Curated OER
Navajo Code Talkers
An engaging lesson focuses on the contributions of the Navajo people during World War II. Learners read the book Navajo Code Talkers by Andrew Santella, answer a series of comprehension questions about the text, and write a letter...
Curated OER
What Are the Issues?
Investigate and report on three issues related to a current election. Elementary aged learners research information about specific issues, develop an opinion, and write a persuasive essay using supporting details and evidence to support...
Curated OER
Editor Travels U.S. Fixing Errors on Signs
An interesting article on editors helps young writers understand the conventions of written English. They read a news article about an editor traveling America correcting spelling and punctuation errors on signs. They discuss...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Voices of the Revolution: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)
Paul Revere, Mercy Otis Warren, James Forten, Henry Knox. The voices of the American Revolution come alive in this enrichment packet designed to challenge learners who have mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin...
Curated OER
Writing Letters-to-the-Editor
Students read newspaper editorials and apply the techniques to writing about school issues or current events. They submit the writing to the principal or newspaper editor.
Curated OER
Effective Letter Writing
Students explore letter writing. In this persuasive writing lesson, students write a letter to a local organization based on a topic of their choice. Students employ the correct letter writing procedure as outlined in the...
Curated OER
Modern Day Pen Pals, Connecting Our Art Room to the Rest of the World!
Initiate an international pen pal program! After establishing communication with an art class in another country, groups share pod casts and video streams of their work. The scripted resource details how to prepare for the pod casts, but...
Curated OER
The Writing Process
Students engage in the various steps involved in the writing process. The lesson plan is written as a guide for the teacher to write more in depth lesson plans for specific activities. This is a good model plan to follow.
Curated OER
The Rights of Bike Riders
Students write a letter to the editor of a newspaper about the bicycle helmet safety issue. They gather statistics about bicycle helmet use and discuss the statistics as a class and explain how to interpret the numbers accurately. They...
Curated OER
Government Reform - Term Limits
Learners consider the need for term limits. In this U.S. government lesson, students read selected articles about the pros and cons of term limits. Learners then survey their class regarding their opinion of term limits. Students...
Curated OER
Impact of the Progressive Era
Eighth graders examine the impact of the Progressive Era on the state of North Carolina. Using primary source documents, they discover the reason for the creation of schools during this time period. After reading news articles, they...
Curated OER
Letter of Complaint
Learners write letters of complaint. In this written communication lesson, students use the active voice to compose letters of complaint to selected audiences.
Southern Poverty Law Center
Evaluating Online Sources
All sources are pretty much the same, right? If this is how your class views the sources they use for writing or research projects, present them with a media literacy lesson on smart source evaluation. Groups examine several articles,...
Curated OER
The Aftermath of Genocide
Young scholars read and discuss articles written about the Rwandan genocide. They participate in a class discussion, and write a letter to the U.N. or a letter to the editor of their local newspaper.
Curated OER
Celebrity Letter Writing Assignment
High schoolers create a biographical portfolio of the three important people. They write letters of request, asking for autographs of people in assorted fields. Students are explained that an autograph could be one of the following: A...
Curated OER
Born to be Wild
Students watch an episode depicting the human vs. polar bear conflict in Churchill, Canada. They conduct online research and analyze the information. They interpret the facts and use storytelling techniques and role playing to convey...
Curated OER
Basic Letter Response to a Writing Prompt
Students respond to a writing prompt using appropriate letter format. For this letter writing lesson, students discuss the format for letter writing and use the worksheet format to write the heading, inside address, and salutation....
Curated OER
Debating the Over-the-Counter Sale of the "Morning After" Pill
Pupils examine the controversy at the F.D.A over Plan B. They read an article, answer discussion questions, conduct research, role-play a panel of experts at a mock conference, and write a letter to the editor their own opinion about...
Curated OER
Creative Writing - I AM A FISH
Ninth graders write a letter to the editor about the impact of people on marine life from the point of view of a fish.
Curated OER
Scooting Away from Justice?
Students examine President Bush's July 2007, decision to commute the 30-month sentence of former White House official, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby by reading a New York Times article. They scan editorial sources on various sides of the...
Curated OER
Hurricane Katrina: You Be the Reporter
Learners work in a small group to create news stories, feature stories and editorials/letters to the editor and organize them in a podcast, video-based program, or newspaper/magazine focused on Hurricane Katrina.
Curated OER
Understanding Tibet
Young scholars work in cooperative groups to read one current situation of Tibet. They respond to a set of discussion questions. Pupils write a newspaper article expressing the current information explored. Students write an editorial...
Curated OER
The Rules of the Game
Students debate whether college athletes should be held to a higher behavioral standard than non-athletes. Students determine whether behavior outside of school should be punishable by university administration, then write letters to the...
Curated OER
Immigration Reform: Understanding the Issue From Different Points of View
Students examine the topic of immigration reform. They conduct research on groups representing various viewpoints on immigration, write and perform a role-play, and write a persuasive essay or letter to a state senator on their views of...