Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood by Cynthia Rylant
Sixth graders examine the elements of writing poetry. For this creative writing lesson, 6th graders discuss a book of poetry in the setting of Appalachia. Students incorporate childhood experiences into the development of visual and...
Curated OER
Haiku Poems
Eighth graders study haiku poems. In this poetry lesson, 8th graders write two haikus containing the standard 5-7-5 syllables content about things they enjoy within nature.
Curated OER
Love To Langston
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Love To Langston. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer questions,...
Curated OER
Cool Melons Turn to Frogs
Third graders become familiar with the poetry of Issa. In this haiku lesson, 3rd graders recognize the format of a haiku and learn about the life of Issa (the poet) through focused questions, vocabulary and reading responses. Students...
Curated OER
Writing Places
High schoolers brainstorm ideas after being read a poem and then are to write their own poem and read them out loud.
Curated OER
Poems That Work!
Students are introduced to the elements of poetry. As a class, they practice the correct way to read a poem and determine the author's audience. They identify similies and metaphors and determine the rhyme and meter. To end the...
Curated OER
Poetry and Emotional Health
Students explore self-expression through poetry. In this personal health lessons students read and discuss poetry regarding teen topics of interest. Students write poems, that express empathy.
Curated OER
1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
Learners examine the United States at the turn of the century. Using primary source documents, they interpret them within a specific historical context. Using this information, they write a poem with metaphors and a specific meter They...
Syracuse University
Harlem Renaissance
The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...
Poetry Out Loud
The Tabloid Ballad
What do the theme song from Gilligan's Island, the nursery rhyme "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat," and the poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" all have in common? Why, they're ballads of course! Challenge your young balladeers to compose their...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Can you find the themes from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in other books? What about picture books? Compare the novel to a picture book with a instructional activity about making predictions and finding textual evidence.
Curated OER
All About Me - A Poem
Second graders brainstorm unique qualities they possess in a All About Me worksheet. They write free verse poems about things that most people don't know about them. They brainstorm descriptive words to enhance their poems and rewrite them.
Curated OER
Introduction to Theme
Pupils investigate the concept of theme and how it fits in the writing of a poem or other type of literature. Students practice reading different poems looking critically for the theme to identify and define them.
Curated OER
Haiku: An Introduction to Writing and Discussing Poetic Form
Tenth graders are introduced to the vocabulary that is acceptable and unacceptable in writing a haiku. Individually, they are given a set of instructions in which to write their haiku and discuss how these limitations have affected...
Curated OER
Beowulf: Songs of Ancient Heroes
Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...
Curated OER
Poetry in Motion
Sixth graders answer questions about "From a Railway Carriage." They discuss different poetical forms. They work together to write a poem about travel.
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 12: Author's Purpose - Yeats and Achebe
Is there such a thing as fate/luck? Can one fight destiny? As part of their study of Chinua Achebe's purpose in writing Things Fall Apart, class members answer these questions from Achebe's point of view and then from William...
Stanford University
Expansion of the Inca Empire
If you could write your own history textbook, what would you include? Learners play the role of textbook writers by examining evidence of the Inca Empire. With primary sources from Spanish and indigenous perspectives, as well as images,...
Curated OER
Theology…the Use of Silence in the Classroom
Immerse your class in the Middle Ages with a thorough history lesson. After viewing examples of illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, they discuss how these were the mode of keeping and storing information...
Curated OER
Introduction to Microsoft Word
Second graders elaborate on the classroom writing practices. They locate the various parts of the keyboard such as, space bar, shift key, delete key, etc. They also type a short piece of writing on a word processor. This is a teacher...
Curated OER
Teaching Sequence of Activities
Students develop their skills at writing poetry by listening to poetry and using a model to emulate and write a poem. In this poetry writing lesson, students listen to Louis MacNeice's poem 'Prayer Before Birth' and use it to model their...
Curated OER
Enhancing Poetry with American Memories
Pupils explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project. They compose their own unque "found poetry" based on the stories found in the collection.
Curated OER
Prairie Poetry
Ninth graders take note of the ways in which word choice, rhythm, language and narrative voice, as well as point of view in a poem can be used to evoke a time and place. They use their insights to create a poem of their own.
Curated OER
Poetry: When the Rain Sings Poems by Young Native Americans
Poetry can express feelings, values, and culture; it also provides insight into a time and place. Young analysts discuss the meanings of several poems from a collection of Native American works entitled, When the Rain...