Curated OER
Political Parties Then & Now
Students research information about candidates both past and present. They role play a party member, the public or the press to present information.
Curated OER
Schools
First graders complete a unit of lessons on school and how schools have changed. They read a Laura Ingalls Wilder excerpt, view and discuss a Norman Rockwell painting, conduct an interview, construct a school map, and create an ABC book...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Comparing and Contrasting: Picturing an Organizational Pattern
Contains plans for two 50-minute lessons that teach about the comparison/contrast organizational pattern. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to PDF handouts and sites used in the lessons as...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Compare & Contrast as an Idea Springboard
In this Writers Workshop lesson, students read Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel to learn about writing that compares and contrasts to things. This format can be used to write about many different topics in curricular areas and...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Teaching the Compare and Contrast Essay Through Modeling
Contains plans for three lessons that teach young scholars how to write comparison contrast essays after modeling the form to them. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Voice Building Poetry Lesson: Comparison & Contrast Poems
In this lesson, students examine multiple mentor texts to help drive them toward the final persuasive writing assignment: comparison and contrast poems written from a parent and a child's perspective. A short story, two poems, and a song...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Now & Then
Inspired by Gene Barretta's Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin this fantastic cross-curricular activity has students comparing or contrasting a particular topic of history with how things are in this day and age.
British Library
British Library: Teaching Resources: Romeo and Juliet: Words, Poetry & Plagiarism
In these activities, students will conduct a close linguistic exploration of the Romeo and Juliet text, which considers the central and deadly role that words play in the lovers' fate. They will also engage in broader tasks that...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Reading Writing & 'Rithmetic in the One Room Schoolhouse
Comparing and contrasting are skills that are utilized in this lesson plan. Teacher resources and detailed activities will help the learners learn about the schools in early America.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Introducing the Venn Diagram in the Kindergarten Classroom
Contains plans for short lessons that introduce the use of Venn Diagrams to kindergarten students. Uses interactive Venn Diagram exercises to make the concept easy to understand. In addition to objectives and standards, this...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing & Writing About Non Fiction
Introduce your learners to the different types of non-fiction such as biographies, biographies, and informative books. Students will use graphic organizers, peer interaction, and hands-on experiences to further understanding of this lesson.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Learning Lab: Teaching With Primary Sources
Five lesson plans, complete with videos, primary sources, and document-based questions (DBQ) to encourage students to utilize primary sources and incorporate thinking and writing into daily learning. Topics include: Artifact &...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: c.s.i.: The Cory Crime Scene
The character talked about in E. A. Robinson's poem, Richard Cory, is about a man with everything, a man that everyone wants to be like, a man who ends his own life without explanation. Singers Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, intrigued by...
British Library
British Library: 19th Century Non Fiction Texts: Work & Welfare
This thematic collection will allow students to read and understand 19th-century non-fiction texts, and support them in identifying key features for a range of genres, audiences, and purposes. Each source is accompanied by original...
British Library
British Library: 19th Century Non Fiction Texts: Gender, Behaviour & Etiquette
This thematic collection will allow learners to read and understand 19th-century non-fiction texts, and support them in identifying key features for a range of genres, audiences, and purposes. Each source is accompanied by original...
British Library
British Library: 19th Century Non Fiction Texts: Crime & Punishment
This thematic collection will allow students to read and understand 19th-century non-fiction texts, and support them in identifying key features for a range of genres, audiences, and purposes. Each source is accompanied by original...
British Library
British Library: Austen's Emma: Social Realism & the Novel
In the course of the novel's development, Jane Austen was a significant contributor to the emergence of the modern novel as we know it today. The review of Emma in the Quarterly Review (October 1815) makes clear to a modern audience how...
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Flying to Freedom: Tar Beach & the People Could Fly
Comparing and contrasting works and looking for underlying themes and messages are at the heart of this multicultural lesson plan. Provides links to several background resources, and suggestions for assessment.
Other
Kim's Korner: Patterns of Organization
This resource from Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk defines various patterns of text organization and provides a brief essay example of each pattern.