Curated OER
Andy Warhol/Digital Self-Portraits
Middle schoolers research the life and art of Andy Warhol and create a digitally manipulated photographic self-portrait. Students conclude the assignment by writing a poem to describe the point-of-view taken in their digital photo.
Curated OER
The Element of Color
Eighth graders study and analyze the elements of color by creating an personalized color wheel. Emphasis is placed on constructive criticism of student work by others for assessment. Students create short poems for their color wheel...
Curated OER
Science: Bees: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Young scholars investigate the world of bees and describe their characteristics. by identifying the bees' parts, they demonstrate how these parts function. In the lab, students dissect bees and view the various parts under microscopes....
Curated OER
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Civil Rights Leader
Students investigate and read about the life and contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. They listen to a biography and take notes, complete a pictorial story, and complete a writing assignment in response to questions about civil...
Curated OER
Trees, Trees, Trees!
Students increase their awareness and knowledge of trees. They be involved within the world around them at home and at school and hopefully become caretakers of their environment. They adopt a tree of their choice and research it.
Curated OER
Hollywood
Pupils listen to a play, or perhaps, take turns reading portions of it aloud. Afterward, they thoughtfully analyze and discuss the components of a well-written play. Next, a theme is assigned, and each person writes a play in conjunction...
Curated OER
Emotion Similes
Students define what a simile is before writing a poem that is based primarily on similes. They brainstorm and write the poem using the give format. They write drafts, revise and present a final poem.
Curated OER
Lord of the Rings: The Quest is Achieved
Young scholars analyze what makes a hero in The Lord of the Rings, Book Six. They discuss the characters and the aspects of their behaviors that make them heroes and write essays regarding the climax and heroic gestures of a character....
Curated OER
Music With a Message
Students write a line by line analysis of a song which they feel expresses a powerful message that can change society for the better. They then present their analysis to the class in an oral report.
Curated OER
Pilgrims: The First Americans
Fifth graders become familar with the pilgrims and first Thanksgiving through essays about important people of the time. In this Thanksgiving activity, 5th graders choose an important figure from the time of the Pilgrims and write a two...
University of New Mexico
César Chávez: Migrant Farm Workers and Their Leader
During the first week of instruction, middle schoolers research biographies on Cesar Chavez and make a pictorial collage of his life. For the second and third week, they maintain a seven-day diary of a farmworker and write a poem. For...
Arkansas Government
Creative Adventures with Literature - Whoever You Are
Celebrate our similarities and differences through multiple readings of Whoever you Are by Mem Fox. Readings are accompanied by a grand discussion, charts, creative art, dramatic, and music play to reinforce the uniqueness that is found...
Curated OER
Unrolling the Landscape
Learners create a landscape painting using traditional Chinese techniques. They review Chinese landscape paintings, paint an original landscape and write a poem to go with their picture.
Curated OER
Gandhi's Non-violent Revolutions: Examining Tools to Make Non-violent
Students analyze Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolent social change. In this nonviolence and social change lesson, students research a leader from the attached list who practiced nonviolent social change. Students write their own poem...
Curated OER
Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt
Eighth graders analyze and interpret figurative language. They listen to some examples of poetry which use figurative language. Then, they divide into groups and attempt to find more examples. Finally, 8th graders write what the poet is...
Curated OER
Author Study
Students focus their attention on the study of one author's works - not just one book, but a variety of works written by the same author - to discover what themes and/or other commonalities might run throughout the body of one person's...
Curated OER
October's Lesson Plan
Students listen to poetry about crocodiles. After discussing the relationship between humans and crocodiles, they make a list of ways humans hurt crocodiles and then write Prelutsky's poem from the crocodile perspective.
Curated OER
Child Survival Stories: Hope To Cope
Students brainstorm a list of the various scenerios going on their family life at home. In groups, they read about different perspectives on survival and identify ones they could use in their own lives. They share their own experiences...
Curated OER
Personalized Postcards
Students create and send postcards to friends and family members. Using actual photographs, they write a rough draft and final draft of a paragraph and print it out to glue onto a postcard template to mail to their friend or family member.
Curated OER
Prayers for Paankhenamun
Pupils use the internet to research one of six Egyptian gods and goddesses of the afterlife. They focus on physical attributes, symbols associated with and the role played by that deity into the afterlife. They write a letter to their...
Curated OER
Literature: Yoshiko Uchida Unit
Sixth graders read the books, The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography by Yoshiko Uchida and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki about Japanese Americans during World War II. They hold discussions, take quizzes, and write essays about the...
Curated OER
Knowing Ourselves And Others Through Poetry
Students become familiar with word usage and synonyms.
Curated OER
BASIC GRAMMAR REVIEW Using "Jabberwocky"
Learners use the poem Jabberwocky to discover where they are weak in grammar. They rewrite the poem using standard dialect words instead of nonsense words.
Curated OER
Grandparents' Day: Family History
Students explore Grandparents' Day. They interview their grandparents and select an activity to highlight their interview. They select a project including writing an essay, composing a song, creating a poem or scrapbook, or writing a...