Curated OER
Confetti Eggs
Students create a confetti filled egg. In this art lesson students use multiple steps to decorate and fill an egg. The result is an egg that has been hollowed, filled with confetti, and has a decorated shell. The students break them open...
Curated OER
Making Nests
Second graders explore the lives of birds by researching their natural habitats. In this nest building lesson, 2nd graders investigate the craft of making a bird nest and discuss their useful qualities for the animals. Students utilize...
Curated OER
Go Fish!
Pupils practice their reading comprehension by participating in a fictional fishing exercise. In this children's literature lesson, students read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss, and discuss the characteristics...
Student Handouts
Station Signs
Keep this resource handy for all your learning center and station needs! Whether you have just a few or 20 stations, these printables will clearly indicate each stop along the activity and help keep your learners on track.
Curated OER
Mayflower Craft
Students create a Mayflower craft object. In this visual arts lesson, students cut out sails and waves from construction paper and glue Popsicle sticks to the sails.
Curated OER
What's Outside the Window
What do your students see when they look outside the window? This project lets their imagination go wild, and lets you see what kind of daydreaming they do best. They each draw, paint, and color an image of what they imagine as they are...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Inside Out Fun!
It's amazing what you can do with a little bit of soap, baking soda, and corn starch. Follow the directions in this packet, mix up a batch of fun, and turn young scientists and artists loose to experiment and create chalk, paint, and...
Curated OER
Night: Unsent Letters Writing Strategy
As part of their study of Elie Wiesel's Night, individuals assume the voice of an Auschwitz survivor and craft a letter to a former SS officer who worked at the camp and claims he is not guilty of any crime.
K12 Reader
Identify the Antonym
What happens to a sentence when you replace a word with its antonym? A two-part instructional activity asks learners to select words opposite in meaning to provided words, and then to craft sentences using antonyms for given words.
Curated OER
The Gift of Gatsby
A reading of “Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers,” a New York Times article by Sara Rimer, triggers a discussion of the American Dream and what it means to strive for something. Following the discussion, class members...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Story Impression
Craft your own fairy tale based on Momotaro, a Japanese story referenced in Kyoko Mori's Shuzuko's Daughter. A list of nouns guide learners in writing their own story, and predicting what might happen in the novel.
Have Fun Teaching
Making Inferences Special Night (12)
Young writers will enjoy clowning around with this worksheet that asks them to use clues in Katie's story to infer what is happening. Careful readers won't be tricked. The activity is a real treat.
California Shakespeare Theater
Hamlet Teacher's Guide
Even those experienced teachers of Hamlet can find much to like in a guide that offers many fresh ideas for activities. Class members may take on the role of FBI profilers that investigate Claudius and Hamlet as murderers, or...
Pace University
Short Stories
A reading of Kevin Lamb's short story "Lost in the Woods" launches a study of how writers use elements such as foreshadowing, mood, character development, setting, and conflict to engage readers. Class members then demonstrate what they...
Curated OER
With Detective Fiction in the Urban Classroom
This abstract for an instructional unit using three-minute mysteries, stories by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe includes a short history of detective fiction, sample plans, and suggestions for exercises and activities...
Curated OER
Crafts, From Gallery to Classroom: Landscape Painting with James Palmersheim
Young scholars create their own landscape paintings. Students will learn various techniques to create an effective foreground, middleground, and background.
Scholastic
Developing a Main Character
Asking kids to craft their own stories? Get them starting with a character planning sheet that asks them to identify the character's likes and dislikes, his or her strengths and fears, a goal the character wants to achieve, and...
Curated OER
Setting the Story: Techniques for Creating a Realistic Setting
“It was a dark and stormy night.” Thus begins the 1830's novel Paul Clifford and, of course, all of Snoopy’s novels! Encourage young writers to craft settings for their stories that go beyond Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s often-mocked phrase...
Curated OER
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Poems for Two Voices
"That man is not truly one, but truly two." The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde offers readers a change to craft a poem combining words and phrases from Robert Lewis Stevenson's novella to create a poem...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Letter to a Character
Readers of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida place themselves in the story and craft a persuasive letter to a character in Victor Martinez's National Book Award-winning novel.
Curated OER
The Glass Menagerie: Anticipation Guide
Readers are introduced to the key themes in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie by this carefully crafted anticipation guide. A great discussion starter.
Curated OER
The Little Prince: Problematic Situation
Your plane has crashed in the Sahara desert. What do you do? Explore the possibilities with a role-playing activity based on Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince. In groups, kids decide whether they would walk to find help...
Curated OER
Unwind: Anticipation Guide
After responding to a series of prompts on an anticipation guide, readers of Unwind craft five predictions about what will happen in Neal Shusterman's young adult science fiction novel.
Curated OER
The Mysterious Present
Even history can be the basis for the inquiry process. First, several images of a bowls and vessels used in Japanese tea ceremonies are examined. Then, the class crafts questions about the origin, purpose, and use of the items. They use...