ReadWriteThink
Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath: A Multigenre Project
Challenge readers of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to create a museum exhibit that uses artifacts to focus on one issue raised by the award winning story of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the Joads.
Curated OER
Face Study: Draw the Other Half
Build fine motor, spatial, and drawing skills by having the class complete the other half of a portrait. They choose an image of a face from a magazine, then attempt to draw the other half of the face as accurately as they can. Two book...
Curated OER
Art Tape Amusement Parks
In need of a quick way to get rid of extra art tape? This simple idea describes how learners can use it to create mini amusement parks. They'll form the tape into roller coasters, cars, and people with a little imagination and creative...
Curated OER
Macbeth
Students explore and analyze how to approach Shakespeare and create more meaning in a variety of contexts. In groups, they imagine three witches on the heath and trying to play it straight. They study various script extracts to evaluate.
Curated OER
Creating Plays from Children's Stories
Students explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.
Curated OER
"Such Affection Move": Finding Staging Clues in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Students perform various scenes from the play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. They examine and discuss the text and stage directions, then perform their scenes in small groups for the class.
Curated OER
Create a Playbill!
Students examine the variety of elements for a written play and create a playbill. They read about and define literary elements on a worksheet, and participate in a dramatic reading. Each student then creates and publishes a playbill.
Curated OER
Do Touch!
Students explore the sense of touch. They investigate unknown solids using the sense of touch. Pupils use their senses of touch to match feely gloves. Students explore body parts, by tracing their hands and feet on paper. They create a...
Curated OER
Sam Samurai
Students study the history and culture of 17th century Japan by examining samurai. They review the format of haiku poetry and examine renga poetry. They examine Kamishibai, the Japanese storytelling form and apply it five facts they...
Curated OER
In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning
Students explore poetry by completing a webquest in which they hear poets reading their own work. Later, they examine the dramatic impact of reading poetry out loud. Finally, they practice reading poetry aloud and performing.
Curated OER
Mad About Parts of Speech
Eighth graders review and use the different parts of speech using Mad Libs or Web Libs. They also utilize creative writing skills by providing the most interesting word(s) for the story line. They utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan.
Curated OER
A Monster's World
Study African American inventor Jan Ernst Matzeliger and create imaginary monsters using texture.
Curated OER
MAKE A PINATA
Students create a sculpture with a theme using a balloon and flour and water paste.
Curated OER
Santa Countdown Calendar
Students draw Santa's face on white paper, add color construction paper for his hat, and use the beard section for a "countdown calender" until the end of the month in this creative December activity. Each day another cotton ball is...
Curated OER
Mirror Image
Second graders create and act out mirror images of their partners and the movements they make. They focus on spatial awareness skills associated with this activity, including exercising in large and small movements. Students observe...
Curated OER
Puerto Rican Parrot Paradise
Learners investigate the environment of the Puerto Rican Parrot. They visualize the ecosystem with and without information. They conduct research to find information and participate in classroom discussion to demonstrate comprehension of...
Curated OER
What's In A Name
Second graders read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. They then discuss where various names come from. They create a individualized biopoem and publish it on word processing software. Their poems are compiled into a class book and presented...
Curated OER
Patriotic Arts: Influencing Canadians At War
Students study how war has shaped Canadian life, patriotism, propaganda, and music. They research primary source documents, novels, videos, and songs before celebrating Remembrance Day.
Shakespeare in American Life
Performing Modernized Shakespeare
“All the world’s a stage…” What do Leonardo DiCaprio, Heath Ledger, and Kenneth Branagh have in common? They have all starred in modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. After viewing a series clips from modern Shakespeare videos,...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...
Curated OER
The Tone Map
Poems are meant to be heard. Hearing a poem being read enriches one’s understanding of the tone and mood of the piece. Introduce your class to the sounds of poetry with a packet that not only details how to use poetry recordings in the...
Curated OER
Create a Playbill!
Seventh graders explore the various elements found in the advertisement of a dramatic experience. Playbills are created that reflect the plot without revealing the climax of the play. Costumes, set construction, and character description...
Curated OER
Literary Terms: Take Me to the Theater!
Take your class to the theater! First graders will examine characters that actors play such a villians and heroes. Then participate in creating plays and performing in them. They will also research what it takes to create scenery, props...
Curated OER
Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...