National Endowment for the Humanities
“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading of the two...
Geography 360°
Poetry Writing
Put the tips and tricks in this guide into practice in order to encourage your pupils to blossom into poets. A wonderful reference material for teachers, this packet includes definitions of poetic terms and forms as well as step-by-step...
Curated OER
Do You Want to Be My Friend?
Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...
Curated OER
The Poetry of Giving
Learn about philanthropy and poetic conventions with an inclusive instructional activity about Bill Gates. After learning about Mr. Gates' humanitarian efforts in the world, sixth graders use alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm,...
Curated OER
Shared Reading: A Lesson Plan to Introduce Patriotism in the Classroom
Students learn why we say the Pledge of Allegiance through shared reading. In this shared reading lesson plan, students are shown the Pledge of Allegiance in 3 different forms. While they are exploring the pledge, the teacher explains...
Curated OER
Hattie and the Fox
Who is Hattie? Youngsters explore animal characteristics by reading poems and stories in class. They read the book Hattie and the Fox about a fictitious fox and his drama with the other farm animals. Then they reread the story over...
Curated OER
Language Arts, Music, Poetry: Blues Style
This lesson focuses on how the blues both operates as poetry and informs the poetry of many prominent African American poets. Students consider the poetic devices and recurring themes in blues lyrics and the significance of the poetry of...
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Matched by Ally Condie
Even supposed Utopian societies have their flaws. Using an educator's guide, individuals explore the society Ally Condie creates in Matched. Reflective writing prompts double as discussion questions and cover key themes in the novel, as...
Curated OER
Rhythm in Language - Feel the SWAMP BEAT!
Students explore the rhythm of words. In this reading skills lesson, students read Bedtime at the Swamp and use rhythm instruments to find the cadence in the words of the story. Students listen for rhythm in other written text as they...
Curated OER
Rain
First graders practice oral and silent reading using beginning comprehension and decoding strategies. In this guided reading lesson, 1st graders take a picture walk and make plot predictions prior to reading the book Rain by Robert...
Curated OER
Focus Story: The Mitten
Students explore language arts by analyzing a story with their classmates. In this poetry identification lesson, students read the book The Mittens and identify the characters, plot and settings in the story. Students recite poems about...
Curated OER
Hearing the Poetry of Langston Hughes Through the Sounds of Jazz
Students have an appreciation of Langston Hughe's poetry and his use of jazz rhythms, have the ability to read poetry closely, and freewrite to gain a fresh perspective on music and literature.
Curated OER
Capitalization and Punctuation
First and second graders explore writing conventions. They add question marks or periods to the end of teacher generated sentences on sentence strips. They locate punctuation marks in poems and write original sentences using appropriate...
Curated OER
Attitudes Towards Nature in Daoist Art
Students examine Daoist art. In this art appreciation lesson, students illustrate a poem, then create a second illustration in the Daoist fashion while focusing on depicting the harmonious relationship between humans and nature.
Curated OER
Rhythm
Third graders sing in 3/4 meter with an upbeat. They write a poem using descriptive words. Students move at different speeds to show quarter, half and eigth notes. They play a math game involving the number of beats a quarter, half and...
Hubbard's Cupboard
The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving
Students explore holidays by participating in class singing activities. In this Thanksgiving history instructional activity, students discuss the importance of Thanksgiving Day and read several poems which discuss the history of...
Curated OER
What Smells?
Students read the poem "Light" together and then discuss how poetry can come from anywhere.
Curated OER
Sight Words on a Snowy Evening
Students read various poems by Robert Frost. In groups, they use the text of one poem to identify sight words that are new to them. As a class, they listen to a recording of the poem and then repeating it outloud practicing their...
Curated OER
Synonyms and Antonyms
Students explore and respond to poetry. They define and identify synonyms and anotnyns. They create antonym pairs in English. They create synonym pairs in English and Spanish.
Curated OER
Do You See What I See?
Students participate in a reading skills lesson to improve reading comprehension. The skill of visualization is taught and practiced to help them better understand the plot of a story.
Curated OER
Signal Flags
Pupils use signal flags chart to identify common ship signals. They create different signal flags and meanings on their own.
Curated OER
Signal Flags
Young scholars use signal flags chart to identify common ship signals. They create different signal flags and meanings on their own.
Curated OER
Going on a Bear Hunt
Students discover the value of Internet safety. Through various traditional and multimedia presentations and stories, students explore the ways in which they can gather information on the Internet with an emphasis on safe searching and...
Curated OER
Kansas Symbols Bingo
Students play Kansas Symbols Bingo. In this Kansas history lesson, students review the 8 state symbols: buffalo, wheat, cottonwood tree, honeybee, meadowlark, salamander, sunflower, and turtle. Students then participate in a game of...