Curated OER
Family Foodways
Discover, document and share the knowledge of family food and ways special occasions are treated. Your class will explore the context in which food traditions are created and adapted in their families and communities. Each student also...
Curated OER
Civil War Tribune
Fifth graders choose a black and white copy of a photo from the Civil War and 'enhance' picture by adding color using crayons and colored pencils. They research the photo.
Curated OER
Poetic Elements
Poetry is all about sound and rhythm. The sound of the words, the rhythm of the lines, and the emotional atmosphere created by these elements and the literary devices poets use, compress whole stories into a few stanzas. The specialized...
Curated OER
Why Burn Books?
Students identify the role of free speech in the selection of library books. They choose one banned book to read and evaluate the reason for its censorship. They create an argument for or against the selection of the book.
Curated OER
See How They Run
Students analyze non-print campaign advertisements for factual and persuasive information. They choose the advertisement they think is the most persuasive and identify the reasons why it is the most persuasive.
Curated OER
News Poetry
Third graders select a small item in a newspaper and then dramatize it in a well-constructed poem. They share their poems with the class.
Curated OER
Do You Judge a Book by Its Cover?
Students cut pictures out of magazines that relate to their lives, glue them on bags, and share with classmates.
Curated OER
Turning Literature into News
Students analyze the format and structure of various newspaper articles. Then, they rewrite events from literature into news stories about acts of kindness.
Curated OER
Don't Throw Away That Junk Mail!
Fourth graders study junk mail to learn the techniques that advertisers use to attract and hold a person's attention.
Curated OER
Do a Ditty
Fourth graders work in cooperative groups to create a ditty to teach the characteristics that distinguish literary forms to younger students. The ditty is performed before the class.
Curated OER
Poetry Book
Students study the following terms and concepts: word choice, dialect, invented words, concrete terms, abstract terms, figurative and sensory language. In cooperative groups, they select three of the terms, research them, and pick poems...
Curated OER
Uncle Tom's Cabin as Anti-Slavery Argument
Pupils read and discuss how African- Americans are depicted in slave auction announcements. They research how Harriet Beecher Stow responds to the sale of slaves.
Curated OER
Fact V. Opinion
Students use statements out of newpapers to distinguish between facts and opinions. They discuss these differences as well.
Curated OER
Shakespeare Stealer: Design a Set
In groups, learners design sets for the play, "Shakespeare Stealer." They sketch a scale model of a set and present it to the teacher, who will choose which group gets to design the entire set.
Curated OER
Vivacious Vocabulary
Students practice looking up the definitions of words using a dictionary. They put the defintion of the word into their own words. They create a PowerPoint slideshow to show illustrations related to their vocabulary words. Using the...
Curated OER
Preparing for the New SAT
Read the College Board's explanation of changes in the SAT for 2005, including essay and grammar questions, use College Board's suggestions for ways to study, practice sample questions, and explore other sites with practice tests.
Curated OER
Beauty Queen Heads to Iraq
Students study about Jessica Gaulke, a beauty queen from Minnesota. She is then deployed to Iraq with the National Guard unit she is in. They have to role play her and react to what they think they would feel if they were in her shoes.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Cocaine in a Can
Students examine the case of "Cocaine," a new soft drink targeted at teens. They explore the decision by some stores not to sell it. Students compose essays expressing their views about the drink and the ensuing decisions.
Curated OER
"Pet" Project
Learners create a proposal for either a classroom pet or a household pet. Proposals include the estimated cost of a pet and their supplies as well as a written contract for the care of the pet.
Curated OER
What are the benefits of having a Free Press?
Students examine why actual malice is necessary in libel cases. Students demonstrate the importance of a third party in libel and slander cases. They analyze why a free press is essential in American society.
Curated OER
"Pleading the Fifth" Self-Incrimination and the Fifth Amendment
Students examine how the Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination. They apply it to hypothetical situations by role playing as judges.
English Enhanced Scope and Sequence
Media Literacy Applied
After investigating various forms of print, oral, and electronic media as sources of information, class members research a historical figure and produce a résumé for this person. While templates are provided for an initial sorting...
Achievement Strategies
CCSS Unit Design Template for Art
Art classes, like any lab class, require extensive preplanning and set-up time. Use this planning template in the quiet before the storm to identify the equipment and materials that will be needed, the procedures and processes...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Solar System
Students explore the Solar System. In this cross-curriculum space instructional activity, students identify the planets, name them in order according to distance from the sun, and describe major characteristics of each planet. Students...