: Buying School Supplies
Young scholars, who are second language learners, develop a story about shopping. In this language development lesson, students brainstorm in their native language about the items they purchase at the beginning of the school year. They...
Curated OER
Fabulous Alliteration
Fourth graders explore an alliterative tale called Four Fanished Foxes and Fosdyke. They listen to the story, then brainstorm their own lists of alliterative words and make their own alliterative tales. Some nice worksheets are attached...
Newspaper in Education
Lesson 10: Studying Content-Specific Language
Stanchion, spar, spinnaker. Right wing, sweeper, hip check. Every subject has specialized vocabulary. Here’s a fun way to introduce your learners to this jargon. Provide class groups with newspapers and have them search pre-selected...
US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing...
Curated OER
What is a Fable?
Students read a variety of electronic Aesop's fables to define fable and moral, and write and illustrate an original fable. They then publish their fable using PowerPoint.
EngageNY
Qualities of a Strong Literary Argument Essay
One activity, two essays, and one central theme: qualities of an argument essay. Here, scholars first describe the qualities of an argument essay regarding Bud's rules to live by from the novel Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis....
Curated OER
Larger-Than-Life Lara
Students explore child psychology by reading a children's book in class. In this bullying lesson, students read the book Larger Than Life Lara and discuss the characters and how they treat each other. Students answer study questions...
Curated OER
Thanksgiving Traditions
Everyone celebrates traditions in different ways. Young writers share the ways their families celebrate Thanksgiving with a journal writing prompt and discussion activity.
Curated OER
Let's Learn About Weather!
Students read several weather-related stories. They brainstorm weather words and use them as they make a weather booklet that includes pictures, a story of their own, and observations they make about the weather outside on that day.
Curated OER
A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Use photographs to trigger memories. Writers use a personal photograph as a starting point for an autobiographical writing exercise. They complete brainstorming activities that have them study their photograph before actually putting pen...
Curated OER
"Ing" Words as Descriptors
This clever lesson has your students listen to story about bugs, work together to brainstorm list of "ing" words that describe bugs, create t-chart of words, choose words to place in poem template to create class poem about bugs, and use...
Curated OER
Dramatic Outlines
Students write about main characters. For this dramatic writing lesson, students brainstorm character ideas. Students create actions and give the character a voice. Students act out the scene in groups and create a final draft.