Curated OER
The Empty Pot: A Lesson About Integrity
Learners discuss whether honesty really is the best policy with a lesson on "The Empty Pot," a Chinese fable about integrity. After reading the story, class members answer several comprehension and reflection questions about what they...
Curated OER
Mapping My World
First graders make two maps. In this developing and reading maps instructional activity, 1st graders read Mapping Penny's World, discuss the parts of a map, create a map of their classroom, and create a list of directions of how to get...
Curated OER
Verdi
Third graders explore language arts by answering study questions about a book they read. In this reading summary instructional activity, 3rd graders read the book Verdi by Janell Cannon and identify the plot, characters and sequence of...
Curated OER
Taking a picture Walk
First graders use question words to answer comprehension questions. In this reading strategies instructional activity, 1st graders use picture cues and predict events in a story. Students use context clues to understand unfamiliar...
Curated OER
Mapping Perceptions
Students create and read maps. For this map skills lesson, students draw a map of their neighborhood, then use skills acquired during map-making to interpret a classmates map and a map of the Ming Dynasty.
Curated OER
Trouble With Trolls
Students listen to The Trouble With Trolls and discuss fables. For this story elements lesson, students work on reading skills. Students participate in different reading activities.
Curated OER
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Learners complete activities with the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. In this literature lesson plan, students listen to the story and then participate in shared reading. This lesson plan offers three extensions which link the story...
Curated OER
And Today's Guest Star Is...
Learners explore correct social behaviors. In this social skills lesson plan, students take turns modeling correct social behaviors in various settings. Learners write text for a social story and share them with the class.
Curated OER
Decoding Strategies
Students practice using context clues to decode the meanings of unfamiliar words. In this vocabulary skills lesson plan, students follow the provided instructions to complete graphic organizers that enable them to decode words in "The...
EngageNY
Continued Close Reading of Nasreen's Secret School: Discussions of Questions and Evidence
Third graders answer text-dependent questions of the story Nasreen's Secret School both independently and then collaboratively through using the carousel of questions strategy. This plan is the seventh instructional activity in a larger...
Clark County School District
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
A thorough lesson plan takes your first grade class through Jane Yolen's beautiful Owl Moon. It crafts the unit with clear objectives, high-level guiding questions, cloze activities and sentence frames, and extension activities at the...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Curated OER
War Literature
Working in groups, young historians review a war poem written by Stephen Crane. After reviewing the poem, they present an oral interpretation of the poem and hold a panel discussion about their analysis. The panel is made up of five or...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Special Order 40
The city of Los Angeles' 1979 Special Order 40 states: "LAPD officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person." After reading a fact sheet that details the history of Special Order...
Curated OER
1920s Variety Show
To better understand the cultural achievements of the Harlem Renaissance and become familiar with its major figures, class members examine a painting by Aaron Douglas and a poem by Langston Hughes and compare how the artists develop...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Refugees from the Caribbean: Cuban and Haitian “Boat People”
Should refugees fleeing poverty be allowed the same entrance into the United States as those fleeing persecution? High schoolers read about US foreign policy in the late 20th century regarding refugees from Cuba and Haiti, and engage in...
Anti-Defamation League
Identity-Based Bullying
What is identity? What is bullying? What is identity-based bullying? After discussing these questions as a class, pupils engage in partner discussions before participating in a small group activity to act out bullying scenarios. Then,...
Curated OER
Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum
Henry David Thoreau and Linda Ronstadt? Ann Tyler and Pete Townshend? Joyce Carol Oates and Pearl Jam? This richly detailed plan pairs classic literature with contemporary music and asks learners to analyze how the theme of conformity is...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Refugees From Vietnam and Cambodia
The United States may have pulled its troops from the Vietnam War in 1973, but the conflict was far from over for the citizens living in Asia at the time. An informative resource lets learners know about the wave of over 220,000...
Curated OER
Get a Leg Up
Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the human body.
Curated OER
Go for the Gold!
The options are vast with this Ancient Greece and Olympics research project! Using Scholastic online resources, historians have interactive and educational supports to guide them through researching and writing about the 2004 Olympics in...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Educating European Immigrant Children Before World War I
As if surviving a journey to America wasn't enough of a feat for early 20th century immigrants, they then needed to settle into American life. Learn about the ways New York public education attempted to meet the needs of its high...
Facing History and Ourselves
Confirmation and Other Biases
As the investigation into the reporting of the events in Ferguson, Missouri, continues, class members consider how bias influences perception, how the tendency is to collect evidence that supports preconceived notions. The big idea...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Issues of Asylum in the U.S.
Who gets to come to the United States? Examine cases of individuals seeking asylum with an informative reading passage that includes examples, statistics, and representations of public opinion regarding asylum. Groups then go on to...