Curated OER
Identifying Setting: Expository Writing
Your class can take turns describing a well know location or setting without giving its name, and the rest of the class can try to identify the location, based on the details given. They chart the elements that helped in the...
Pennsylvania Bar Association
The Pied Piper vs. The City of Hamelin
How would the Pied Piper recover his damages from the deceptive citizens of Hamelin if the story took place today? Explore one of the Pied Piper's options with a short play that depicts a court case in which he sues the city of Hamelin...
PBS
Journalism Ethics
As a journalist, would you publish everything you heard or saw? Discuss the ethics of journalism with a lesson from PBS. Young reporters imagine themselves to be the editor of their school's newspaper, and as they read five scenarios,...
University of Pennsylvania
Decoding Propaganda: J’Accuse…! vs. J’Accuse…!
Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...
Reed Novel Studies
Homeless Bird: Novel Study
Many people face the struggle between tradition and desire to forget their own paths. A study guide for the novel Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan discusses the issue of adhering to tradition from the perspective of a protagonist who faces...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Let’s Look Around!: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Let's Look Around! is the theme of a unit that offers a plethora of challenge activities. Enhance your scholars' learning experiences and reinforce concepts with activities such as writing a book about farm animals, an imaginary place,...
Edmond Public Schools
SOAPSTone
Break an article down with a SOAPSTone chart. Class members determine the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone. The chart includes a question for each of these elements, provides some clarifying text for each, and...
Crafting Freedom
The Self-Empowerment of Harriet Jacobs
In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a confined...
Curated OER
Latin Roots Grad, Mot, Cad: Interactive Puzzles
Three short puzzles emphasize Latin roots grad, mot, and cad in English spelling and vocabulary. Learners choose words from a list and complete spellings in boxes with definitions for clues. A reading passage using the words is included....
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Questioning Strategies
Bloom's Taxonomy is a great way to address the many levels of comprehension. With explanations and examples of each level, you can create questions that focus on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Curated OER
Writing A Summary - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Students explore short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this literature activity, students read one of his short stories listed and then summarize the story in a written piece.
Curated OER
Map of Ship Trap Island
Students read the short story "The Most Dangerous Game," and create maps of Ship Trap Island and justify why items are placed on their map in certain locations.
National First Ladies' Library
Writing (and Rewriting!) History
Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...
Curated OER
House Opposite
Students read the short story House Opposite to help them differentiate between the terms "religion" and "spirituality." Students make connections to situations of people who struggle between the two in the real world by creating a...
Curated OER
Young Learner's Writing Workshop 2
Students choose a short story or book and a student takes on the role of one of the characters in the story. They complete an interview worksheet and then students question each other further about the character they are playing.
Curated OER
Literature: Isabel Allende
Students watch and respond to a Bill Moyers Now video on the Chilean author, Isabel Allende. They brainstorm a list of recent events that might inspire writers and choose one to write about in poetic, diary, or short story form.
Curated OER
Regions Change
Students examine how geography can have an impact on change in a region. They discuss what their local area might be like in 50 years, and in pairs, select a situation and write a short story to describe how it changed from one thing to...
Curated OER
Spelling Words for Frog and Toad Together
In this spelling words for Frog and Toad Together worksheet, 1st graders write 5 high frequency words and 10 spelling words, find and write long I and long O words, complete 5 sentences, answer 6 questions from a story and write a short...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Clique
Mean girls and bully packs are favorite topic for films and TV shows that focus on the destructive power of cliques. High school freshmen are asked to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of cliques by reading a short...
Curated OER
Little Engine That Could Lesson Plan
Learners retell the story The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. In this early childhood lesson plan, students identify the various trains featured in the story, focusing on the descriptive words. Learners then create their own...
Curated OER
Creative Caribbean Story
Students read stories about the Caribbean. They write about the Caribbean lifestyle. Students write their own stories of the Caribbean, using facts and researched information.
Curated OER
Home Spelling Practice
In this spelling worksheet, students practice their spelling words that include short u words, short vowel words, and short sight words that writers use. Students practice 25 words.
Curated OER
Alphabet Picture Prompts: The Letter J
In this story starter activity, students complete the activity their teacher created for the letter J. Students write their own story based on the picture, sight words, spelling, or vocabulary words the teacher included.
Curated OER
Alphabet Picture Prompts: The Letter V
In this story starters worksheet, students write their own stories using the printable worksheet their teacher made for letter V pictures, sight words, spelling, or vocabulary words.