Curated OER
Identifying Setting: Expository Writing
Your class can take turns describing a well know location or setting without giving its name, and the rest of the class can try to identify the location, based on the details given. They chart the elements that helped in the...
Curated OER
Celebrate Saint Partick's Day in The Langauage Arts Classroom
Ideas and activities to engage learners in the history and culture of St. Patrick's Day.
Curated OER
Rediscovering Your Favorite Comic Book Heroes
Connect comic books to the classroom curriculum and open up a world of opportunities.
Curated OER
Narrative Writing vs. Explanatory Writing
The class discusses the different purposes an author has for writing. The focus of the discussion is on writing to tell a true story and writing to give information about a specific topic. There are writing purpose sorting cards embedded...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Alexander Graham Bell
Study the features of nonfiction text with a set of comprehension and analysis materials. Readers learn about Alexander Graham Bell with questions about the text, writing prompts, and proofreading activities.
Appalachian State University
What Are Graphic Novels?
To do this engaging and pleasurable activity, your learners should have already read a graphic novel, and produced a piece of writing that can be reproduced into the format of a graphic novel. This exercise provides a script that...
Curated OER
New Perspectives
Eighth graders imagine they are getting ready to "take off." They may imagine themselves in any type of aircraft or spaceship. They may then sketch themselves as passengers anticipating this moment.
Curated OER
Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music
Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...
Curated OER
The Map Cartouche
Learners discuss the history and purpose of cartouches. They examine examples of cartouches and design an original example with symbols of their choosing.
Curated OER
Multimedia Book Report
Young readers plan and draft a book report focusing on the five key components of a novel: plot, character, setting, conflict, and theme. After completing a story board, pupils then prepare a PowerPoint book report that is shown to the...
Curated OER
Extreme Poetry Vocabulary
Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...
Curated OER
"Knot" the Whole Truth: Writing a Modern-Day Story with a Tall Tale's Voice
Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast: Literary Analysis
Great for a reading intervention or remedial Language Arts class, this instructional activity uses two stories from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III ("Terri Jackson" and "Mary Lou" to reinforce note-taking skills, story elements,...
Curated OER
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
A thorough lesson introduces learners to Hans Christian Andersen, the nineteenth-century author who created wonderful tales. They read the original texts of several of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid,"...
Curated OER
Assignment # 1: Merry-Go-Round Story
Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...
Curated OER
Learning About the Kumeyaay Indians
Third graders research the Native American nation of Kumeyaay. Scholars use the internet to research past history. Through email, 3rd graders communicate with a Kumeyaay child to discover life on a present day reservation. They create a...
Curated OER
Heraldry and Biography
Help learners discover more about their backgrounds. This family history activity includes links to sites about heraldry and family names. Begin by sharing your family history with the class and then allow students to do some internet...
Curated OER
Puerto Rico: The 51st State?
Students explore Puerto Rico. For this Puerto Rico current events lesson, students conduct a Webquest to answer questions about Puerto Rico's culture. Students discuss whether Puerto Rico is a country or a state, and defend...
Curated OER
Narratives
Add to the narrative writing experience. Elementary or middle school writers listen to the teacher read a descriptive passage, then reread the same passage silently. They highlight sensory details and figurative language, then orally...
Brethren High School
Romanticism Through the Eyes of Art, Poetry, and Technology
Use this simple collaborative activity to introduce the definition, art, and poetry of romanticism. Educators will have to provide the poetry, images of the art, and the survey for the learners, but by using this resource, they won't...
Curated OER
Raising the Titanic
Ninth graders research the history of a person who was aboard the Titanic and write about the part he/she played in the world's greatest maritime disaster.
Curated OER
50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
Students examine a poster of Brown v. Board of Education and discuss what the important details are. They read the story behind the poster and court case. They role play different sections of the case such as the court case or Linda...
Curated OER
Music Around the World: United Nations Week
Students discover the United Nations through the use of musical examples and performance. This two day lesson requires two forty-five minute sections and delivers information about different cultures around the world. Emphasis is on...
Curated OER
Off the Hook Books
Students complete a survey that gives their teacher an idea of their reading habits and favorite books. The teacher will use the survey in order to build a classroom library that appeals to all students.