Curated OER
5-4-3-2-1 Blast Off To Reading
Students practice reading with fluency by rereading texts to increase their speed. They listen to the teacher model fluent, smooth, and expressive oral reading. They then work in a small group reading orally and self-assessing their...
Curated OER
Tunes for Bears to Dance to: Graphic Organizer Strategy
"What are Henry's options?" "What do you think Henry will do?" To better understand the central conflict for the main character in Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to, class members engage in a compare-and-contrast activity that...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its own...
Novelinks
The House on Mango Street: Letters/Unsent Letters
Class members conclude their reading of The House on Mango Street with an assignment that asks them to compose letters to characters using their own voices or that of another character in Cisneros' story.
Novelinks
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Magic Square Vocabulary
After reading chapter one of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, take part in a magic square vocabulary activity in which scholars match the term with its definition and insert its corresponding number in to the magic square...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Book Review Writing: a Guide for Young Reviewers
Encourage scholars to share their love of reading with informative and engaging book reviews. Here, you'll find a series of guides that walk learners through the review writing process. Included in the collection is information about...
University of Houston
Personal Narratives: Writing, Revising, and Publishing (WRAP)
Writing is a process, and lesson planning is, too! A personal narrative unit stresses the writing process to pupils, who first examine various stories and poems as a model of autobiographical writing and then write their own stories....
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
The Writer’s Toolbox: What You Need to Master the Craft
Strengthen your high schoolers' writing with a series of steps for writing successfully. With sections on organizing an essay, choosing a topic, crafting a thesis statement, and revising a draft, the lesson encourages your class to...
K12 Reader
Apprentice System
As a reading comprehension exercise, kids examine a short article on the apprentice system, and then use information found in the text to respond to a series of comprehension questions.
Novelinks
The Tempest: QAR
Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer can...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency, Letter-Sound Correspondence, Make a Match
An activity tests the fluency skills of young readers. Scholars match initial sound cards to letter cards. Pairs take turns and work to locate the most matches before the timer goes off. The activity ends with a peer evaluation.
Novelinks
Tuesdays with Morrie: Anticipation Guide
To generate interest in Tuesdays with Morrie, class members respond to an anticipation guide that highlights many of the major issues address by Mitch Albom's story.
E Reading Worksheets
Fact and Opinion - Worksheet: 5
After reading 25 sentences, individuals decide if they are facts or opinions. Then, they explain their answer in a supporting sentence.
Curated OER
Self Advocacy
Learners develop the skills necessary to advocate for themselves through adulthood. Through class discussion and creative projects, students create a portrait of themselves as adults. They develop an action plan for their adult years and...
Curated OER
The Real Me!
Fourth graders examine and explain who they are and communicate that person to the viewer through the use of the visual arts. They think about themselves and try to find five things that represent who they are and what they feel is...
Curated OER
All About Me Museum
Students investigate the concept of self-esteem and image with the creation of a personal display of items of significance. They put together a project composed of pictures and writings to describe themselves and are assessed according...
Curated OER
American Dragon: Jake Long
Young scholars, after viewing the film "American Dragon," by Jake Long, explore and analyze the importance of legends and the unique cultures others grow up in. They stress the need for having a good self-esteem and assess how to work...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing-10 Strategies for Engaging the Reader
Fifth graders discuss what narrative writing represents. For this language arts lesson, 5th graders review the ten strategies for engaging reader. Students listen to and read good examples of each strategyand write engaging beginnings in...
Curated OER
I Did It!
Second graders choose a "positive work habit name" and explain why they choose the selected name. They share self-assessment information about their work habits and progress from week to week. Students respond with, "I did it" anytime...
Curated OER
Social Studies: All about Me
Students collect information about themselves and their favorite things. Each month they add information in the form of reflections demonstrating growth in self esteem and self evaluation. At the end of the sachool year, students...
Curated OER
The Art of Making Letters
Students explore letter formation through art. They analyze and discuss Jasper Johns letter paintings, and create the letter strokes using various colors and torn paper.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
It’s Greek to Me: Greek Mythology
It's no myth: this packet on Greek mythology is an excellent addition to your social studies curriculum. With writing activities, such as short answer responses and biopoems, and reading activities, which include creation stories and...
Curated OER
Perseverance: Keep Going
Kids evaluate world history events that show perseverance by creating artistic images. They investigate historic photographs and images which conjure up the feelings of perseverance, then utilize acrylic paints to capture the essence of...
Curated OER
Michelle Kwan: Heart of a Champion
Who is a champion to your class? Elementary and middle schoolers think of a role-model from their lives. Then, in their journals, they write evidence of that person's perseverance. They identify the character trait of perseverance with...