Dream of a Nation
Writing a Narrative Essay
Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Informational Writing
Emerging writers identify an informational piece of writing. They are provided with examples of informational writing and view a PowerPoint on narrative writing. Then, they design their own informational writing with a brochure,...
Curated OER
Multi-sensory Writing
Students use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.
Curated OER
Essential Elements of Habitat
First graders compare their local area with the Belize landscape. They construct maps of the school area, adding descriptive information. They write haiku poems about their favorite outside places.
San Francisco Symphony
Adding Music to Oklahoma History
To better understand Oklahoma state history, learners will use a website to find a song that supports or represents aspects of Oklahoma's history. They'll write three sentences defending their choice, and then they will create...
Curated OER
"I Spy": Using Adjectives and Descriptive Phrases
Students define adjectives and use adjectives and descriptive phrases to write a descriptive paragraph. They write a description of a sensory item, and read and discuss a five senses chart. Students then complete a chart using adjectives...
Virginia Department of Education
Properties of Real Numbers
Students use paper cups and colored chips to observe properties of operations with real numbers. As a class, students brainstorm and use manipulatives to demonstrate associative, commutative, distributive identity and inverse properties....
Curated OER
Strange New Planet
Fourth graders gather data and simulate a Mars spacecraft mission using multi-sensory observations.
Curated OER
Multi-Sensory Grammar - Adjectives
Third graders demonstrate knowledge of adjectives, and use this knowledge to color-code parts of speech of a sentence.
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Dinosaurs Before Dark
Young readers travel back to the time of the dinosaurs in this literature unit based on the story Dinosaurs Before Dark. Intended for use with upper-elementary special education students, this resource provides reading comprehension,...
Curated OER
Jack-O-Latern Lesson
Have a Happy Halloween and build strong oral language skills. Special needs Pupils functioning at a moderate level can practice sequencing, writing lists, and using oral language by explaining how they carve a pumpkin.
Curated OER
The Class Garden Essay
Fifth graders use a class garden as inspiration for a specific writing assignment. They conduct research into different types of flowers in photo images taken with a digital camera. Students write a creative essay and draw a picture to...
Curated OER
Modern day Folktales: Recasting Folktales in the 21st Century
Young scholars write their own modern day folktale and compare it with "Cathal O'Cruachan and the Cowherd." In addition, they illustrate a character from the original Irish folktale and how the same character would appear today. Students...
Curated OER
Oral traditions: Facilitating education through verbal traditions
Bring oral traditions into the classroom to engage learning and facilitate best practices. From story telling to listening skills, this article provides reasons and rational behind oral traditions as a tool for education.
Curated OER
The blues highway: An integration of music with geography
Young scholars analyze the movement of the blues from rural Mississippi to urban Chicago and how place and the environment affected the development of the blues. They define the blues, where it originated and how and why it moved to...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Scavenger Word Hunt
Participate in a scavenger hunt to find objects beginning with a particular letter sound and take digital photos of them with your scholars. Using software, they find word pictures beginning with particular letters and locate picture...
Macmillan Education
Life Skills Worksheet
Big and beautiful, this colorful poster encourages class members to establish specific learning goals before beginning activities and exercises.
Curated OER
Moving With Your Roots
Students dissect common words to study the origins of those words. In this language arts lesson, students study the Greek and Latin roots found in many words within English language. Students use dictionaries to fill out worksheets...
Curated OER
Word Wizard
Students make magic wands to become word wizards who add the magic "e" to word with cvc patterns. They make reading cards, and a multimedia presentation show the use of the word patterns.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Exploring a More Specific Story
In this lesson, Ralph Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams is used as a mentor text. Students will write stories about an important friendship in their life. Then students will revise and attempt to make sure their writings have stayed on topic,...