California Education Partners
Seeing Eye to Eye
A performance task challenges scholars to read an informational text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins with an independent reading of Seeing Eye to Eye by Leslie Hall. A second reading follows with the completion of...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Spring is like a perhaps hand" by E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings' "Spring is like a perhaps hand" offers young scholars an opportunity to try their hands at analyzing a simile. After a warm-up activity and a close reading of the poem, class members discuss what they think the poem is...
Education Outside
Garden Detective Sensory Tour
To prepare for a sensory walk outside, the whole class engages in a discussion of the five senses, kids close their eyes, and share what they sense. Groups then follow a guide, tour an area, and share what they experience through their...
University of Colorado
Happy Landings: A Splash or a Splat?
Huygens spacecraft landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, making it the farthest landing from Earth ever made by a spacecraft. In this hands-on activity, the 12th installment of 22, groups explore how density affects speed. To do this,...
Nemours KidsHealth
Colds and Flu: Grades 9-12
Flu fighters unite! To get the word out about the importance of getting vaccinated against the flu, groups create posters that persuade teens to get immunized. Also, scholars read articles about how to cope with colds, then create...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as questions...
American Institute of Physics
Women and the Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a massive undertaking involving multiple sites and thousands of scientists and technicians. To gain an understanding of the women who participated in the project, groups select an oral history of a woman...
Curated OER
Lights Out on Broadway
How do you write arguments that articulate the views of opposing sides? Through concentrated research, investigation, and critical analysis, leaners become more knowledgable on the opposing argument. The class fills in a KWL graphic...
Carolina K-12
NATO: After the Cold War
Why was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed, and what is its mission? Learners discuss NATO's participation in various events throughout the Cold War and work in groups to analyze whether those responses were appropriate.
Curriculum Project
Hotel Rwanda: Comprehension and Discussion Activities for the Movie
Support your presentation of the film Hotel Rwanda with this collection of worksheets, which includes background information, vocabulary, summary of characters, and fill-in-the-blank worksheets for students to complete as they watch the...
Social Skills Central
Don't Get Mad...
Pupils discover important alternatives to expressing anger and how to better manage their emotions through a collaborative discussion activity with their classmates. This resource includes nearly 100 (99, to be exact!) hypothetical...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Vocabulary Strategy
Readers read more closely when they think critically about a text. Discuss the words and concepts from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a class activity that asks readers to not only record unfamiliar words they find in...
Virginia Department of Education
Go with the Flow
How does nature's hierarchy relate to our local human environment? Answer this question, along with others, as the class visually depicts the natural hierarchy provided by nature. Pupils discuss each piece of the pyramid and its energy...
Messenger Education
Star Power! Discovering the Power of Sunlight
It takes less than 10 minutes for energy from the sun to travel 90 million miles to Earth! In the first installment in a series of four, groups measure the amount of solar radiation that reaches Earth. They then discuss how this is...
EngageNY
Analyzing Word Choice: Atticus’s Closing Speech (Chapters 20-21)
Choose your words carefully. Scholars begin by reading a line of Atticus's closing speech in To Kill A Mockingbird. Readers work independently on their note catchers, then complete a Think-Pair-Share activity with partners. They finish...
EngageNY
World Café to Analyze Theme and Character in A Long Walk to Water (Chapters 16–18)
Here comes a surprise ending! Readers discuss their thoughts about the ending of A Long Walk to Water by answering probing questions. They participate in a World Café where they work in triads to complete a chart and a prompt during...
August House
The Ghost Catcher
Delve into a Bengali folktale with a series of reading comprehension activities. Before kids read The Ghost Catcher, they discuss the concept of reflections and mirrors. They then answer comprehension questions about the characters and...
Longman
Stories for reading comprehension
A packet full of old-fashioned short stories could be a review activity for a reading comprehension lesson. Learners read 14 stories before answering multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank sentences, and vocabulary exercises.
University of Pennsylvania
Using Political Postcards to Teach a Revolution of Political Thought
Discuss how political postcards affected everyday people's thoughts and beliefs. Pupils continue a unit on the Dreyfus Affair as they engage in class discussion, watch a video, view a PowerPoint presentation, and fill out worksheets to...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 4: Unit 2, Lesson 4
Ambition, murder, nontraditional gender roles ... some problems just can't be fixed in marriage counseling. Learners discuss the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As a culminating activity, pupils analyze how the characters'...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Friendship Line Dancing
Develop social awareness with a instructional activity that challenges scholars to properly communicate with their peers. Standing in two lines, participants practice introducing themselves, asking how their partner is feeling, asks if...
American Chemical Society
Atoms Can Be Rearranged to Make Different Molecules
Uncover the building blocks of the universe as budding chemists explore atoms and molecules in an exciting inquiry-based activity. Investigators view an interactive video describing the chemical structure of six molecules. Using...
Tide Global Learning
Drama Activities: Role Play
Young actors willingly suspend their disbelief as they improvise a scenario in which they are workers at a clothing factory and must decide their attitude toward the actions of co-worker Rosa Parks.
Shutterfly
Shutterfly Photo Story Lesson Plan
A reading of Peggy Parish's Amelia Bedelia launches a study of idioms. Groups then select several idioms, write the meaning of the expressions, draw or select images, and use GIMP or Photoshop to create an idiom book.