Curated OER
May I Take Your Order, Please?
Pupils read a story, boil down that story to 5 to 7 key events, create a sequencing quiz to go with the story and have their classmates take the quiz. They will the strategy of sequencing by reading various stories (that they are not...
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King Arthur and his Knights
Fourth graders examine the myths of King Arthur. They compare/contrast versions of the story, The Sword in the Stone, write a letter, identify and analyze characters, sequence events, and write observations and answer questions in a...
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The Imagine Poetry & Mural Lesson
Readers of all ages can work together in groups to create original poetry on the theme of "Imagine," inspired by John Lennon's classic song. They also create a mural to illustrate their poetry. A beautiful activity, inspired by a...
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The Hatfield and McCoy Feud
Fourth graders investigate the Hatfield and McCoy feud. In this Hatfield and McCoy feud lesson, 4th graders examine factors that caused the feud. Students also locate on a map where the feud took place, make a timeline of the main events...
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Sports Safety Role Play
Students role-play sports situations and determine the actions needed to stay safe from injuries. They define the term sports safety, develop short skits about situations involving sports safety, and work together in cooperative groups.
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Mystery Lessons
Learn about mysteries with your readers. They will investigate plot, basic elements of mystery, famous characters, and become familiar with genre vocabulary. Bring in props and mystery books to begin and then have learners create story...
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President for a Day
Learners imagine they are president of the United States for one day! students study general information about the duties of the president of the United States. They create a schedule for one day as president.
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Making a Magical Story
Fourth and fifth graders use their knowledge of developing character, dialogue, and setting to produce an original story. An excerpt from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is used as inspiration to get everyone's creative juices...
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Melba Pattillo and Ruby Bridges: Two Heroes of School Integration
Learners put themselves in the shoes of students who integrated Little Rock High School in 1957-58. Note: The primary resources in this activity provide powerful and poignant descriptions of what those students faced.
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An Autograph Book from Yesteryear
Students explore a school autograph book from the 1880s and create a contemporary version of it. They imitate the style of the autograph book entries as they write thoughtful text and rhymes.
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Designing a Crew Exploration Vehicle
Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and an assortment of...
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A BIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY: USING THE LITTLE PRINCE TO EXPLORE BIOGRAPHY & CREAIVE WRITING
Learners integrate Author and Biography study with Students personal perspective. They make connections between research and creative writing. Learners enrich research and critical thinking skills. They encourage students to think about...
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Recreate the Race
Learners research and find the route of the Alaskan dog sled race.In this Iditarod race lesson students find the checkpoints for the Iditarod on a map. Learners research information in pairs about each one of the checkpoints. Students...
Crafting Freedom
Harriet Jabocs and Elizabeth Keckly: The Material and Emotional Realities of Childhood in Slavery
Through the journals written by Harriet Jacobs and Elizabeth Keckly, young readers gain insight into the lives of two enslaved children on nineteenth-century plantations.
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Determining the Existence of Gender Bias in Daily Tasks
Help your kids explore gender bias. Learners design and conduct a survey examining role responsibilities within families. They determine the percentage of responsibilities for males vs. females and graph the results. Then they analyze...
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Lewis and Clark
Students investigate Lewis and Clark. In this Lewis and Clark lesson, students search the Internet for information about Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. Students use maps to understand the explorations and decide which...
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Improve Your Spelling with the Visual Thesaurus
Using Visual Thesaurus software, class members participate in a computer-based spelling bee. Then they work in groups to analyze the words and use deductive reasoning to infer spelling patterns. They then present one of their "rules" to...
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Working on the Slant
Compare and contrast a major news story from various newspapers. How does the perspective change? Are certain things included in some of the stories and left out of others? Have pupils complete a graphic organizer to compare how...
ReadWriteThink
Literature Circles: Getting Started
Make reading more enjoyable and interactive with literature circles! Here you'll find detailed lessons to begin the literature circle process. Ten lessons introduce each role learners take on. Literature circle roles include...
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The Amazing Maud Lewis
Students investigate cultural art from Canada by reading about Maud Lewis. In this Canadian history lesson, students identify the work of Lewis by visiting her magazine website. Students identify other heroes in Nova Scotia before...
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Outlining Essays (Grades 3-6)
Students brainstorm story idea in preparation of writing an expressive essay. They study how to outline essays to assist them in writing an expressive essay. Each students conclusion should summarize their main idea and restate their...
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Writing First Drafts (Grades 3-6)
Students examine, experience and practice strategies that assist students in writing an expressive essay. They outline and then write a first draft of an essay to be edited and proofed and then corrected. Each student adds a visual prop...
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Language Arts: Lewin Project
Fourth graders read and respond to the poem, "When I Am Angry." They complete surveys by analyzing the most common feeling and draw a bar graph of their behavior, using different colors to identify the duration of various feelings. ...
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Better Vocabulary Through Derivatives
Learners create a word tree poster that illustrates the way a root word can serve as the basis for many related terms. Although designed for a Latin language class, the concepts here could be used with any class study of Latin or Greek...