Curated OER
Sand Painting
Students design and create Navajo Sand Paintings using sand, powdered tempera paints, and basic art supplies in this Art lesson for elementary classrooms. The history behind sand paintings can be included with this lesson for a complete...
Media Smarts
Teaching TV: Enjoying Television
What makes a TV program enjoyable? As an introduction to media analysis, kids identify their favorite programs and the elements they find engaging.
Curated OER
Brazilian Animals
Students research the animals of Brazil. For this animal science lesson, students locate Brazil on a map and discuss the types of animals that can live in its tropical climate. They research a Brazilian Carnaval and see the roll the...
Curated OER
From Formal To Slang
Tenth graders define the term slang, explaining its various social, historical, and racial contexts, so as to articulate when it can be appropriately used as a means of effective communication. They use their own personal slang lexicon,...
Curated OER
Sonnet Explication
Learners analyze close readings of poems, looking up words in the dictionary, and discussing the major parts of dictionary definitions, including word origin and parts of speech. They examine sonnets, then compare/contrast their findings.
Curated OER
Uniform Design
Learners investigate the military by examining their uniforms. In this design lesson, students analyze the military uniforms from different locations and time periods. Learners create new ideas for current military uniforms.
Curated OER
Writing to Argue
Students analyze speeches for or against continued military presence in Iraq. In this writing to argue lesson, students listen to speeches given before Parliament to identify rhetorical devices used. Students compare techniques used and...
Curated OER
Show, Don't Tell: Details to Make Writing Come Alive
After each of three viewings of a 45-second video, aspiring writers employ vivid adjectives and precise, strong verbs to "show, don't tell." First they compose a single sentence, then three, and finally a five-sentence paragraph. Repeat...
Curated OER
Literacy Lesson: Guided Reading
Here is a wonderful instructional activity designed for students with special needs. This well-thought-out instructional activity uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping...
Curated OER
How to Write an Essay: Secondary ed.
Whether introducing the structure of expository essays or reviewing the format with your high schoolers, take the time to check out this resource. Examples of seven common forms of introductory paragraphs and six types of conclusions, as...
Curated OER
Holiday Poetry and Music
Students discuss Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and family traditions. After brainstorming how holidays are celebrated, students write a poem about a chosen holiday and create their own hand-made instrument. They share their poems...
Curated OER
Letter A Word Search
Here's a great way to practice handwriting and word recognition. In this letter identification lesson, learners identify eight words with pictures to help them learn vocabulary and reading skills as they use lowercase letters to complete...
Growing Minds
Lettuce Exploration
Kathy Henderson’s book And the Good Brown Earth introduces the class to how a vegetables grows and changes over time. They use different types of lettuce to do a close study of this quick-growing vegetable. Learners consider the look,...
Appalachian State University
Literacy Genres
Expand on eager bookworms' independent reading by engaging them to define various genres of literature. Readers collaborate and use technology to find what goes into their assigned or previously read genres. Time is given for independent...
Gobal Oneness Project
Passionate Pursuits
Not all technology is digital. Teach learners about the low-tech maker movement with a photo essay about six artisans from California and two articles about the local creator movement. After tackling the photo essay in small groups,...
Curated OER
Recycled Lid Ornament
Students create a keepsake ornament out of recycled plastic lids and other household items.
Curated OER
Ugly Bug/Snuggly Bug
Students demonstrate an understanding of rhyming words by creating buggy pictures and a sentence containing rhyming words. They listen to the story, 'Creepy Beetles,' then engage in an activity where they identify the rhyming words.
Curated OER
China: Dim Sum: Sand Painting: Mandalas Lesson
Students discover the art form of mandalas and create their own sand paintings. In the process, students explore the history of this art form in Tibetan culture.
Curated OER
Ladybug Leaf
Students employ a literary hook to promote number and color mastery through a hands-on craft experience. They participate in a mini-lesson on ladybugs. Students encounter what they are, what they look like and what do they eat.
Curated OER
Design a Theme Park
Students examine pieces of art by Alice Adams. They discuss what they see in the paintings. In groups, they design their own piece of playground equipment.
Curated OER
Follow One Step Directions From Peers
Middle schoolers practice taking directions from their peers during group activities. With teachers, they practice the directions and then gradually start practicing with their mainstream friends. They are given marks on a chart noting...
Curated OER
The Letter Dd
Young scholars explore the concept of the letter Dd. In this letter recognition lesson, students are engulfed with items, movement, and music that begin with the letter Dd. Young scholars create crafts that help them learn and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Biographers
High schoolers research biographical facts about Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce and complete literary analysis activities. In this biographical lesson plan, students research basic biographical facts about Poe and Bierce. High...
Curated OER
Egyptian Masks
Ninth graders investigate the different types of Egyptian art including relief sculpture, sculpture in the round, and Egyptian architecture. They view and discuss pictures of Egyptian sarcophagi and compare them with current day coffins...