Curated OER
Teaching Julius Caesar: A Differentiated Approach
While the themes of Julius Caesar may appeal to most readers, the act of reading the play can be a challenge. A unit plan related to the popular play by Shakespeare provides lesson plans and activities designed for differentiated...
Curated OER
A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Don't Mess with Mercury (Lesson A)
Mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature. Teach your class this and many more interesting mercury facts by assigning an engaging task. A public relations activity, the exercise informs pupils of the hazards of...
Peace Corps
Introducing Culture
Growing up within a culture leaves a lot of ideas and values unspoken. Take a closer look at the cultures in which your learners live with a discussion activity that addresses cultural identity and traits of those living within the...
E Reading Worksheets
Context Clues
Reinforce language and reading comprehension skills with a worksheet focused on context clues. Scholars carefully read twelve sentences, use prior knowledge and sentence clues to define an unknown word.
Curated OER
Social Studies: Exploring Boston's Big Dig
Young scholars, in a high school class for autistic children, take a virtual tour of Boston's "Big Dig" and the artifacts discovered there. During weekly lab sessions, they discover the processes involved in artifact preservation. ...
Curated OER
Gender Bender
Learners explore the effects of Title IX. In addition, tudents create revised rulebooks for a sport in their school based on their understanding of Title IX and write a related article for the school newspaper.
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Image as Metaphor
Students define metaphor in both art and writing. In this metaphor lesson, students examine a photograph by Dorothea Lange and discuss the metaphor that is displayed in the picture. They write about an object that symbolizes a personal...
Curated OER
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
A thorough lesson introduces learners to Hans Christian Andersen, the nineteenth-century author who created wonderful tales. They read the original texts of several of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid,"...
Curated OER
Editorial Writing: What's On Your Mind
Students write an editorial column for a newspaper. For this journalism instructional activity, students discuss and analyze editorials in print and broadcast media. Students will compare the differences in these two formats of editorial...
Curated OER
Learning Types of Editorials - and Writing Some
Students recognize and differentiate between the three types of editorials in order to write editorials for the school newspaper. In this editorials instructional activity, students read example persuasive and interpretative editorials....
Curated OER
Story Generators
Learners develop news stories for the high school paper based on current issues in the local news. Students identify different sources for articles, and develop interviews questions. For this news ideas and sources lesson plan, learners...
Curated OER
Perspectives on Written & Spoken English
Students explore issues surrounding language norms, including the distinction between prescriptive and descriptive norms, the differences between norms for spoken English and those for written English, how word meanings change, and...
Curated OER
Where Do I Begin: Writing an Effective Feature Story
High schoolers write an effective feature story. In this journalism lesson plan, learners learn through 6 activities to ask open-ended questions, write effective leads, and handle quotes, and write headlines for news stories.
Curated OER
Ethics and Hazelwood: What Journalists Should and Can Write
Students explore the code of ethics in journalism. In this journalism ethics lesson, students use Hazelwood and Tinker to explore journalism ethics. Students compare ethics of journalists and pirates, read a related article, write their...
Curated OER
A Holiday Newsletter In MS Word For Elementary School
Learners produce a holiday newsletter using a software program. For this holiday newsletter lesson, students use a software template to write a newsletter. They fill in the template with appropriate information and pictures.
Curated OER
Writing Headlines
Students define the purpose of headlines and practice writing their own. In this news writing lesson plan, students define the elements of headlines and view examples. Students read a news story in groups and create a headline for it....
Curated OER
Create a Storybook in KidPix
Students create a storybook by using KidPix software. In this technology instructional activity, students write creative short stories and publish them on KidPix. Students illustrate the stories using Kid Pix tools.
Curated OER
Using Best Newspaper Writing in a Journalism Class
Students explore the genre of journalism. In this journalism instructional activity, students examine newspaper articles and identify reporting techniques. Students collaborate to identify excellent pieces of newspaper writing.
Curated OER
Proofreading with Peer Editing
A standard peer editing activity, young writers get into groups and pass their papers to each of their peers in turn; each person checking their peer's paper for spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes. In a fun twist, your class...
Curated OER
Writing Children's Literature
Students examine the common themes and characteristics of children's literature. They develop a list of characteristics, read and discuss examples of children's literature, and create an original children's book.
Curated OER
Bulleted Lists: punctuating items in vertical lists
What is easier to read: a bulleted list or a block of text? Look at different examples with your class and then go over the style guidelines for vertical lists.
Portland Public Schools
Teaching Tone to Teenagers
Tone is a tough topic to teach to teenagers. But never, fear, help is here in the form of a unit plan that takes advantage of their interest in music to set the stage for a series of activities that lead them to understand how setting,...
Curated OER
Put the Title of the Lesson Here
Eighth graders write a Compare and Contrast essay comparing the lives of similarly aged students at different Latitudes. They share their essays with epals, via e-mail. They may include digital photographs in their correspondence as well.