Curated OER
Identifying Clouds
Students work in groups to research and prepare a report on cloud types. They present their findings to the class and take a group quiz competing for points. Students go outside and determine which type of clouds are visible on that day.
Curated OER
Building Two Literature Pyramids
Middle schoolers create literature pyramids. They read selections of various societies, eras, and ideas. They complete two pyramid sheets for the same literary element including either plot, character, setting, or theme. They color-code...
Curated OER
The Time I Got Lost
Third graders go through the writing process but substitute paper and pencil with the computer to create a story about "The Time I Got Lost".
Curated OER
Cloud Databases
Young scholars complete a unit on clouds and a report about one type of cloud. They collect data through observation about different types of cloud cover and then create a spreadsheet to reflect their observations over a 2 week period.
Read Works
Read Works: Drawing Conclusions 3rd Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] A two-lesson unit on drawing conclusions through which students learn how to recognize the difference between implicit information and drawing conclusions. Students also learn to draw conclusions in...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass and American Non Fiction
This lesson plan serves as an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing and focuses primarily on teaching some basic approaches to recognizing rhetorical strategies adopted for persuasive effect in essays and non-fiction. The...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Prairie Farmers [Pdf]
"Prairie Farmers" is a one page, historical fiction, journal describing life for farmers in the prairie throughout the year. It shows the difficulties including bad weather and fires. It requires students to closely read the journal and...
Read Works
Read Works: Lessons: Lesson 3: Short Story
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson plan, texts, and materials to teach kindergarten students to use clues in a story to draw and explain a conclusion.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: The Leprechaun Companion
In this lesson, 5th graders will explain the meaning of a text and its genre, summarize it, and draw conclusions. They work with a book called The Leprechaun Companion which is a cross between informational and literary text.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: A Literature Inspired Writing Lesson: A Time Traveler's Log
Students will read chapter four of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, noting both the time traveler's descriptions of the new world of 800,000 ACE, and the conclusions the main character draws as a 19th century man. Students will think of a...