Annenberg Foundation
Controversial Issues in Practice
Wow! This resource provides three related lessons on the First Amendment that challenge US government students to explore their personal opinion on the separation of church and state. Each lesson can be adjusted in length, but is...
Mr. Nussbaum
THE Founding Father
Who is the founding father—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin? Scholars decide which of three early Americans, should be crowned the founding father of America based on research. Then, they compose a persuasive...
Saylor Academy
Persuasive Techniques
Want to safeguard your students against peer pressure? Teach them all about rhetorical appeals, common attack methods, and various argument tones with a reference sheet on persuasive techniques.
Curated OER
Questions of War and Peace: Using Case Studies to Teach the History of American Foreign Policy
Students read three case studies to focus on how the United States dealt with foreign policy issues. In groups, they read about the decision to drop the atomic bomb, the commitment of troops to Vietnam and wwhether to send troops to...
Curated OER
Climate Change
Students discuss global warming. In this global warming lesson, students read an article about global warming and list five things they learned. Students work in small groups to compare what they wrote. Students illustrate one of the...
Scholastic
Thanksgiving Lessons Grades PreK-2
A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...
Curated OER
Conversation Lesson: The Necessity of Grammar
Start a conversation to convey proper English grammar. In groups pupils voice their opinion, have well supported disagreements, and explain why they feel as they do. This lesson builds academic discussion skills and fosters a command of...
San José State University
Writing Concisely: Deleting or Replacing Unnecessary Information
Are you actually feeling really tired of reading wordy, redundant, long, lengthy sentences practically all the time over and over again? Introduce writers to this handout and exercise to teach to tighten up their prose! Provides two ways...
Curated OER
Using "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears" to Teach Cause and Effect
Students discuss cause and effect relationships and the chain reaction involved before listening to the story "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears". Students create flow charts to show the chain reactions of causes and effects in the...
New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 11
You'll C-E-R a difference in classroom achievement after using a helpful lesson. Designed for economics, civics, government, and US history classes, participants practice using the CER model to craft arguments about primary and secondary...
Curated OER
Dinosaur Designs
Second graders examine facts that can be found in nonfiction books. They listen to a read aloud of Patrick's Dinosaur, with time before the end for student predictions. They make dinosaur t-shirts using facts from the book.
Curated OER
The Connection Between Medicine, Ethics, and Law: The Right to Die
Students in a special education class examine the United States Constitution. Using the text, they answer five research questions and discuss the amendments that concern medicine, ethics and law of the right to die issue. They develop...
Curated OER
Social Studies" Turning Points
Students will understand how people are affected by places and events and will communicate their opinions in an essay including historical facts.
Curated OER
The President's Day Has Arrived
Students state and defend their opinions regarding all aspects of the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton after completing a survey and researching the topic. They also consider opinion polls, media bias and global politics.
Curated OER
Democracy in Action
Students consider words that reflect their knowledge and opinions about democracy. They work in groups to research countries that have recently transitioned to democratic forms of government.
Curated OER
Laws and Force in Law Enforcement
Learners investigate the issues of police brutality, use of excessive force, and the underlying issues by participating in a round-table discussion. They compare how these issues are explored differently in different types of...
Curated OER
Writing an Analytical Essay From a Supreme Court Case
Critical thinkers read a summary of a United States Supreme Court case, including important background information and the court's final decision. They form an opinion in agreement or disagreement regarding the case and then write an...
Curated OER
Carlyle Figures It Out
In this money worksheet, students read a passage titled Carlyle Figures It Out and completes word problems about it. Students complete 2 word problems and answer 2 opinion questions.
Curated OER
Genocide in World War II
Students access a variety of websites that explore the Nazi German genocide of Jews in WWII. They view a film, complete a worksheet and write an opinion paper supporting the view to either punish or forgive the perpetrators of crimes...
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....
State Bar of Texas
Gideon v. Wainwright
How does a trial begin without a lawyer for the defendant? The 1963 Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright serves as the backdrop for the study of the rights of the accused. Scholars use a short video along with paired discussion and...
Curated OER
Produce a Nonfiction Text
In this language arts worksheet, middle schoolers look for the facts and create several nonfiction texts while including useful information for the reader.
Curated OER
Science Current Events Lessons
You can use current events to increase student understanding of both science concepts and language arts skills.
Curated OER
Writing a Letter to the Editor
Students identify the main elements/structure of a letter to the editor. They brainstorm for thoughts and opinions on a specific topic and write a first draft of a letter to an editor of a newspaper. They give each other preliminary...