Curated OER
"Archeology Dig"
Learners simulate archaeologists as they dig through a bag with found items in order to arrive at conclusions about the people they are studying.
Curated OER
Chinese New Year
Students complete a variety of activities as they study Chinese New Year and the Chinese Zodiac. They act out a story of the Chinese Zodiac. They make several crafts including Chinese lanterns and paper fortune cookies.
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Lincoln: A Photobiography
Students read Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the life of Abraham Lincoln, including, but not limited to, the Civil War. Included are reading, art, math,...
Curated OER
Seeing the World in New Ways
Students examine the Muslim culture in Morocco. For this global studies lesson, students read Three Lessons by Craig Storti. Students compare the culture of Morocco to their own as they write stories pertaining to lessons they have...
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Students read an autobiography of a peace corps volunteer studying Chinese. In this cultural acceptance lesson, students compare the dialects of Chinese with English dialects. Students discuss the differences in learning and teaching a...
Curated OER
Literary Tour of California via Podcast
Young scholars explore California's authors and their lives. In this author study, students research different authors from California. They create podcasts about their authors, walking the audience through the author's life and points...
Sharp School
The Bill of Rights and Supreme Court Cases Project
Social media and United States history combine as your young historians design a Facebook page for two major defendants of landmark Supreme Court cases. The resource includes a detailed rubric for research and page design, as well as a...
Global Oneness Project
A Collapsing City Skyline
Have your high schoolers learn about the modern history of Myanmar by close-reading an article about the city and people of the city Yangon. As they'll learn, the country is going through some dramatic transitions. After reading the...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Understanding Theme
The ninth in a fourteen-lesson series, this plan marks a sort of midpoint in a unit devoted to the study of short stories. Pupils learn about theme and work on their short story projects by adding to their blogs, checking in with the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Christopher Paul Curtis
Introduce your readers to the famous author, Christopher Paul Curtis in this literature PowerPoint. They are introduced to the author, and two of his books: The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963, and Bud, Not Buddy. This presentation would...
Curated OER
Can you Prove it?
Tenth graders examine how primary source documents help authors and museum curators interpret historic events. In this social studies lesson plan, 10th graders research primary source documents. Students create a powerpoint to present...
Curated OER
The Lives of the People: To Understand the People is to Understand the Times
Students examine the time period of the Great Depression. Using primary source documents, they read excerpts of interviews done by author Studs Terkel for one of his books. They practice interviewing their partner in front of the class...
Curated OER
Epitaphs
"Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy to appear here." Here lies an interesting slide show that defines an epitaph and gives examples of the types of prose, quotes, and information found on famous head stones. Tip:...
Curated OER
The Study of Theme and Figurative Language in Poetry and/or Prose
Identify and analyze the use of figurative language used in select pieces of writing. These pieces of literature will represent at least two pieces by one writer and at least two pieces by different writers. This lesson plan would be a...
Curriculum Corner
Fairy Tale Unit of Study
What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale? Use a 27-page packet to supplement your next fairy tale unit. With sequencing activities, story map worksheets, character analyses and story elements graphic organizers, and fairy tale highlight...
Achievement Strategies
CCSS Unpacked Learning Targets for Reading and Writing History/Social Studies
How do all the lessons and activities you have planned for your class align to Common Core State Standards? This can feel like a very daunting question. Help ease the process by referencing a template that not only lists and organizes...
Media Smarts
The Broadcast Project
As part of a unit on media studies, kids are asked to chart their viewing habits, observe the advertising that sponsors their favorite shows, and then to imagine what they would broadcast if given a block of airtime.
Curated OER
Who Fought for the Union?
Learners read New York Times articles, letters, and listen to songs written from a soldier's perspective during the Civil War in order to understand who was fighting in the Union Army. This is a great lesson, complete with weblinks,...
Curated OER
The Night Before Thanksgiving
Natasha Wing's story The Night Before Thanksgiving is a great way to incorporate rhyme and literature into the Thanksgiving season. Learners make text-to-self connections, recall main events, and choose post-reading activities from an...
Chandler Unified School District
Frankly Speaking: Exploring Benjamin Franklin's Aphorisms
Benjamin Franklin famously had an aphorism for every situation—most of which we still use in modern vernacular. Introduce class members to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack with a presentation that details the characteristics of aphorisms.
Curated OER
Rediscovering Forgotten Women Writers
Women's voices are becoming more prominent in the world of literature, but for centuries, this wasn't the case. Young historians research a woman whose writings are considered to be lost, out of print, or forgotten. They develop an oral...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Days 8 and 9
How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...
Annenberg Foundation
Gothic Undercurrents
Terror, mystery, excitement. American writers of the 19th century, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson, used these elements to create morally ambiguous tales that challenged the prevailing belief in...
Curated OER
Study History through Journal Keeping
Journal writing can be a fun way to bring history to life. Upper graders read a series of journals from the time of the westward expansion, specifically the pioneer journey along the Oregon Trail. They compose an ongoing journal from the...