Curated OER
Teaching Julius Caesar: A Differentiated Approach
While the themes of Julius Caesar may appeal to most readers, the act of reading the play can be a challenge. A unit plan related to the popular play by Shakespeare provides lesson plans and activities designed for differentiated...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 3 Assessment, Part II: Organizing Notes for a Public Speech
It's all a matter of opinion! Pupils take Part II of the mid-unit assessment, in which they continue organizing their notes in preparation for writing an opinion speech. Using the resource, they add reasons, evidence, and a concluding...
Curated OER
Lesson Planet's Summer Writing Challenge
Take part in an online learning community, and win prizes by participating in Lesson Planet's first Summer Writing Challenge!
Channel Islands Film
The Legendary King
After viewing two documentaries about the history of the Channel islands, individuals craft an essay in which they compare the lives of Juana Maria, the Lone Woman San Nicolar Island, to Lester Holt and his family featured in the...
Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
EngageNY
Using Peer Feedback and Summarizing Our Research In Informational Text Boxes
Insert text box here. Learners use index cards to create their own informational text boxes. The text box includes information about an insect in the rainforest. Scholars also complete the draft of their research science journal entries.
Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Jan Brett
Prepare to teach Jan Brett stories by taking a look at this teacher resource, which includes text-based questions, writing assignments, discussion ideas, and vocabulary practice for 18 different stories.
ReadWriteThink
Teaching Point of View With Two Bad Ants
What better way to explain the concept of point of view than from an ant's perspective! After reading Two Bad Ants, pupils identify the point of view of the ants by studying the text and pictures. Then, they fill out a chart that...
EngageNY
Performance Task: Final Informative Consumer Guide
Formative feedback should be kind, specific, and helpful. Pupils engage in a peer editing process, using a rubric to critique a partner's writing. Next, scholars use the feedback to create the final version of their informative consumer...
Curated OER
Applying KWL Guides to Sources with Elementary Students
What is a KWL chart? Here is a well thought-out lesson that has learners use KWL charts to gain historical perspective. Your class examines primary sources about historical events and identifies what they know, want to know, and,...
Super Duper Publications
Welcome to Kindergarten: Handwriting without Tears
Do your kindergartners become frustrated when learning about handwriting? Use a guiding chart to show your learners the most efficient ways to form each lowercase letter. Additionally, it provides methods to remember how to write numbers.
PBS
Writing a Historical Poem
Students conduct field research of a historical site in order to discover a more complete understanding of a time period. They choose one particular historical figure and write a short poem about the site from the historical person's...
Indian River State College
Argumentative (Persuasive) Essay Guidelines
Here is a handout that outlines six great steps to structuring an argumentative essay, which can be continually referenced as you teach your class about persuasive writing.
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Teaching Primary and Secondary Sources
What makes a source primary or secondary? Middle schoolers read a definition of each term before exploring different examples and applying their knowledge to a research project.
K20 LEARN
Writing An Argumentative Paragraph: Argumentative Writing
Learning how to craft a cogent argument based on a solid claim, supported with evidence and solid reasoning, is an important life skill. Teach middle schoolers about argumentative writing with a lesson asking them to analyze the claims,...
Curated OER
Visual Literacy: Using Images to Increase Comprehension
A colorful PowerPoint is a great way to introduce the topic of visual literacy. The eye-catching presentation begins with an overview of visual literacy and then provides some specific strategies to help enhance reading comprehension. As...
EngageNY
Finding Relevant Information and Asking Research Questions: The Big Thirst
Let's get to the gist. As scholars continue their study of Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst, they practice writing the gist of the text. Additionally, pupils add notes about the industrial uses of water to their researcher's notebooks.
Curated OER
House and Holmes: A Guide to Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...
Chymist
Writing Chemical Equations
Communicate chemistry clearly with a concise guide to writing chemical equations. It covers everything from the parts of a chemical equation to the different types of reactions that budding chemists may encounter.
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Looking to the Future
New Horizons set forth on a mission to Pluto in 2006. Ten years later, the spacecraft is still on its way. Here, enthusiastic scholars predict what they will be like—likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc.—when New Horizons arrives at its...
Illustrative Mathematics
Many Ways to Do Addition
A great aspect of teaching math is that children have the freedom to solve problems using a variety of different strategies. The focus of this lesson is for young mathematicians to become aware of many ways of answering addition...
Laura Candler
ABC’s of Me!
Young authors share all about themselves with this printable autobiography resource. Including 26 different sentence frames, one focusing on each letter of the alphabet, students write about everything from an adventure they would like...
Crafting Freedom
Thomas Day's Letter to His Daughter, Mary Ann
Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....
Georgian Court University
Introduction to Marsh Ecology
Compare and contrast the characteristics of fresh and salt water marshes. After exploring the typical plants and animals found in each marsh type, participants use a set of flash cards to sort into fresh and salt water marsh life. Their...