Curated OER
Jeffrey and Sloth: Six Traits of Writing
Use drawings as inspiration. Have learners doodle for 10 minutes before beginning the lesson. Then, have them use their doodles to inspire a story. Several writing activities are included here to play with writing. One of my favorites...
Ogden Museum of Art Education Department
Literacy and Landscapes
As the saying goes, art often imitates life ... and literature! A series of activities designed to accompany a visit to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art encourage writers to find inspiration in various landscapes. The lesson includes a...
Anti-Defamation League
The Gender Allowance Gap
Does the pay gap begin with allowance? That is the big question scholars answer in a lesson examining how gender affects how much money an individual earns. Class members conduct a survey to identify how the allowance is paid, take their...
Museum of Tolerance
Making Lemonade: Responding to Oppression in Empowering Ways
An activity focused on tolerance encourages class members to consider how they might respond when they or someone else is the target of oppression and discrimination. After researching how some key figures responded to the...
Curated OER
The Scoop on Local Business
How do local businesses support their state or regional economy? The New York Times has prepared another great instructional activity for your class. They begin by listing products grown or manufactured in their state or region then...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Byzantine Architecture
View Byzantine architecture from the comfort of your classroom. A PowerPoint presentation introduces important vocabulary terms and examples of Byzantine architecture in the ninth lesson of the 11-part series. A Jeopardy game reviews...
American Statistical Association
Who Has the Longest First Name?
Name that statistic! Classmates each write their name and the number of letters in it on a sticky note to place on the board. As a class, they determine the median, mode, and range of the name lengths, and create a dot plot of the data....
Curated OER
Chinese New Year
Gong hei fat choy! Celebrate Chinese New Year with a variety of activities that introduce learners to the Chinese myth of the race that determined which animals earned their place the zodiac.
Syracuse University
Civil War
What was it like to enlist as a soldier in the Civil War? By using enlistment papers, young scholars consider this question. After they've looked at the primary source and discussed it, they create a short story of a fictional soldier to...
Curated OER
I've Got a Bad Taste in my Mouth! Aaa!
Students complete a variety of activities related to the short /a/ sound. As a class they recite a tongue twister, and trace and write the letter A. Students then listen to pairs of words and identify which word in each pair contains the...
Curated OER
Tyrone, the Horrible
Read a Hans Wilhelm story and complete creative writing activities. Start by reading Tyrone, the Horrible and discuss the behavior in the book. Then split your class into groups to create a "bully" situation and discuss possible...
Curated OER
Food Labels in the Classroom
Students study the nutritional information on food labels and become familiar with the basic dietary needs of the human body. They write letters to food companies.
Curated OER
Message in a Bottle
Students acquire a pen pal in a foreign country and write letters at least twice a month throughout the year to exchange with them. At the end of the year, they write an essay that compares one important difference and one important...
Curated OER
Adjectives in Letter Writing
Looking for ways for your young writers to practice using adjectives and composing letters? For this activity, learners use the adjectives in a word bank to fill in the 15 gaps in a business letter about Japanese cars. Scholars must...
Curated OER
Aloha From the King
Through this activity pupils learn about King Kamehameha I, and letter writing. It begins with an overview of Hawaiian history, with an emphasis on King Kamehameha I, and then goes on to a letter writing activity. Each person writes a...
Curated OER
Encouraging Others in Class, in the Workplace, in the Home
Students write a letter of encouragement to a classmate to encourage each other and practice writing skills.
Curated OER
The Road to Careers (Part 3)
Fourth graders work in teams to write individual friendly letters to the readers of the Careerville News who have written to the Career Information Columnist requesting information about working in Careerville. They focus their friendly...
Curated OER
Telecommunications and the Whole Language Program
Young writers use technology and other media to research information on a chosen topic. They explore countries where keypals and e-mail friends are located. Using their writing skills, they correspond with their e-mail friend and...
Curated OER
Enjoying the Adventure
Students watch the video of "The Prince and the Pauper" and analyze, compare and contrast the characters. They write letters to a character from the point of view of another character and create a new ending to the play.
Curated OER
From Photo to Printed Word: Getting Second-Graders to Write
Use photographs to entice your children to write! In this digital storytelling lesson, students study the functions of digital cameras. They review their sentence-writing skills, then take digital photos and write sentences that describe...
Curated OER
Tunes for Bears to Dance to: Questioning Strategy, Discussion Web
Readers of Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to are asked to consider the morality of the central character's actions
Curated OER
The Sentence Contest
Young writers complete work with sentence structure. Theys go over the definition of a sentence before deciding whether given groups of words are sentences. They view and identify the sentences on a teacher made chart.
Curated OER
The Game of Persuasion
Why is it so important to learn the art of persuasion? Being persuasive helps you acquire the things you want or the things you feel are necessary. Print out these scenarios and assign one to each group of high schoolers. As a team, they...
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye: Found Poem Activity
After concluding The Catcher in the Rye class members create a found poem using words drawn from J.D. Salinger’s “Both Parties Concerned.” The story, and directions for crafting a found poem, are included with the resource.