Echoes & Reflections
The Children and Legacies Beyond the Holocaust
Using video testimony, primary source documents that detail international agreements, and structured discussions, learners consider the precarious position of children during the Holocaust and other international conflicts, and how to...
California Department of Education
I Have “M.I.” Strengths!
There are so many ways to be smart! Can your class identify their intelligences? The third of five career and college lesson plans designed for sixth graders challenges them to assess their unique skills. Once they determine their...
Little Kids Rock
The Latin Rhythms of “Despacito”
When you hear the first few beats of "Despacito," the unrivaled Latin pop hit of 2017, you can't keep your feet from moving! A music analysis lesson plan examines the intoxicating hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee and introduces the...
American Press Institute
Introductory News Literacy
Aspiring journalists learn about media literacy, journalism, and the press. Units come complete with handouts, assignment rubrics, notes, and extension suggestions. Each unit also comes with a list of vocabulary words and learning...
Scholastic
Prescription Pain Medication: What You Need to Know
The national epidemic of opioid addiction is making its way into high school populations. Educate the young scholars in your class about the ways prescription opioids can both block pain and deliver large amounts of dopamine that make it...
Fluence Learning
Writing About Informational Text: Music and the Brain
Even if you've never picked up a musical instrument, chances are that music has directly impacted your mental and emotional development. Sixth graders engage in a reading activity in which they read two articles on the impact of music on...
Odell Education
Reading Closely for Textual Details: Grade 6
Close reading doesn't mean to literally read text close to your face, but rather to pay attention to particular details in order to develop a deep and purposeful understanding of text. The first part of a five-part resource provides an...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Dr. Seuss in the Classroom
Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...
Curated OER
The Glorious Whitewasher
Young readers can be exposed to the literary works of Mark Twain as they interact with challenging text and gain experience by reading the complex passages of chapter two "The Glorious Whitewasher" from his famous book, The Adventures of...
Learning Express
501 Writing Prompts
Never again will you need to worry about coming up with a writing prompt! This packet contains, as it says, 501 prompts that are suitable for fourth graders on up. The prompts are paired into four categories (persuasive, expository,...
Online Publications
Become a Journalist
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
Curated OER
Youth Emergency Preparedness
What is an emergency, why is preparing for one important, and how can your pupils help others prepare for an emergency? Answer these questions and more with a short unit. Learners will participate in a variety of collaborative,...
Curated OER
"I Can” Common Core! 6th Grade Writing
It is impossible to know whether one has reached a goal without first knowing the goal. Help your sixth graders reach all the Common Core writing standards by giving them a checklist written in language they will understand. As you teach...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Extend-sive Thinking
Can knowing about things of the past help predict the types of things seen in the future? Advanced learners consider the idea that things extend. In other words, concrete things like bridges and intangible things like ideas extend from...
Curated OER
Jim Murphy, The Great Fire - Grade 6
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy provides the text for a study of the Chicago fire of 1871. The plan is designed as a close reading activity so that all learners have the same background information require for writing. Richly detailed, the...
Curated OER
Who Could Have Been Who
Can word choice affect a candidate's likeability? Use a New York Times lesson to explore how a presidential candidate's likeability factor can fluctuate in public opinion polls. Young readers choose a presidential election from their...
Curated OER
Campaign Trailblazers
Explore the backgrounds, qualifications, and platforms of the presidential candidates for the 2000 election. Though the instructional activity is outdated, the activities within the informational text could be good practice for your...
Curated OER
Short But Sweet
After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...
Curated OER
Pay to Play?
Lead your class in a discussion about how they believe money influences politics. After reading "Go Ahead, Try to Stop K Street" from the New York Times, they evaluate the claims in the article about the current lobbyist scandal in...
Curated OER
The Impact
Learn about the destruction of the rainforest by analyzing statistics. Young learners make an original line graph showing destruction in the rainforest. Additional activities include making a collage, sequencing Dr. Seuss' The Lorax,...
EngageNY
Using Multiple Resources of Information: Creating a Cascading Consequences Chart about DDT and Practicing a Fishbowl Discussion
For every action there is a consequence. Scholars continue their work on creating a cascading consequence chart about DDT using Welcome Back, The Exterminator, Rachel Carson: Sounding the Alarm on Pollution along with graphic organizers...
EngageNY
Performance Task: Final Informative Consumer Guide
Formative feedback should be kind, specific, and helpful. Pupils engage in a peer editing process, using a rubric to critique a partner's writing. Next, scholars use the feedback to create the final version of their informative consumer...
EngageNY
Interpreting and Connecting Information: Creating a Cascading Consequence Chart Using Frightful’s Mountain
Decisions, decisions. Scholars take a close look at making decisions by discussing the character Sam in chapters one through eight of Frightful’s Mountain. Partners discuss whether Sam should interact with Frightful and then complete a...
EngageNY
Forming a Research-Based Claim: Creating Stakeholders Charts
Present the facts. Scholars create presentations of their research on DDT using their Cascading Consequences chart and a
Stakeholders Impacts chart as visuals. They discuss the term stakeholders and create a Stakeholders Impacts chart...