National Endowment for the Humanities
Anne Frank: Writer
Students explore the writings of Anne Frank. They discuss how Anne did or did not change during her two years in the Secret Annex. Students take a stand on how much Anne has in common with contemporary young people.
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Vivid Adjectives
Students review adjectives and play a game where students compete to see who can write the most adjectives for a given noun. They write a story about one topic and try to use a variety of adjectives in sequence tto describe a noun.
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Biographies
Learners read a biography and discuss what defines a biography. Students choose a biography of their own interest to read and write a report about one of the people in the biography. Reports are shared with classmates.
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Hinges Are a Part of You
Students demonstrate writing readiness addressing dominate hand use, small muscle development, eye-hand coordination, ability to copy, and an orientation to reading readiness. They develop physical skill and personal hygiene.
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Bronte and Rhys' Portrayal of Bertha
Students, while reading and discussing the two texts by Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys, compare/contrast the two main characters and juxtapose them as the same character told from two different points of view. They gain insight of how to...
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President Obama's Address to Students Across America
Students write about goals, responsibility, and persistence, and listen to President Obama's speech. In this President Obama lesson students create concept webs, listen with a purpose, and list the challenges of our generation.
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Alliteration Activities and Lesson Ideas
Alliteration is an entertaining literary device to utilize in reading and writing instruction.
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Collage Technique
First graders listen to the story The Hungry Caterpillar, then sequentially organize their own re-writing and re-creating of the story. They construct illustrations for their book using the collage technique Eric Carle used in his...
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1st Grade - Act. 22: Retelling the Tiny Seed
First graders write sentences and illustrate ways seeds travel.
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Parodies of Shakespeare
Students view a video clip about parodies. They identify the characteristics of a parody in Mark Twain's work as well. They practice writing Shakepeare like verses.
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Creating A Memorial Day Poster Poem
In this activity, students create a Memorial Day word web and use it to create a poem about Memorial Day. They can write the poem and illustrate it as a poster.
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Do You Haiku? We Do!
Third graders try their hands at writing Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry. Haiku is usually 17 syllables in three-line form. This engaging lesson has many excellent worksheets and website imbedded in the plan. They share their finished...
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Scrapbooks, The Collecting of Creative Ideas
High schoolers examine the value and use of scrapbooks in writing and historic inquiry. They view and discuss online interactive scrapbooks by Mark Twain, and in small groups create a collaborative scrapbook that reflects the time and...
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Using Tables
In this using tables worksheet, 9th graders solve and complete 10 various types of problems that include using tables to determine information. First, they write an equation to determine the total amount. Then, students define each of...
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Transportation Unit
Students maintain a journal and write about various types of transportation. In this transportation lesson, students write using flash cards to describe vehicles. Students listen to stories and sing a song...
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Comic Strip Context Clues
Second graders create dialogue for a comic strip using context clues to match the text to the pictures. They use comic blanks imbedded in this lesson. They write dialogue for each frame. Remind them to use the picture clues when writing...
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'Twasn't the Night Before Christmas
Students describe the elements that make up particular writers' styles. Small groups then choose an author, write something in his or her style, and invite other groups to play 'literary detective' in identifying whose style they have...
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Teaching The Personality Profile
Students write a comprehensive personality profile feature that demonstrates knowledge of the Wall Street Journal formula of feature writing and the concept of show, don't tell. They experience a press conference interview situation.
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The Color of Poetry
Young scholars listen to a story about colors and then write their own color poems.
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Fallen Angels
Students read the novel, Fallen Angels, and examine the theme of coming of age during the Vietnam War. They create timelines of the 1960s, highlighting important issues of the era. They write research papers focusing on one particular...
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Conflicting Views
Students complete a Venn diagram comparing the United States and Afghanistan. They research the history of the Taliban and how they relate to the United States and its foreign policy. They write a paper on possible solutions.
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Regions Change
Students examine how geography can have an impact on change in a region. They discuss what their local area might be like in 50 years, and in pairs, select a situation and write a short story to describe how it changed from one thing to...
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Renewing a Contract with HBC
Learners are invited to use the ECO Exploration, the Fur Trade and Hudson's Bay Company, as well as other sources identified, to complete a table (see Student Handout) of words and phrases that describe the duties, responsibilities and...
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Aquatic Times
Students identify a diversity of issues related to aquatic organisms and habitats and develop their own opinions concerning some issues involving aquatic life and habitats. They investigate, write and produce a newspaper that features...