Curated OER
The Road to Success
Middle schoolers chronicle the main events in their lives so far. They draft, revise, and publish an anecdote. Students get to know their fellow classmates and they build a nurturing learning community. Middle schoolers take an interest...
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The Newspaper Article
Have your class participate in an interview activity using an informational text about the Amazon. After reading a Cultural Connections story about a person from the Amazon, middle schoolers write interview questions based on the text....
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"Three Shots": Ernest Hemingway's Nick Adams
Analyze characterization in literature. Readers use "Three Shots," from The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway and complete classroom activities that require them to apply literary analysis techniques. They write their own short...
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Photo Essay
Students examine the process of writing a photo essay. They examine and select a personal photo or photo from a magazine, and brainstorm a story that can go with the photo. They identify an emotion to go with their picture, then write...
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Life Cycle of Butterfly
Second graders investigate life cycles of insects by writing a story. In this butterfly life lesson, 2nd graders create a checklist of the many steps a caterpillar takes before growing wings and flying. Students utilize creative...
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The All About Me Poster
Learners discover the literary genre of biographies. In this creative writing lesson, students write about their own life experiences and personal stories. Learners create a poster about their lives, a biographical collage.
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The Time I Got Lost
Third graders go through the writing process but substitute paper and pencil with the computer to create a story about "The Time I Got Lost".
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Briar Rose: Anticipation Guide
Prepare your readers for Briar Rose with an Anticipation Guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect issues raised by Jane Yolen’s narrative about a young girl’s research into her grandmother’s...
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Autobiographical Writing
Second graders explore, examine and study the style of autobiographical writing and the relationship with the author. They rad three different types of autobiographical writings: narrative, poetry and newspaper article. Each student...
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From Memoir to Expository Writing with Advanced English Language Learners
Learners create a memoir. They compare writing with story telling and personal experience. They analyze how they learn, so they can begin to look critically at their own learning.
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Assignment # 1: Merry-Go-Round Story
Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...
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Coping or Coping Out?
Fifth graders explore, analyze and study personal safety skills and coping strategies for managing life changes or events. They participate in small groups to identify and present coping skills when experiencing possibly the loss of a...
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Storytelling Traditions
Pupils demonstrate an evaluation of how the culture of a time period influences storytelling narratives by comparing Adeline's story to the plot summary of Cinderella and Anne Sexton's poem Cinderella. They write a poem which reworks a...
Santa Ana Unified School District
Early American Poets
The poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the focus of a unit that asks readers to consider how an artist's life and changes in society influences his or her work. After careful study of Whitman's and Dickinson's perspectives on...
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Voices of Our People: A Patchwork of Cultures
Students view a gallery of photographs online and list objective and subject observations of the photos. They develop questions about the photos and write first person narratives about them.
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Newspaper Poetry
High schoolers cut out nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs from newspapers and create poems using words they have found.
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Holidays: Ramadan and Eid
Learners study ways some holidays are celebrated in this country, and share their experiences, the lesson focuses on Bangla students' celebration of Eid, an important holiday in Bangladesh for the Muslim People. Learners make a class...
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Transforming Fairy Tales
Students use the computer to write, draw, explore the Internet, and combine all of these elements. They write their own fairy tales, use computer software to create drawings of the characters for their tales and use the Internet to...
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Assignment #5 Sci-Fi Analysis
Class members select a science fiction novel for independent study. To verify they have completed the reading, they write a summary, a critique, and an outline of the plot for a sequel or prequel. They then deliver a five-minute speech,...
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Cause And Effect
Fourth graders read the book Stellaluna and cite sentences that show cause and effect in the story. In this cause and effect lesson plan, 4th graders also write sentences that show cause and effect in their own lives.
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YANG AND THE YOUNGEST AND HIS TERRIBLE EAR
Students perform a web scavenger hunt to find information about the author of the book, YANG THE YOUNGEST AND HIS TERRIBLE EAR. They develop an understanding of how writers use personal experience to add voice to their writing.
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Interview! Magazine
Students interview a subject and write a biographical sketch for a fictional magazine. In this interview lesson, students choose a person to interview and create two sets of questions. Students conduct the interview. Students then write...
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Senior Scrapbook Assignment
Twelfth graders write creatively and reflectively on 20 different events or memories that shaped their senior year. They organize memorabilia into a scrapbook with 20 entries and create a cover that represents their senior year. They...
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The Star of My Show
Students recognize how they are stars in their own rights. In this language arts instructional activity, students consider their personal achievements as they make a star mobile that includes written life event highlights.