Curated OER
A Life Lived Well
Students write poems based on words and phrases found in an obituatuary. They write autobiographical obituaries that imagine their own lives and future accomplishments.
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Prepare for a Field Trip
Students write a journal exercise that relates to preparing for a trip. They make a visual map to generate ideas about things to see, do and learn during the field trip. They assign roles for different tasks that need to be performed...
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What Weather When and Where?
Students learn the difference between hard news and feature writing. They choose one of these news styles to write a compelling weather-related article based on interviews with local sources.
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Portrait of The African American Family
Young scholars examine how African American families were affected by slavery. As a class, they watch and read King's "I Have a Dream Speech" and write a paper on how this message relates to families. In their journals, they compare...
Curated OER
Successful Reading Strategies for ELL Students
Students improve their reading comprehension through predicting, connecting with text and summarizing. Students should have already read the book Seedfolks and made predictions based upon what they had seen from the cover and pictures...
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One Small Act
Students perform acts of kindness. For this caring lesson, students brainstorm ideas for acts of kindness. Students select their favorite idea and work in groups to make a plan for how to carry out their act of kindness.
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The Business of Design
Learners visit the Design for the Other 90% exhibition. In this design lesson, student learn how to design for the population of the world that is poor or impoverished. In addition, students read New York Times articles and watch videos...
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Travel Buddies
A travel buddy is some sort of animal or stuffed character that is transported from one school to another and another. A journal accompanies the buddies and the students make journal entries as if they were written by the buddy at each...
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Spooky Story
Second graders write a Halloween story. In this combined technology and writing instructional activity, 2nd graders create a Halloween picture using KidPix, insert it into Microsoft Word, and then write a story to correspond with the...
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Twisted Tales
Experience how a story can drastically change when the point of view is altered. Young scholars first read a review of Disney's film Tarzan, focusing on how the point of view in the classic story is important. They then select another...
Take the challenge
Connecting with Natural/Open Spaces
Get your class outside, away from the television, and maybe even learning something about nature while they're at it. Individuals will chose an open, natural space to spend time in for several days. Each day they will complete a page in...
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A Colony is Born : Lesson 5 - Dear Mem
Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...
National History Day
Leland Linman’s War: A Look at Soldiers’ Daily Lives in World War I
Hunkering down in the trenches of World War I, Leland Linman decided to write a journal about his experiences. By reading Linman's entries in the fourth installment of an eight-part lesson series, scholars get a firsthand look at life in...
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Mr. Mascot's Magical Musical Tour
Young scholars explore particular places in the world. Students decipher clues that a class mascot leaves behind as it travels the world. Through researching the clues, young scholars discover geographical locations, elements of world...
Virginia Department of Education
Balancing Act
How many different interpretations of the mean are there? Scholars place numbers on a number line and determine the mean. They interpret the mean as the average value and as the balance point.
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a Journal for Corduroy: Responding To Literature
Students listen to the book, Corduroy, and discuss the characters and the sequence of events. They take turns taking Corduroy home overnight, and write their own adventure stories using the Corduroy character.
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E.T. Write Home
Students read the book, The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System, and discuss the planets visited by the characters in the book. They write journal entries from the viewpoint of E.T., writing letters home describing his travels in...
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The Bird Can Blog: Online Writing With A Twist
Learners role play the role of a clasroom pet. They write a daily blog describing the activities in the classroom. They use peer editing as well.
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Civil War Letter
Students put themselves in the shoes of American Civil War soldiers. For this Civil War lesson, students compose letters to their families from the the perspective of soldiers in the war.
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"Write" Answers
Students examine the Q.& A. articles found each week in Science Times, focusing on how the answers are presented in a clear and logical way, as well as the relevance of understanding science's roles in our daily lives.
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Opening Eyes, Changing Minds. Talking About Personal Transformation And the Development of World Views
Young scholars read one teen's story of personal growth through learning about racism and the criminal justice system to explore how individuals' world views are shaped and changed through experiences and education.
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The Five Values
Students brainstorm and explore the five values of life: truth, love, peace, right conduct and non-violence. They bounce ideas off each other to assess more of a knowledge of each value. In addition, they write their reflections of each...
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Energy Conservation
Students explore the topic of energy conservation. They identify energy sources, complete a chart and a questionnaire, and write two paragraphs summarizing the lesson information and ways to conserve energy.
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Bronze Bow
Explore ancient Rome through reading The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. Readers activate prior knowledge by examining objects that relate to the story and predict the significance of the items. Their curiosity is aroused through...