American Museum of Natural History
Wonderful World of Wasps
Shockingly, wasps sometimes challenge lions as the king of predators! Learners explore the life of a wasp in an interactive online lesson. They read about the characteristics of wasps and then complete activities to learn about their lives.
ARKive
Temperate Rainforest in the Pacific Northwest
Explore the amazing temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. Your class starts by investigating the animals and plants of the Northwest, specifically Washington, and then research an animal population common to the area. In small...
Orlando Shakes
Les Misérables: Study Guide
A writer has the responsibility to defend the less fortunate members of society. At least that was the view of Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables. The novel is the subject of a study guide from Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Learners...
Curated OER
Know It All: Seals! Teaching Plan
Students discover information about seals, including behavior and habitat. In this early childhood lesson plan, students identify various aspects about seals. Students create an illustration or painting of their favorite seal, and...
Curated OER
The Very Hungry Caterpillar: A Sequencing Lesson
Students listen to "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and summarize to story to demonstrate comprehension. They review the days of the week and create their own book.
Curated OER
Eensy Weensy Spider Lesson Plan
Students create their own versions of The Eensy-Weensy Spider. In this creative writing instructional activity, students read The Eensy-Weensy Spider and imagine what else the spider could do. Students then draw a picture depicting the...
Curated OER
Esperanza Rising- Metacognition
Sixth graders develop metacognitive skills while reading Esperanza Rising. In this comprehension strategies instructional activity, 6th graders read a chapter from the book and discuss questions with a small group. Students share with...
Curated OER
Christmas at Mud Flat Lesson Plan
Students analyze the characters in the book Christmas at Mud Flat. In this early childhood lesson plan, students analyze characters in the book, then choose which character they personally identify with the most. Students then use...
Curated OER
Japanese Festival Mask Making
Middle schoolers learn about Japanese culture and make a mask. In this lesson about Japanese mask-making, students use research and art to explore the Japanese culture. Middle schoolers research Japanese masks. Students design their own...
Curated OER
Characteristics of a Leader
Students identify and explore the characteristics of a good leader. In this leadership lesson, students brainstorm a list of good leaders and identify their common characteristics. Students select one of the characteristics and prepare a...
Curated OER
Summarize information gathered and create a plaque to put on the Hall of Fame
Third graders summarize information. In this Hall of Fame lesson plan, 3rd graders gather information on inductees and paraphrase the information. Students use this to create decorate and create a sample plaque.
Curated OER
Animal Report
Fourth graders explore the variety of resources available to them at the library. They utilize many of these resources to create an animal report with a set criterium.
Curated OER
"The Westing Game" Activities and Lesson Plans
You can use a novel, such as "The Westing Game", to teach reading concepts and skills in a way that keeps students interested.
Curated OER
Summarizing is Fun with Flat Stanley!
Students read the book "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown. Through modeling and guided practice, as a class, they complete a story map and 1-paragraph summary of the first chapter in the book. Then, in groups, they follow the same procedure...
Curated OER
Sum It Up!
Students read the book Esperanza Rising and discover the meaning of a summary. They re-read chapter one and write down some things that they think are the most important facts about what is going on in the story. They copy a story map...
Curated OER
So You Want to be President?
Students review the meaning of a summary and why they are important. They silently read the book, So You Want To Be President thinking about the main points in the story. When finished, each child summarizes a page from the book which...
Curated OER
Free Reading Chart
Students read library books daily for ten to fifteen minutes, log information on Free Reading Chart, giving a brief summary of what they just read, and write brief reactionary response to the reading.
Curated OER
Bill of Rights Booklet
Young scholars design a booklet that explores the Bill of Rights. They summarize each of the rights, write a personal response to each entry and create an illustration to interpret each of the rights. Students then make a cover and title...
Curated OER
In a Nutshell....
Young scholars examine how to summarize the most important details in a reading passage in order to increase their comprehension. They design a story web using the summarization skills. Before class, they complete a reading assignment...
Curated OER
Summer of My German Soldier
High schoolers participate in a layered curriculum unit for a novel study. The teaching method allows for a student centered classroom that includes different methods of instruction and assessment.
Curated OER
Genre Jeopardy
Students participate in a game-like format to identify characteristics of genres. They categorize stories into genres bases on story summaries after a class discussion of the characteristics.
Curated OER
Chinese Zodiac
Fifth graders identify the basic elements of a narrative story, such as the beginning, middle, and the end; to analyze the character traits in the story to write a summary using the 5 Ws and How chart included; through sample stories...
Curated OER
Whittle, Whittle it Down: Summarizing
Sixth graders are introduced to the jigsaw method of summarizing text. In groups, they create their own summary and work together as a class to create just one class summary. To end the activity, they read the class summary and review...
Curated OER
Summarizing Puts the Pieces Together
Pupils summarize a piece of fiction. After reviewing the correct way to read and summarize, students work in groups to summarize a piece of text assigned by the instructor. They write a summary paragraph by creating a story map and using...