Curated OER
Reading - Grades 4/5
Students are encouraged and motivated to read independently by appealing to their different learning styles and offering students multiple choices when responding to books. Many of the choices are completed while they are reading the books.
Shakespeare in American Life
"We Few, We Happy Few": Motivational Speech in Henry V
Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 4: Creating Main Characters
Creating a good main character is a must when writing a creative narrative or novel. Elementary aged writers create main characters for the novel they are writing. They first use themselves as a models, then create a character as a...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing Using the Book Rumpelstiltskin
Use the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin to teach your third grade class about descriptive writing. Following a teacher read-aloud of the story, the class brainstorms a list of adjectives describing the main character. Students use this list...
Curated OER
From Graphic Organizer to Composition - Grade Six
How does one use a graphic organizer to plan writing? Introduce your writers to different types of graphic organizers by dividing the class into groups and assigning each group a particular organizer. Then, as they research chocolate...
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Student Survey
Young scholars create questions they would like to ask another class of Students, send the questions by email, examine results, and create slideshow illustrating results.
Curated OER
Ten Prompts for Student Writing
Build writing skills and creative thinking. Writers are given a variety of thought-provoking writing prompts to choose from. After they choose what they will write about they share their pieces with the class.
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Crow Boy
There is a difference between actions, motives, and the appearance of a character in a narrative text. Fourth graders explore character analysis through the dramatic arts. They create a series of movements, tableaus, and pantomimes to...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Sequence of Events
Are you in need of a new way to teach learners sequence of events and how to interpret a character's external motivations? Why not engage them in dramatic play? The class will use tableaux to convey the sequence of events in a familiar...
Curated OER
What a Character!
Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines...
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Finding Problems In A Story
Students categorize information into a problem/solving chart and examine the value of using a diary. In this problem solving and diary lesson plan, students read portions of Dear Mr. Henshaw, while they investigate the importance of...
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Sense Poems
Students explore 5 senses poetry. In this poetry writing instructional activity, students visualize a special day and brainstorm related vivid adjectives and phrases. Students create mindmaps of the five senses to go with...
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A Place at the Table
Twelfth graders set up a formal table setting in their classroom. Individually, they identify the proper serving or eating utensil for the various courses of a meal. To end the lesson, they discuss and role-play proper table manners and...
Curated OER
Football Spelling
Third graders play a football spelling game where two teams spell words and gain yardage for each correctly spelled word. This clever spelling game will be highly motivational for your class! Each team gains ten yards every time they...
Curated OER
Horse Character: Ceramics Lesson
Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...
Curated OER
Themes in Literature - Langston Hughes "Thank You Ma'm"
Eighth graders study Langston Hughes, "Thank You Ma'am" to discover the elements of plot, character motives and reactions. They express the effects of trust and kindness by writing a reflective personal narrative. They illustrate the...
Curated OER
Independent Reading Responses
Pupils participate in independent reading activities by reading a book at their independent reading level and selecting activities to complete after reading. Activities are broken up into C Level, B Level, and A Level activities.
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Phrase Card Reading
Fourth graders, after reading and discussing the book, "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing," by Judy Bloom, complete a vocabulary worksheet and read sections from the book fluently and accurately. They utilize dictionaries and thesauruses...
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Mammal Story Problems (Math)
Fifth graders, after discussing the teacher's handout examples, practice writing five story problems about mammals using relevant/irrelevant information. As a class, they solve the story problems while identifying the key concepts that...
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Author's Purpose
Sixth graders brainstorm the reasons authors write, and they list their responses on the board. Students discuss each purpose they have listed.Students work independently to read the selection "Tarantulas and Typhoid" by...
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Vocabulary
Fourth graders classify vocabulary words by category. Through matching and classification activities, 4th graders sort words pertaining to trees and forest habitats into appropriate categories. They discuss how vocabulary practice can...
Curated OER
Multi-cultural, The Butterfly
Sixth graders discuss The Butterfly. In this literacy lesson, 6th graders write two postcards about the issues of the Holocaust from the two different perspectives of the two girls from the text.
Curated OER
Creative Writing Poem
Fifth graders write poetry using imagery and practice poetry presentation. In this poetry lesson, 5th graders listen as the teacher reads a humorous poem using different voice modulations and presentation techniques. They discuss the...