Reed Novel Studies
What Katy Did: Novel Study
What doesn't break you
makes you stronger. Katy, in What Katy Did, learns this lesson the
hard way. After a terrible accident and a long recovery, Katy becomes what she always wanted to be—good and kind. Scholars learn
about Katy's...
Reed Novel Studies
The War That Saved My Life: Novel Study
Most people think of war when they think of casualities. However, Ada used war to regain her life. A ten-year-old girl in The War That Saved My Life is a prisoner in her own home. However. when her brother goes to war, she takes the...
Reed Novel Studies
The Underneath: Novel Study
Do you have a place that makes you feel safe and secure? Ranger, a hound in The Underneath, finds his new friend, a calico cat, and her safe place—underneath a porch. Scholars complete sentences using vocabulary from the novel as they...
Curated OER
Lesson Four: Comparatives and Superlatives
Put on your best smile, or a least a better one, for this lesson plan on superlatives and comparatives. English language learners first fill out a graphic organizer by finding other people in the class who are taller than they are,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Weather Graph Data
Teaching young mathematicians about collecting and analyzing data allows for a variety of fun and engaging activities. Here, children observe the weather every day for a month, recording their observations in the form of a bar graph....
University of Arizona
Yoruba Legends: Southern Nigeria
Explore legends and storytelling with your learners. After listening to some legends, pupils work collaboratively and then individually to come up with original legends about animals.
National Constitution Center
Born in the U.S.A: Music as Political Protest
Though often used in shows of patriotism, Bruce Springsteen's 1985 song "Born in the U.S.A." is critical of America's role in the Vietnam war and its treatment of American veterans. High schoolers analyze the song's lyrics in an activity...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Feeling Faces
A lesson help scholars identify emotions through facial expressions. After a friendly puppet reads scholars a poem all about feelings, learners act out how they would feel when a specific action happens to them. Participants watch and...
Curated OER
Finding Meaning in the Badge
Children who are three to five years old study two rank badges from the Qing dynasty to develop an understanding of social rank, language skills, and symbolism. The lesson plan is discussion-based and requires learners to compare and...
Film English
5 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know
Prepare your pupils for making excellent presentations. Class members discuss elements of a successful presentation, work in groups to come up with their own scripts for the featured video, compare their work to the original...
Curated OER
Earth's Heavenly Treasures: Hummingbirds
Young ornithologists watch an informative video and use the Internet to gather data about the life, size, habitat, and migration of hummingbirds. The interdisciplinary lesson includes activities that target art, science, math, and...
Curated OER
Speech! Speech!
Critical thinkers consider how word choice in speeches impacts the meaning and effectiveness of the message being presented. They examine and respond to some of the speeches made at the 2004 Republican and Democratic National...
Curated OER
Verbal Versus Nonverbal Communication
Young scholars create a multimedia presentation. They will complete a verbal versus non-verbal communication chart to create a multimedia presentation which will include the different types of communication strategies. Then answer a...
Curated OER
Storytelling
Show young readers how to put some personality and voice into their storytelling with an in-depth assignment. Kids practice saying the same thing, such as counting from one to ten, in different tones and perspectives, and then work on...
Curated OER
A Storytelling Festival
Students explore the native cultures of the Americas, to learn some aspects of oral storytelling, and to share their knowledge with others. They, in groups, write a story that should say something important about the culture from which...
Curated OER
Word Washer Vowels
Here is a perfect activity for all your kinesthetic learners. They practice long and short vowel discrimination as they hang out the paper articles of clothing on a clothes line. They each take turns pulling word clothes out of a pretend...
Curated OER
Memorializing September 11, 2001
Pupils use the Internet to research monuments. They design models of appropriate memorials which would honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. They complete oral presentations that...
Curated OER
Using Our Five Senses
Learners explore human anatomy by creating an oral report in class. In this five senses lesson plan, students read several real life situations and identify which of the five senses help in certain situations. Learners create an oral...
Curated OER
Speak Up
Bring back some of your favorite kids for this lesson. Emerging speakers observe older learners making effective and ineffective oral presentations. They discuss each presentation and then prepare a speech of their own to deliver to the...
Curated OER
It's All Greek to Me
Introduce your class to the Greek alphabet and language. Examine how the Greek language influenced the English language. Study the history, timeline of achievements, and the role oral history played in Greece.
Curated OER
Poetry Cubes
Reading aloud can be scary, but it's an important way to build oral fluency. Break the class into groups of four or five learners. Each learner will roll a cube to determine which poem they read aloud to their small group. Feel free to...
Curated OER
Beginning and Ending Sounds - Lesson 1 of 2
Stamp, slap, and clap! Emergent readers demonstrate their awareness of the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in spoken, short vowel, single-syllable words with a stamp/slap/clap activity. After identifying the letters and sounds of...
Curated OER
Lean Mean Coping Machine!
Seventh graders apply coping skills to manage life-changing events. They plan and make written, oral and visual presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences, and then exchange information, questions and ideas while recognizing...
Curated OER
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones
Young scholars exchange information orally about The Beatles and The Rolling Stones during the 1960s until 1970. They work in pairs to complete a gap-fill activity from memory. Students play hangman at the beginning of the lesson.