Curated OER
Poetry Passport
Passport photos are notoriously unflattering but here's an activity that encourages youngsters to create a poetic picture of themselves using each category on the passport as a prompt for a poem.
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Unsent Letter
What would the characters of Pride and Prejudice say to each other in a letter? Draft unsent correspondence between characters from Jane Austen's novel. A great way to explore characterization and plot structure in a creative lesson.
EngageNY
Mixture Problems
What percent of the mixture is juice? Pairs use their knowledge of proportions to determine what percent a mixture is juice given the percent of juice in the components. Pupils use the procedure learned with the juice mixture problem to...
Curated OER
Using Imagery
Show, don't tell! Pairs work together to change a list of telling sentences into showing sentences using picture words that create vivid pictures in the readers’ minds.
Curated OER
Let's Go Shopping
Students explore how to become better observers, demonstrate point of view as a literary and human function, and learn an important instructional activity about how to explain differing perspectives in the same situation.
Curated OER
On the Scene: Analyzing Scenes in Film and Literature
Students examine how a scene in a movie or in literature is constructed. In this film and literature lesson students answer questions based on film clips then create storyboards depicting a scene from their life.
Curated OER
Create a Holiday for Your Favorite Hero
Students create a holiday for a hero. The person may be someone in history who is not currently honored with a holiday, another famous person, a family member, a friend, or someone else they admire.
Curated OER
The Mystique of the Artist
Your high schoolers explore the role of artists in society in a creative three-week unit. First they customize art supply bags using paint, embroidery, appliqué, and other media. They imagine their ideal artistic work space and design a...
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Marostica, Una Citta Incantevole
Learners explore various Italian websites on the city of Marostica. They complete a worksheet, list the cultural events they would like to see, create a poster of an imagined cultural festivity in Italy, or write a radio announcement.
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Wagner Festspiele Bayreuth
Students explore a German website to research the Wagner Festival. They complete a worksheet, identify a performance they would like to hear at the festival, and write an imagined incident from their visit to the festival in German.
Curated OER
Ink
Here is an interesting lesson plan that has learners make ink from two common food items. First, they make ink from beets, then they make ink from onions. The recipes necessary for each are present in the plan. The special thing about...
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Choose Your Own Adventure: School Nutritional Policy
Mature audiences are required for this instructional activity on implementing health-related policies. First, they openly explore the CDC obesity page while taking notes about what they discover. Then they view a PowerPoint about the...
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Cookie Creations
Students research ingredients typically found in cookies. They write recipes for creative cookies, using standard measurements and imaginative ingredients. Students illustrate the ingredients for their recipes and the baked product. They...
Curated OER
Creatures of the Night Lesson Plan
Students write a list of words that are associated with scary creatures that they imagine now or in their younger days. They read books that share ideas for dealing with scary experiences. Finally, they use a variety of art materials to...
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Dressing Pets
Students compare and contrast different careers and life choices. They associate activities with uniforms or other clothing, and apply those associations to the creative personification of their pets. They then use their imaginations to...
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Space Travel Stories
Young scholars engage in the writing of a story about space. They brainstorm in small groups to create ideas for original stories. Students use their imaginations to depict a scene that is part of the story. They could also use the...
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Wish You Were Here
Students work in small groups to research information about planets in the solar system. They create picture postcards from space, drawing images they imagine they would see while traveling to a planet. They then write personal messages...
Briscoe Center for American History
Mary Maverick and Texas History - Part 2
To conclude their investigation of the life of Mary Maverick and to demonstrate their ability to analyze primary source documents, groups use the SOAPS questioning method to examine Maverick's account of events in early Texas history.
Curated OER
Class Mascot
Students create their own tales to tell using a class mascot and their imaginations for inspiration. They each take turns bringing home the mascot and a notebook. In the notebook, they write their own tale about an adventure the mascot had.
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Ecology: Trees
Fourth graders, while working in the classroom and the computer lab, utilizing supporting facts from previous lessons, write a creative story that imagines a world without forests. They write, type and print their stories and turn them...
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Celebrating the Smithsonian's Birthday
Students examine online objects from the Smithsonian website and use them as subjects and inspiration for creative writing exercises.
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For Richer or for Poorer
Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
Curated OER
Human Evolution
Students recognize that achievements of human beings throughout human history can be considered part of the ongoing story of human evolution. They research settings such as the biosphere and Mars and write imaginative short stories using...
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A VIEW FROM THE TOP
Students explore the idea of aerial photography through the story of Amelia the Pigeon. They view an actual aerial photograph of their school or home, and then write a story describing what Amelia would see if she flew over their school...