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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Elements of a Short Story (SMART Board)

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders view a PowerPoint presentation about short story elements. They complete a plot diagram using a previously read short story. Students brainstorm events in the story. They discuss the difference between major and less...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetic Justice: Understanding the Life of a Tethered Dog

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The Humane Society provides a lesson plan in which class members explore the issue of tethering dogs. Through the resources used -- a comic, a poem, and narrative and expository writings -- class members realize that messages can be...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Learning About Trees

For Teachers K - 2nd
After looking at pictures of trees, discussing tree growth, and identifying the parts of a tree, lead your class on a nature walk and have them collect samples and record their observations. They then work in pairs to polish the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Untold Triumph

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers examine and analyze the history and experience of Filipinos in Hawaii and California. They identify the contributions of Filipino Americans to the US war effort in World War II, and analyze the many causes that led to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Conflict Resolution Lesson Plan

For Teachers 8th - 9th
What is a bully? Romeo and Juliet's Act 3 Scene 1 gives eighth and ninth graders the perfect opportunity to explore bullying. After doing some Internet research on bullying characteristics, groups reenact the scene to decide who is...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Rikki-tikki-tavi"

For Teachers 7th - 8th
“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Identifying the Characteristics of a Myth

For Teachers 6th
For this lesson created specifically to integrate the use of the SMART Board, Students view a variety of animated myths in order to create a web that identifies the characteristics of a myth. Then Students choose a myth from selected...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

So Much Depends Upon...Sixteen-Word Imagery Poems Inspired by Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

For Teachers 6th - 7th
After reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (and possibly shedding a few tears), middle schoolers work on their own sixteen-word poems with a Six Trait writing activity. They focus on word choice in this activity to capture an...
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Lesson Plan
Novelinks

Lord of the Flies: Outlining and Begin Drafting

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Help young writers with the daunting prospect of a five-paragraph essay. Using William Golding's Lord of the Flies, learners work through a short process to shore up their brainstorming and prepare to write a longer essay.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Running Out of Time: Vocabulary Strategies

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Review concepts and terms after reading Running Out of Time. Learners each come up with a few terms that they think are important and then participate in a list-group-label exercise, paying close attention to the two main years featured...
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Lesson Plan
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Dream of a Nation

Solution Debate

For Teachers 10th Standards
Class members choose a current social, political, environmental, or economic problem presented in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, research this problem and a variety of suggested solutions, before...
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Lesson Plan
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Dream of a Nation

Congressional Debate

For Teachers 10th Standards
Should junk food be banned in schools? Should the US open its borders to all immigrants? Should the US impose term limits for the House of Representatives and for the Senate? Using Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Transition?

For Teachers 7th
Help your class transition into better writers with this lesson, which guides them through the process of adding transitions to increase sentence fluency and organization. The activity is designed for a classroom with a SMART board, but...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"User Friendly" Cause and Effect

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Bring literature to life with your SMART board and this literary analysis lesson plan. While reading "User Friendly" by T. Ernesto Bethancourt (from the Holt Elements of Literature textbook by Kylene Beers), have your class discuss the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jackie Chan and James Bond Movies

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students investigate similarities and differences between popular films made in Asia and those made in the West.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Act it Out: Dramatizing Asian American Stories

For Teachers K - 12th
Read and act out folktales, fairy tales, or myths from various Asian American cultures with your class. Each group reads a story aloud and then works together to create a short play or skit about the story. Suggestions for stories are...
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Lesson Plan
ELA Common Core Lesson Plans

American Romanticism

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" provides the text for an activity that asks readers to select specific passages from the story, identify the aspect of American Romanticism the passage exemplifies, and then provide an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Nellie Bly's Newspaper Club: Introducing the Science of Writing

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students evaluate a video about Nellie Bly, a famous reporter from the 19th century. They consider what makes a high-interest news article, write an essay in pairs and present it a literary tea.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Storyboards: The Director's Map to a Video Project

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Class groups collaborate to produce the storyboard for their video project. After determining the sequence of scenes, the camera angles, and characters in each scene, each group member is assigned a number of scenes to illustrate. When...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Fables

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Students write their own fables. In this writing fables lesson, students use handheld computers to write a fable. The class designs a spreadsheet to organize common elements of fables. Students also edit each others' work.
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Research a Poet and Explicate a Poem by that Poet

For Teachers 7th
Using your school's media center, internet research, and a SMART board, 7th graders research a chosen poet and write a research report. Additionally, 7th graders explicate one poem by the poet within their report. Several resource links...
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Lesson Plan
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Dream of a Nation

Writing an Analytic Essay

For Teachers 9th Standards
After researching an issue introduced in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, writers develop an original thesis statement and craft an analytic essay using evidence collected in their research.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Use photographs to trigger memories. Writers use a personal photograph as a starting point for an autobiographical writing exercise. They complete brainstorming activities that have them study their photograph before actually putting pen...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social Studies: Biographical Guide

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders create a class Powerpoint presentation of historical figures. They each research six names for their assigned alphabet letter and include a thumbnail sketch for the persons. Students present the finished project to other...