Smithsonian Institution
POWs
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars? To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the voice of...
Curated OER
The Legendary Raptors
How are raptors and airplanes alike? Combine science and language arts in this fun and interactive project. Young scientists research the animal in order to design their own aircraft, and compete in a contest for farthest, fastest, and...
Cheryl L. Mason and William G. Thomas
Comparative Effects of Financing the Civil War
How do countries fund wars? Learners examine the economics of warfare through a comprehensive study of what measures were taken to fund wartime activities during the American Civil War. They'll start by reading a newspaper article from...
Curated OER
Zoo-Goers Ready to Greet Baby Panda
The Smithsonian's National Zoo, also known as the Washington Zoo, is one of the oldest zoos in the United States. Youngsters read and discuss a news article about Tai Shan, baby panda that was one of the zoos most famous residents. They...
Washington Township Public Schools
Using Paired Text
Paired reading passages frequently appear on standardized exams, but finding text sets to use in the classroom is sometimes a challenge. A lesson plan on using paired texts includes a selection of passages and a graphic organizer for...
Curated OER
"Me" Resource
Learners elucidate themselves by writing up to six entries in different formats. Some formatting choices include a dictionary, encyclopedia, or atlas entry, a magazine article, a newspaper article, and a table of contents. Some...
Teaching Tolerance
Media Consumers and Creators, What Are Your Rights and Responsibilities?
Teach the class to separate fact from fiction. Scholars explore the topic of fake news as they read PEN America's News Consumers' Bill of Rights and discuss the rights and responsibilities outlined in the bill. Next, they read an article...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Sentence Structure
Statements can be taken out of context and interpreted or used to support a very different view than the one originally intended. Young journalists start thinking about leading questions, sentence structure, context, and how they all...
Curated OER
Creating Bloggers
Blogs provide the motivation for this richly detailed writing lesson. After viewing blogs on various websites, class members pick topics, create a blog, and post an entry. Your bloggers then evaluate their work using evaluation sheets....
Curated OER
Identify the Parts of a Newspaper features of informational text, newspaper format
Young readers make sense out of the wealth of information in newspapers with this helpful reference document. Pointing out basic features like headings, articles, bylines, and captions this resource is a great tool for introducing...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Dealing with Peer Influence: What Are Bullying and Harassment?
Scholars examine examples of peer pressure and discuss how specific actions negatively affect one's well-being. Learners gather in small groups to write two scenarios in which peer pressure is used. They reference the STAR method in how...
Curated OER
Celebrating 100 Years of Flight
Young scholars practice reading comprehension, note taking and writing skills. In this literacy and writing lesson, students read about the invention of airplanes, women pilots and the space race before writing their own news article on...
Curated OER
I Spy Worksheet - Webpage and Newspaper Writing Practice
In this job identification worksheet, students examine several pictures from varying webpages to infer the job detailed in the scene. Then students pretend they are a reporter and write a news article about the job making sure to include...
Curated OER
Words in the News
Students discuss the topic of museums together in small groups. They identify and practice new vocabulary found in a newspaper article about a museum opening. They answer questions about the article as well.
Curated OER
Legally Wed
Students explore the controversial topic of same-sex marriages in a fishbowl discussion. They write balanced news articles based on interviews exploring people's opinions on laws that define marriage.
Curated OER
Journalist Japes
Students explore the career of a journalist. In this careers lesson, the teacher introduces the work of a journalist, then students use a worksheet as a springboard for a journalism activity as they write a news article about a specific...
Curated OER
Water Everywhere: Is There Enough to Drink?
Students examine water supply issues caused by population growth and land use. They read and discuss an article, develop a water usage trivia game, write a news article, illustrate a desalination process, and research aquifer systems.
Curated OER
Coal Mine Industrial Picture Analysis
Learners observe coal mine pictures. In this US history lesson, students analyze the pictures realizing that history is shown in pictures and then write a newspaper article about life in a coal town using the pictures as sources of...
Curated OER
Health Grade 5
Fifth graders understand conflict and how to solve them. In this lesson plan about conflict resolution, 5th graders explore different factors that cause conflict. Students are put into groups and develop a list of examples for a specific...
Curated OER
Japanese Internment
Fourth graders practice their writing skills. In this reading comprehension lesson, 4th graders review baseball terminology and then read Baseball Saved Us. In this story students learn about Japanese Americans that were taken from...
Curated OER
Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
Students take a closer look at the organization of news stories. For this journalism lesson, students identify the elements of news stories and then write their news stories on the same topics using different types of leads.
Curated OER
Labor Day Newspaper
Students examine the history of the Labor Day holiday and write a newspaper article about it. They practice using new vocabulary words and discover the layout of a newspaper.
Curated OER
The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper
Students investigate the process of making a newspaper using children's literature to create context for the lesson. The readers are asked to predict the events of the story as it is read to them. Then the teacher uses guided questions...
Curated OER
Pearl Harbor
Students consider the impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In this World War II lesson, students research print and electronic sources about the attack on Pearl Harbor and then write news article about the attack from an American or...