Novelinks
The Devil’s Arithmetic: Personal Narrative Assignment
How can an unfamiliar place help you learn something about yourself? Use a narrative writing prompt as you culminate your unit on Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic. Kids consider the ways that, like the main character from the novel,...
Curated OER
Family History Through Art
Students discuss various ways families and communities pass down oral and visual art forms to younger generations. This multi-subject introductory lesson prepares students to create a project about their own families.
Teaching Tolerance
Collage of Concerns
A picture can speak louder than words. An interesting lesson introduces the themes of social justice and diversity to young learners by having them create artwork. Scholars create collages from a variety of sources to showcase what...
Curated OER
What is a Philanthropist?
What does a philanthropist do? Help your class explore philanthropy using character development and literacy ideas. Learners will define and give examples of philanthropy, listen to The Lion and the Mouse, discuss how the characters help...
Novelinks
Lord of the Flies: Outlining and Begin Drafting
Help young writers with the daunting prospect of a five-paragraph essay. Using William Golding's Lord of the Flies, learners work through a short process to shore up their brainstorming and prepare to write a longer essay.
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Analyzing an Informational Text about a Refugee Experience
Refugee & Immigrant Transitions is an organization that helps newcomers adjust to life in the United States through education and community leadership opportunities. As part of a mid-unit assessment, pupils independently read a...
Bright Hub Education
Teaching "Gone with the Wind" in High School: Ideas & Activities
Plan on using Gone with the Wind as a reading selection? Here's a packet of prompts for activities and assessments.
Curated OER
Bullying in Schools: A Package of Stories
Learners conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions and by posing problems and gather, evaluate and synthesize data from a variety of sources to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their...
New York City Department of Education
Poetry…Do I Dare?
Whether you're considering a poetry unit or just want to incorporate more poetry in your curriculum, this unit plan is a must-have. Packed with poems, teaching points, powerful prompts, and poetry performance suggestions, the resource is...
Curated OER
Critical Thinking & Writing: Brainstorming
Have your young writers organize their thoughts before writing. They generate ideas through various brainstorming activities prior to writing a mock feature news story for USA Today. A series of USA Today articles debating the level of...
Curated OER
Prewriting Web
To accomplish great things, and to produce great essays, writers plan. Introduce your young writers to the prewriting stage of the writing process with a template that asks them to brainstorm and list as many ideas as possible....
Curated OER
ELA Unit Planning Template Style One
Work with your department or on your own to create organized unit plans that connect to all parts of the Common Core standards. The three-page template includes space to summarize the unit, list standards for each category of the ELA...
EngageNY
Practicing Structures for Reading: Gathering Evidence about Salva’s and Nya’s Points of View (Reread Chapter 3)
How does an author develop and contrast character points of view in a work of literature? Using a graphic organizer, readers continue gathering evidence about character point of view from Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water. Next,...
Curated OER
Rhetorical Devices in a Primary Source
Analyze Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous and powerful "I Have a Dream" speech as a primary source document. After reading up on rhetorical devices and working in small groups to define terms, class members identify and explain the use of...
K12 Reader
Write About It: The Leprechaun’s Wishes
What would you wish for if a leprechaun were to grant you three wishes? This is the question posed in a St. Patrick's Day writing activity.
Curated OER
Stories
Read, discuss, and write short stories with your primary class. They read a short story and complete worksheets for the story. They also brainstorm ideas for a class story and choose an idea to write 3 ideas and then write the story as a...
Curated OER
Creature Feature Poetry Keyword Search!
Young scholars examine the differences between fact and opinion, and brainstorm ideas for a keyword list by analyzing facts. They listen to poems, and create posters listing three keywords about each creature featured in the poetry.
Curated OER
Word of the Day
Students use Internet to research definition of an assigned vocabulary word, and brainstorm ideas for how to teach the new word to classmates in an innovative way using a digital format.
Curated OER
Media Violence - The Good, the Bad and the Future
Third graders define, identify, measure, and assess the level and impact of violence in media. The media forms evaluated include music, sitcoms, news, and other programs that are identified and shared by the class.
Creative Competitions, Inc.
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Fantastic Fairy Tale
Learning about literature can be so much fun; it can also be made more accessible through projects and dramatic play. As they explore theme, character, and setting, the class gets creative and makes a dramatic recreation of a classic...
Curated OER
Organizing Ideas
Students organize facts into categories and list the structure of a five-paragraph essay. They identify the main idea and outline the supporting details. In the class, students discuss how they organized their ideas and begin drafting...
Curated OER
Peace Brainstorming Activity
Learners study the topic of peace and use brainstorming techniques to create a clustering diagram. In this peace brainstorming activity, students organize brainstorming material to complete a writing assignment. Learners create their own...
Curated OER
Developing a Topic for Writing Using an Idea Web
Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...
Curated OER
Moral Development in Camus' The Stranger
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” Readers of The Stranger rate Mersault’s moral development (or lack thereof) using Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development scale. Using specific...