National Endowment for the Humanities
A Wrinkle in Time: The Board Game
Tackle some big questions about A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle with a board game project. As learners brainstorm for and complete their board games, they consider what helps and hinders Meg on her journey and why she succeeds in...
Curated OER
Theatrical Economics
Read then role-play the characters from story of If You Give A Pig a Pancake. Young actors use improvisation and characterization to create the characters from the story. They will also write and role play original version of the...
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Drama: Learn A Lesson from the Lion
Reading is reading, whether it's for drama or English class. Boost reading fluency, accuracy, intonation, and comprehension while fostering creative acting skills. Kids read the provided tale of "The Lion and the Mouse" several times in...
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Making the Old New Again
How does a new version of a Shakespearean play change in the adaptation process? Use this New York Times' Learning Network lesson to consider texts that have been produced in different media. Middle schoolers examine the latest...
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The Dracula Game
Learners discuss ways in which the story "Dracula" can be viewed in terms of a board game. After discussion, groups create and illustrated game board, pieces, and written rules for their own version of The Dracula Game. Groups provide...
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Scene Writing
Eighth graders create an original scene or short one-act play within specified guidelines. Assessment is based upon the performance of student-created scenes during class time. Rubrics for assessment and connection to state standards...
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Graphs, Stories, And Games
For this graphs lesson, students read stories and present story situations on a graph. They explore distance and diameter and explain graphs. Students create their own stories to fit graphs.
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Shadow Play
Students investigate shadows. For this shadows and technology lesson, students listen to the book Ten Grouchy Groundhogs or Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day! and discuss how shadows are made. Students match objects to their...
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Caution: Thin ice!
Sixth graders listen to story and respond with comments or questions. They brainstorm unsafe behaviors and randomly fill out templates with different risky behaviors listed on the board. They play RISKO, the Bingo type game.
Roald Dahl
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Follow up a reading of The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl with this collaborative lesson on teamwork. Starting with a fun team game, learners go on to investigate examples of teamwork in the story before...
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Winter Clothing
After listening to a reading of The Snowy Day, by Era Jack Keats, language learners use a SMART board and drag the appropriate vocabulary word to the correct clothing article. They then record and illustrate the new vocabulary words in...
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"Tis The Season" Bulletin Board
Students study the months and seasons by bringing in an item that represent the season the their birthday occurs in. They either write or dictate at least one sentence about the object and how it represents the season. Using their...
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The Ogre Bully
Second graders read the story The Ogre Bully and complete language arts activities connected to the story. In this language arts lesson plan, 2nd graders complete activities including discussion, reading, writing, sequencing, analyzing,...
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Students engage in activities that extend Eric Carle's story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In this The Very Hungry Caterpillar lesson plan, students use felt boards, dramatic play, calendars and egg carton creations, to expand on the...
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The Story of Kwanzaa
Celebrate Kwanzaa with a game of Kalah, also known as Mankala or Owara. Using an egg carton and a set of beans, players take all of the beans out of one of his or her cups and move to the right, dropping one bean into each of the...
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Literature Board Games
High schoolers create board games out of pieces of literature they have read. They work together to develop rules and elements of the game. They are to use as many elements of the story as possible. They play each game as a class.
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Brown v. the Board of Education
Students explain the history of race discrimination in the US and about the Brown vs the Board of Education trial.
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Sequencing Life Cycles and Daily Activities
First graders sequence story situations. In this sequencing lesson, 1st graders read Charlie the Caterpillar and sequence his life cycle. Students role play the story parts and sing a song about metamorphosis.
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"Tis The Season" Bulletin Board
Pupils explore a variety of objects which represent the various seasons as a preparation for writing about their birthday and the season in which it is located.
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 2: Systems of Equations and Inequalities
The brother-sister pair Carlos and Clarita need your class's help in developing their new pet sitting business. Through a variety of scenarios and concerns presented to the siblings, the learners thoroughly explore systems of equations...
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Casting Doubt: "Color-blind" and Nontraditional Casting Decisions
In his article about color-blind casting entitled, "Willy Loman Is Lost, Still Looking for Stimulus Plan and Some Dignity," Charles Isherwood quotes August Wilson as saying, "To mount an all-black production of a 'Death of a...
Desert Discoveries
Who Depends on the Saguaro?
Young scientists design a picture of a saguaro cactus that shows the cactus and some of the animals and plants that interact with it. There are many of these special relationships between plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. Your...
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Introduce Vocabulary: Firefighters
Students explore language arts by reading a book with their class. For this story vocabulary lesson, students read the book Firefighters and identify the use of specific vocabulary words. Students define the selected vocab words and...
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Green is Beautiful
Students explore the need to care for the environment and the ways in which their actions can impact their surroundings. They play a board game to illustrate the need to protect the environment.