+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reading the Play

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...
+
Interactive
PBS

Exploring the Drive to Create in Frankenstein

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Is it hubris that drives the creative process? Is it the desire to be remembered long past death? An interactive asks readers of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Percy Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" to consider what this wife and...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
EngageNY

Point of View: Comparing Esperanza's and Isabel's Perspectives About Life in the Camp (Chapter 7: "Las Cebollas/Onions")

For Teachers 5th Standards
Explore point of view and more with a Common Core-designed instructional activity. Learners experience different points of view by representing one of two characters from Esperanza Rising during a partner discussion. They must use...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Reading Comprehension through Social Studies Readings

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Examine how immigrants have changed the environment of the United States. Individually, middle schoolers will take a pre- and post-test to assess their reading comprehension. In groups, they compare and contrast the religions of...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reading and Writing about the Solar System

For Teachers K - 2nd
A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this lesson which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our solar system, young...
+
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Crisscross” by Arthur Sze

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Arthur Sze's poem "Crisscross" launches a instructional activity that asks scholars to use their observation skills. They first draw an image that reflects what crisscross means to them. They then examine a photograph of a lightning...
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Gender in the Classroom by Deborah Tannen

For Students 10th - 12th
Bring some informational text into your high school classroom with this worksheet. As your pupils read Gender in the Classroom by Deborah Tannen, provide them with this analysis sheet. They study specific quotations and sections of the...
+
Lesson Plan
Federal Reserve Bank

Cotton in My Sack

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
As part of a study of saving choices and opportunity costs, class members listen to a reading of Lois Lenski's Cotton in My Sack, and then evaluate the spending choices made by the Hutley family.  
+
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Quotation Station: Using Quotes in the Classroom

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
An informative list compiled with quotes, authors, and discussion questions, along with 20 out-of-the-box application ideas, make up the collection of lessons geared to spark dialogue and creative thinking about quotations. 
+
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
A set of 14 primary sources provides background for a study of Lorraine Hansberry's drama, A Raisin in the Sun. Featured are images from stage productions of the play, white supremacy protests, a clip from a television interview, and...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Compare and Contrast Two Books

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Help your middle school readers recognize the elements of fiction in two books. After reading and taking notes on the details of the books, they write an essay comparing and contrasting the two books. Use this lesson to emphasize...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Graphic Organizer: Venn Diagram

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Compare and contrast the characters in John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Using a Venn diagram, kids write in different traits to describe each person, and note their shared characteristics in the middle section.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

High-end/Low-end: Exploring Price and Value in Design

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners analyze elements of design and compare/contrast elements of price and design. For this design lesson, students consider the differences between high-end and low-end design. After completing an analysis of design in small groups,...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan for Scaffolding Complex Texts

For Teachers Pre-K - 2nd Standards
Enhance a class read-aloud of the children's story Hi! Fly Guy with this reading comprehension lesson. Children first listen as the teacher reads the story, stopping along the way to discuss any unfamiliar vocabulary. The book is then...
+
Activity
Harper Collins

If You Give...Series Teaching Guide

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
If you give teachers a few good ideas, they can really bring a story to life. Included in this resource are dozens of activities to use as your class reads books in the If You Give... series. From holding puppet shows and creating comic...
+
Activity
Florida Center for Reading Research

Comprehension: Text Analysis, Compare and Contrast

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd Standards
Grab any two topics, some index cards, and a couple of kids, and you're ready to compare and contrast! The resource provides instructions for this method and three graphic organizers in addition to or in place of the index cards.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Phineas Gage: “This I Believe” Venn Diagrams After Reading Strategy

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Difficulties with brain injuries still continue today. After reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, class members read a series of modern personal essays about brain injuries and choose an essay to compare...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Inferring from a Primary Source: Close Read of Colonial Times Inventory

For Teachers 4th Standards
Teach your class about colonial America through an examination of primary documents. First though, start vocabulary notebooks for content-specific and academic vocabulary. Pupils can keep this record during the entire module. Once this...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
EngageNY

Summarizing Complex Ideas: Comparing the Original UDHR and the "Plain Language" Version

For Teachers 5th Standards
The eighth lesson plan in this series continues the focus on vocabulary and increasing young readers' awareness of academic language. Pairs of learners participate in a short vocabulary review activity called Interactive Words in which...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Contrasting Two Settings (Chapter 6: "Lost Melones/Cantalouples")

For Teachers 5th Standards
Continue working through Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, by looking into language choices and discussing text-dependent questions. Pupils converse in small groups and as a class about plot, setting, and figurative language. Using...
+
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The Wind In The Willows: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
True friends stick together. In the case of The Wind In The Willows, the friends just happen to be a toad, mole, rat, and badger who team up to beat the weasels. The resource covers the first chapter of their raucous adventures. Scholars...
+
Organizer
Curated OER

Practice Book O

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Whether you need resources for reading comprehension, literary analysis, phonics, vocabulary, or text features, an extensive packet of worksheets is sure to fit your needs. Based on a fifth-grade curriculum but applicable to any level of...
+
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The Indian In The Cupboard: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Don't judge a book—or a toy—by its cover. Omri, a main character in The Indian in the Cupboard, quickly judged his plastic toy figures as boring. However, once placed in the cupboard, Omri's toys became something he never imagined....
+
Lesson Plan
American Press Institute

Newspapers in Your Life: What’s News Where?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...