Curated OER
Narratives
Add to the narrative writing experience. Elementary or middle school writers listen to the teacher read a descriptive passage, then reread the same passage silently. They highlight sensory details and figurative language, then orally...
Curated OER
Counting Back and Counting On
Read aloud your choice of books about counting on and counting back (a list is provided, or tell stories of your own). Your learners will write horizontal equations to portray what happens in the story. They build a paper chain and...
Curated OER
Read, Write and Talk
Fourth graders explore electricity by reading a story in their class. In this research technique lesson, 4th graders read a Magic School Bus book together and decide which elements of the story are the most important when asked about...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 1: Contemporary Fiction - They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems by David Bowles
They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid's Poems by David Bowles is the focus of a five-week language arts unit unit. Fifth graders listen to various poems and participate in thoughtful discussions, examining vocabulary and learning new words in...
Curated OER
Writer's Toolbox
Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...
Curated OER
Play Ball
Students study the history of baseball in Brooklyn. They read a shared reading about the history of baseball in Brooklyn and respond to an archival picture of an early baseball game. They write two "teacher questions" for the class to...
Curated OER
Abigail Adams: Integrating Social Studies and Language Arts
Third graders increase reading strategies while learning about Abigail Adams and her role in history. In this Abigail Adams lesson, 3rd graders read about the American Revolution and Abigail Adams using all the balanced literacy...
Curated OER
Picture Perfect: Reading and Narrative Writing
Pupils will create a fictional narrative based on the cover of a picture book provided by the teacher. In this narrative writing lesson plan students incorporate all story elements and use strategies to engage the reader.
Curated OER
Reading Partners
Students participate in several activities using a reading partner. They plan and organize reading meetings with their partner, and then review story elements by retelling the stories orally. The partners question each other and make...
Curated OER
Investigate a New Word from "Notes from the Trail"
Students read and take notes from Notes from the Trail. In this reading fluency activity, students read back and share their notes finding 7-10 new words. Students define, write an unrelated sentence and present.
Curated OER
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Graphic Organizer: Venn Diagram
Compare and contrast the characters in John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Using a Venn diagram, kids write in different traits to describe each person, and note their shared characteristics in the middle section.
Curated OER
The Kite Runner: What is Afghanistan Like Today?
After completing Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, readers research a topic of interest and prepare a five-minute presentation, and share their findings with the class.
Curated OER
Language Arts Skills: Listening and Speaking Strategies
Your class can practice communicating clearly. They practice listening and speaking through games such asTelephone and a social scavenger hunt. This is a solid lesson that helps apply good communication skills.
Teaching Tolerance
Where We Stand
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Academics learn strategies to share their opinions and agree or disagree with others in a respectful manner. The resource provides scenarios to help individuals form opinions and share them with...
Curated OER
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Read All About It!
Develop an online newspaper covering the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The class publishes their newspaper on the school's Web site and analyze both primary and secondary sources.
For the Teachers
Sequence Plot Chart
Your kids can identify the plot sequence of a short story, but what about an informational article? Have them examine the chronological order of events in informational texts with a lesson on the sequence of events.
Scholastic
Adding and Subtracting Ten
Developing fluency with basic addition and subtraction is fundamental to the success of all young mathematicians. This four-day lesson series begins with learners using ten-frames and hundreds charts to recognize patterns when adding and...
K20 LEARN
Deconstructing Reconstruction: The Reconstruction Era
High schoolers examine the Reconstruction programs instituted following the American Civil War, the potential for change these efforts offered, and the realities that occurred. Guided by a PowerPoint presentation, class members read a...
Center for History and New Media
Growing Up in a Segregated Society, 1880s–1930s
What did segregation look like in the beginning of the 20th century? Middle and high schoolers view images of segregated areas, read passages by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, and come to conclusions about how the influence of...
EngageNY
Launching the Novel: Character Analysis of Ha
Scholars receive numbers as they work in groups to read Inside Out & Back Again. The instructor calls out specific numbers for readers to share the group's thoughts. Then, they use a model passage to demonstrate the effective actions...
EngageNY
Drafting Individual Readers Theater Scripts for a Specific Scene: Rephrasing, Narrator Introduction, and Identifying Characters
Read, revise, refine! Scholars refine their readers theater scripts by rephrasing some of the lines. Next, they write drafts of their narrator introductions and share their work with peers to give and receive feedback.
Nemours KidsHealth
Stress: Grades 3-5
Two activities focus on stress—common stressors and coping strategies. In the first activity, scholars identify stressors and explore ways to keep stress away. To aid the process, learners create a poster and complete a handout...
Health Smart Virginia
Shake It Off
It requires more than a twitch to shake off stress. But with the help of the stress management strategies taught in a very dynamic lesson, freshmen can learn to do so. Class members watch videos, examine an infographic, read an article,...
Learning for Justice
The Color of Law: Winners and Losers in the Job Market
The second lesson in "The Color of Law" shows how government policies supported economic inequality. Scholars read additional excerpts and respond to text-dependent questions from "The Color of Law" text, examine primary source documents...