Orlando Shakes
The Hound of the Baskervilles: Study Guide
Sherlock Holmes may have been the greatest detective in literary history. A study guide for The Hound of the Baskervilles introduces a story featuring the famous detective before sharing activities related to the text. Readers...
Beverly Hills High School
Memoirs of a Legend
To conclude a study of the French Revolution, young historians adopt the voice of critics of Napoleon Bonaparte and lay charges against him. They then craft a memoir in Napoleon's voice that details his motives and what he sees as his...
Advocates for Human Rights
Creating a Welcoming School and Community
The final activity in a unit study of immigration and human rights asks class members to design a project for their school that builds support for immigrant classmates. To prepare for this project, individuals use what they have learned...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: High School Math – Target G
G is for generating equations. Scholars answer eight questions covering the SBAC Claim 1 Target G high school item specifications. They write one-variable and multi-variable equations and inequalities to model relationships between...
Curated OER
Web It!
Looking for a way to bring prewriting into your informative writing unit? Use this lesson plan to reinforce writing skills in your eighth grade language arts class. Young writers use a web graphic organizer as a prewriting tool for...
Curated OER
Be a Celebrity and Share Your Life with Us
Sixth graders discuss their likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals, and special events in their lives. They write a five paragraph autobiography focusing on style, transitions, and details. This is well-suited for either explanatory or...
Curated OER
Design a New Dollar Coin
Young scholars create a design for a new coin after researching people who have impacted history. Students must write a persuasive essay about why this person should be memorialized on the dollar coin and present their person to the class.
Novelinks
Count of Monte Cristo: Unsent Letters
To demonstrate their understanding of the relationships in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, readers are asked to assume the voice of one of the characters and draft a letter addressing another individual in the story.
Curated OER
Biopoem
Reinforce the actions, emotions, and characteristics that determine what a character is like by having your middle schoolers create a biopoem using the model presented here. You could engage them first by having them write a poem about...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 27
Using their notes developed throughout the unit, class members prepare for the end of the unit assessment by writing a formal essay in which they "analyze how the author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X provides a conclusion that...
Curated OER
Habitat Assessment
Third graders demonstrate the effects of varying environmental components on plants and animals: chemical, physical and biological characteristics of a habitat. They find chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the lake at...
EngageNY
Revising and Polishing Our Final Products
One, two, three go! Scholars work independently to finalize the three components of their final task. They complete a science journal entry, scientific text box, and scientific drawing. While working, learners sign up for an...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 6
As part of a mid-unit assessment, class members exchange their draft of a multi-paragraph essay with a classmate, review their partner's writing using the provided text analysis rubric, and evaluate the strength of evidence, the...
Bowland
The Z Factor
Young mathematicians determine the number of hours it would take judges of the "Z Factor" television talent show to watch every act. Participants make estimates and assumptions to solve the problem.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1
Word choice can drastically alter the tone of a piece of writing. Ninth graders read Karen Russell's short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" and use textual evidence to help them analyze how word choice affects their...
New York State Education Department
Global History and Geography Examination: June 2015
Looking for a new writing prompt or primary source practice for your global history or geography class? Take a look at a helpful state standardized test for additional practice for your learners. Writing prompts include asking scholars...
Literacy Design Collaborative
Exploring Character Development in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Convict Leasing in Alabama: a System That Re-Enslaved Blacks After the Civil War
The post-Civil War convict leasing program, rarely covered in textbooks, is the focus of a lesson that asks class members to use information drawn from primary source documents to assess the program. While the focus is on Alabama's...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 13
Whether the planks hide the beating of a hideous heart or they break away to the madness beneath, their presence makes itself known in the final instructional activity of a literary analysis unit. Having gathered textual evidence from...
Orlando Shakes
The Importance of Being Earnest: Study Guide
Historically, members of the upper class provide plenty of fodder for comedic writers. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is no exception, and a study guide for the classic play discusses some of the Victorian social...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 1
Watch your tone! Scholars take a close look at Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess. After listening to the poem, they work together to determine the impact of word choice and mood of the introduction. They then work independently on a...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 2
What do your words say about you? Scholars look closely at the Duke's words about the Duchess in Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess. Readers talk in groups to determine how the words help them learn more about the Duke. Learners also...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 3
What do words say about a person? Scholars closely examine the words Robert Browning uses to describe the Duchess in My Last Duchess. They work in groups to answer guided questions about how words help develop the Duchess as a character....
National Park Service
Lesson 4: Escape
Some enslaved people decided to run for their liberation. Using lyrics of songs they sang, young historians look at these anthems of freedom. An assessment asks them to write the story of escape from the perspective of an enslaved...