Curated OER
Beginning Question Response: How You Relax
In this writing prompt worksheet, students are asked about how they relax. Students write a short paragraph stating reasons and examples to support their answer.
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Beginning Question Response: Your Favorite Music
In this writing prompt worksheet, students are asked about their favorite music. Students write a short paragraph stating reasons and examples to support their answer.
Curated OER
Using Transitions
Transitions, words that reveal the relationship between two ideas, are the subject of a presentation that provides color-coded illustrations to show viewers how this part of speech functions in sentences. The PowerPoint concludes with an...
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The Personal Letter: The Outsiders
After completing S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, eighth graders compose a personal letter to their teacher detailing what they liked about the novel and the activities assigned during the course of the unit. A clever way to get feedback,...
Curated OER
From Quotation to Interpretation in Informational Texts
How to ignite thoughtful written responses with the words of philosophers, artists, and current events.
Curated OER
Things That Make Britain Great
Take a trip to Great Britain with this fun reading lesson! Young learners read an article about many famous attributes of Britain - 101 of them, to be exact - and finish several comprehension and grammar activities about what they have...
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Using Transitions
Learners explore the importance of using transitional phrases in their writing. They discuss why transitions are important to their writing and various types of transitions that they can use. Students practice using transitions in their...
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Connotation and Denotation:
Eighth graders investigate the effect that connotations can have on writing. They are shown examples to build background knowledge before attempting the exercise. They finish by writing a paragraph to practice what they have learned.
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Sports and Hobby Math
Explore math concepts as they relate to real world situations. Young analysts consider a personal hobby or favorite sport and list three ways math is involved in the hobby. They create several related math story problems and write a...
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Definition Expedition
Students study about three ways to define a term in technical writing, search the Web for scientific text, then copy and paste sections into a Word document. Finally, they use the highlighter feature of Word to highlight examples of...
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Solving Systems of Equations
Young scholars, using algebraic operations, solve and check linear equations. At the beginning of class, they write a paragraph comparing the solving of math problems to solving real life problems. Students observe solving systems of two...
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What Do They Have In Common?
Fifth graders use a database to gather information on the United States last five Presidents. Using the information, they identify their similarities and differences and what characteristics made them a good leader. In further detail,...
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Grammar Practice: Consistency of Tense
After a concise explanation of verb inconsistency, learners study detailed examples and then rewrite a series of sentences to eliminate tense inconsistencies. An answer key is provided. The learning exercise could be used as part of a...
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Narrative Nuts and Bolts
After viewing slides and reading about child labor, young authors compose an original narrative story. They practice note-taking skills and work to effectively engage a reader by incorporating plot, logical order, complex characters,...
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Organizational Strategies for First Year Composition Writers
Identify and analyze deductive reasoning through genuine texts. Compare cultural practices and beliefs about national ID cards. Look for another example of a deductive argument and prepare a brief paragraph analyzing the audience,...
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Dead Word Wall Lesson
Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This lesson includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words" from sample...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.3
Make analyzing the sequence of events in an informational text easy. Ask readers to craft a one-sentence summary of each paragraph in a document and create a text map. To demonstrate their understanding of the process, participants read...
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Highway of Words
The punctuation police are here! Dress up as a police officer, and teach your young learners the importance of using correct punctuation. Two poorly written paragraphs are presented to the learners, and they have to correct the errors in...
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Literary Analysis of The Minister's Black Veil
After reading The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a homework assignment your class will complete a literary analysis. Learners will analyze important element of the story and take notes to help support their...
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Change of Perspective
After reading an example of a Cultural Connection about a particular person, class members are asked to think about what this person might experience on a daily basis. They then craft a narrative from the subject’s point of view.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5: Structure of an Argument
Imagine a cross-curricular project that not only rewards learners for examining the textbooks used in their other classes but builds literacy skills as well! Groups compare the formats and writing style in their various textbooks. Teams...
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Varying Sentence Structure
Show your writers how to use simple, compound, and complex sentences to add variety to writing. In addition, examples show how to employ semicolons and coordinating conjunctions to combine sentences. Colorful illustrations and graphics...
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Finding Main Ideas
What is the main idea? Previewing a text is a great way to identify the main idea without even reading, but what areas of a text do you preview? Teach your third, fourth, and fifth graders the most important areas to preview before...
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Character Traits
Using a three-column chart labeled "Character," "Action," and "Trait," pupils analyze the traits of several characters from a short story. The lesson plan is designed for a SMART board, but a teacher could easily do the lesson plan...