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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Current Events

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore different countries, their locations, and their cultures. Using an encyclopedia, they locate the information, then write a report. Ultimately, they create a paper doll to represent their chosen country.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Left-to-Right Reading

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 
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Lesson Plan
2
2
Baylor College

Microbes and Disease

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Discuss how diseases have impacted human history. Divide your class into groups and assign each group one of the following: tuberculosis, malaria, plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. They read up on, complete a concept map, and present...
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Lesson Plan
National History Day

Why Did the United States Enter World War I in 1917?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
World War I was the first major conflict on a global scale. Using primary documents, learners determine why the United States chose to enter World War I when it did. After analytical writing and group research, the causes of America's...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 12

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mark Twain: Straddling the Civil War

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Home in the Desert: Lesson for Use with This House is Made of Mud

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders examine how a family modifies their environment to create a home out of mud. They read the book "This House is Made of Mud" by Ken Buchanan, and write a description of their own home that compares the home of mud to their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan: A Guided Tour

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Albert Bierstadt's painting Wind River Country shows viewers how a reader progresses through a story. Your class studies the light and dark areas, how the eye moves across the painting, and what attracts the audience to the work, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Swamps, Shrimp, and Tsunamis: A Simulation of Sustainable Development Issues in Coastal Ecuador

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers examine the economic benefits, environmental losses and dangers of the shrimp farming industry on the coast of Ecuador. They read a script, role-play people involved in the shrimp business, and write an essay of the pros...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Opinion through the Ages: Exploring 40 Years of New York Times Op-Eds

For Teachers 10th - 12th
What is the role of a newspaper's Op-Ed page? High schoolers explore the New York Times' "Op-Ed at 40," an interactive feature that lets them browse through 40 years worth of op-ed features, and consider the purpose and value of this...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dandelion Wine: Questioning Strategy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Readers of Dandelion Wine work in groups to develop questions on four levels (right there, think and search, the author and you, and on my own) about Chapter 34 of Ray Bradbury's reflection on the joys of summer. Groups jigsaw and then...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Grapes of Wrath: KWHL Strategy

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Before beginning The Grapes of Wrath, readers create a KWHL chart recording what they already know about the Dust Bowl, the author, and the book, what they want to know, and where they might find answers to these questions. After reading...
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Lesson Plan
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BioEd Online

Muscles and Bones in Space

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Being an astronaut takes not only high mental acuity, but also a high level of physical fitness, especially for those who spend a long amount of time away from Earth, such as the astronauts serving on the International Space Station....
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Lesson Plan
Baylor College

Energy for Life (Energy from Food)

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Energy comes in many forms, but how do living things get the energy they need to survive and thrive? In a simple, controlled experiment with yeast, water, and sugar, groups make observations about how yeast reacts with water alone, then...
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Lesson Plan
Novelinks

The House of the Scorpion: Request Strategy

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Readers of The House of the Scorpion try to stump their teacher in a QAR questioning game. Pairs craft Right There, Think and Search, On Your Own, and the Author and You questions and the class members then take turns responding to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Imagine That!

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Enter the fantastical world of  "Dungeons and Dragons" and other role-playing games with this instructional activity from The New York Times. Middle schoolers create the outline for a role-playing game based on their own community. Then,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Propaganda

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How does word choice affect the reading of a text? Compare two headlines that were written about the same event. Is one biased? Discuss how word choice often reveals the author's feelings about a topic. Then look at different techniques...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Speaking Out About Kosovo

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Invite your class to reflect on the responsibility of newspapers to act as vehicles for citizens to voice their opinions. Using an article to gain factual info. about gov't strategies in dealing with current events in Kosovo, students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Captions and Graphic Aides

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders read a book.  For this informational text features lesson, 5th graders define captions and their purpose.  Students view an article and discuss the graphic aides that assist comprehending the information presented. ...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Research a Poet and Explicate a Poem by that Poet

For Teachers 7th
Using your school's media center, internet research, and a SMART board, 7th graders research a chosen poet and write a research report. Additionally, 7th graders explicate one poem by the poet within their report. Several resource links...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Embodied Presidency

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders compare and contrast the immigration reform policies of Presidents Reagan and Bush. For this immigration lesson, 10th graders examine primary documents related to each president's policy for immigration reform. Students...
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Lesson Plan
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PBS

Copyright and Fair Use

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
When is using someone else's copyrighted material appropriate? Learn about copyright and fair use with a lesson from PBS.org. Scholars read through a reference sheet about authors' rights and users' rights, and then create posters for a...
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Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Founding Documents

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Teach the class about the predecessor to Declaration of Independence—the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Using the foundational documents, scholars examine the two writings to consider how they are similar and how they are different. A...