Curated OER
Looking Back - An Art/English/History Interdisciplinary Unit
Students research historical events of the past century to recognize that society impacts the themes within art and literature. They then interview an individual to develop a biographical narrative, a collage and finally an oral...
Curated OER
Hearing the Poetry of Langston Hughes Through the Sounds of Jazz
Students have an appreciation of Langston Hughe's poetry and his use of jazz rhythms, have the ability to read poetry closely, and freewrite to gain a fresh perspective on music and literature.
Curated OER
Maurice Sendak's Books: More Relevant and Rigorous than Ever
Nearly 50 years after publication, Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are holds up to the Common Core.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
Curated OER
Modernism: American Literature 1914-1945
What characterizes modern literature? The first few slides of this 31-slide PowerPoint discuss what sparked the change to Modernism and discuss some of the key figures of the time (like Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud). The 20s and 30s are...
Macmillan Education
Social Skills
Every culture has a set of social skills one must learn to establish and maintain relationships. Some of these skills are particular to a culture and some are universal. Class members practice using appropriate language, polite manners,...
Curated OER
Amazing Adjectives
Fourth graders compose sentences that use descriptive adjectives to describe a specific food and day that they both like and dislike. They should really enjoy coming up with words that describe their favorite and least favorite foods!
Curated OER
Responding To Literature
Students prepare for and respond to literature selections. This package includes nineteen lessons, each covering a different reading selection. Pre-reading and response activities are included for each lesson as well as extension and...
Curated OER
Speak a Little Clearer!
What are the characteristics of effective public speaking? Emerging orators choose a fairy tale to present orally to the class. After modeling yourself, divide the class into small groups, having them critique each others' oral...
Curated OER
Reading Connected Text Fluency (Passage)
Practice makes perfect when it comes to reading fluency! Walk your emerging readers through a familiar passage, slowly pointing to each word to keep every learner with you. While looking at a projected passage, scholars read one word at...
Curated OER
The Meaning Behind the Mask
Students explore the world of African masks and storytelling. They create masks that tell stories of their own.
Curated OER
Creating a Literary Magazine - Part Two
Poetry can provide a great way to get a literary magazine going at your school.
Curated OER
Details and Observations IQ or the Eyes Have it
Fourth graders study Chaucer as a master of details. Then, they create a short story linking unrelated details into a logical plot with a clear setting and established characters. This lesson has some excellent worksheets attached!
Curated OER
Beatrix Potter's Naughty Animal Tales
Students gain insight into the unusual, solitary world of Beatrix Potter's Victorian childhood and can compare/contrast it with their own world to explain why Potter wrote such simple stories and why she wrote about animals rather than...
Curated OER
The Element of Color
Eighth graders study and analyze the elements of color by creating an personalized color wheel. Emphasis is placed on constructive criticism of student work by others for assessment. Students create short poems for their color wheel...
Curated OER
I'm A Poet and Now I Know It
Eighth graders gather ideas generated from other poems and their own inspiration, to create original poetry. A celebration is included as students bind and submit poems for publication.
Curated OER
Banned Book Week Lessons
Students are surprised when they discover how many books are challenged each year.
Curated OER
Ecological Footprint
Eighth graders discover their own ecological footprint and create a plan for reducing this figure. They extend this to the school and community to see how they are doing on this scale. They discuss the concept of the ecological...
Curated OER
Art: Weaving Based on Draft Patterns
Fourth graders observe the process of drafting a pattern on graph paper. After creating their own patterns, they create their own weavings, and explain its title to the class.
Curated OER
Glass Slipper Bullies
Students identify bullying behaviors through this cross curricular music and character education lesson plan. Learners read the story Cinderella and discuss how the stepsisters demonstrated bully behavior. Students create a new ending...
Curated OER
Forget Us Not
Students read a literary selection about the Holocaust. They examine a website with art and poems created by students regarding this topic. Then they create poetry that demonstrates their understanding of the literary selection on the...
Curated OER
The Teller of the Tale, Part 3
Students practice use of volume, stress, pacing, enunciation, eye contact, and gestures needed to meet the needs of the audience when presenting their own tales based on Chaucer. They receive teacher and student feedback and prepare to...
Curated OER
False Starts
High schoolers perform and discuss three scenes from the play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. They discuss the similarities and differences, identify the order of the scenes, and read the first twenty lines of the play.
Curated OER
Holocaust Memorial Service
Learners research victims of the Holocaust, then create pieces of art to depict the suffering of the Holocaust victims.