Curated OER
Art Self-Assessment
Reflection is a wonderful way to understand yourself as a learner or as an artist. Kids write a one-paragraph analysis of their own self-portrait. They focus on style, character traits, and self characterization.
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Think of an Ending
Good endings are hard to find. And write. This, the final instructional activity in a six-part series devoted to study of the ingredients of a good story, focuses on crafting endings. Class members draft ideas about what should happen to...
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Sleuthing A Writer's Skills
Learners read The Train Ride Home by Robin Solomon. In this literature response lesson, students will inspect the writing of Solomon to determine how she established a certain tone through her word choice and paragraph structure....
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Theobroma Cacao "The Food of the Gods"
Sixth graders research the history of chocolate and write short answers to provided questions. They read about the Mayan and Aztec civilizations and the Spanish conquest.
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Using Context Clues
Teach your third graders how to find the meanings of words using context clues. Using this reading lesson, discuss how readers can find the meaning of a word by using the sentences around it. They then complete a worksheet in which they...
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Finding the Main Idea: Little Women
Whether or not your class is reading Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, you can use this exercise as the basis of a mini-lesson on how to determine the main idea of a passage or as a pre-test to assess mastery of the skill. A graphic...
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Gathering, Evaluating,and Organizing Information for a Research Report
It's never too early to build research skills! Pupils locate information relevant to a subject they are doing a research project on. They take notes and sort the information under main topic headings. Through research, they gain an...
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Develop a Paragraph
In this paragraph writing activity, students review the definition of a paragraph and then read the opening sentences for a paragraph on cooking. Students cut out the sentence strips and arrange the sentences in the order of topic...
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My Favorite Thing to Do
Students realize that a paragraph is a short piece of writing that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Every story, essay, article, or book is like a patchwork quilt made of little paragraphs stitched together
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Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
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Essay Writing
Students complete essay writing activities. In this essay writing lesson, students use an outline activity to learn about the advantages and disadvantages for various essay writing types. Students also break down the paragraphs into...
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Opinion Writing: Live at Home or Move Out?
In this opinion writing worksheet, students write a piece expressing their opinion on whether or not they want to live at home or move out after college.
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Writing Letters Using Appleworks
Young scholars discover how to write letters using Appleworks. Following a demonstration by the teacher, they compose rough drafts of their letters. Working independently, students correct their drafts and type the final versions.
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What Does Christmas Mean to Me?
Students write an essay entitled "What Does Christmas Mean to Me?" For this writing lesson, students express their feelings about Christmas in an essay. Students discuss ways they have given to others during the Christmas season, then...
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Writing Is Rough
Students identify the main idea in a story and discuss their own writing. They examine the sources of conflict in the story or the piece they are writing. They make portfolios of their best writing samples.
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Written by Himself
The narrative works of Frederick Douglass engage learners in the topic of slavery. They will experience American history in a new way, a Douglass expresses his thoughts in his own words. Pupils then interpret this literary work.
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What's the Main Idea??
Learners determine how to form a simple topic sentence in order to summarize a reading passage to increase comprehension. They apply the strategy to reading a passage from a textbook by writing a topic sentence for paragraphs about the...
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Could You Elaborate on That?
Fourth graders engage in a lesson which teaches the parts of an expository essay and how to organize and write an expository piece from a given topic. After a lecture/demo, 4th graders utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan which...
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Brainstorming
Students brainstorm, sequence topics, and write "how-to" paragraphs about real-life topics.
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Paragraphs
Young scholars observe paragraphs in newspaper articles and the chapters in their reading books writing down reasons for each new paragraph. They then discuss why writers organize their work into paragraphs.
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“Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Readers not only identify aphorisms in Emerson's "Self Reliance," but also find evidence of transcendental elements contained in the essay. They also demonstrate consistency...
Denton Independent School District
Elements of Art: Name Design Project
Introduce your class to the seven elements of art through a presentation and related project. Before beginning the project, class members take notes on the presentation, writing down the underlined items and adding drawings into their...
Historical Thinking Matters
Rosa Parks: 1 Day Lesson
You've heard of the historical moment when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, but did you know that some historical accounts disagree on where she sat? Investigate this query with your young historians, and practice...
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Geometry Project
Proofs are usually an intimidating assignment. An engaging lesson focused on geometric proofs may reduce the anxiety! Pupils choose between several triangle proofs to complete and work on completing them. The assignment also gives a...