Curated OER
Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
Curated OER
Scrambled Paragraphs
Students examine the structure of paragraphs. In this writing skills lesson, students examine a scrambled paragraph with no formatting or punctuation. Students rearrange the text to create a well-developed paragraph.
Curated OER
Nine Planets
What are characteristics of a planet? With this plan, learners investigate the characteristics of the planets in our solar system. They gather research of the nine planets by using the Internet and other research tools. Then they create...
Curated OER
Investigating Fables
Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable. Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...
Curated OER
Capitalization
Teach your class the rules of capitalization with this fun, engaging lesson. Children participate in a learning activity, collaborate with peers, and practice their writing as they learn three specific rules: to always capitalize the...
Teacher Printables
My Report Pack for... Famous Artists
Famous artists are fascinating, and learners will explore one of their choice using this report pack. Working their way through this template, they write three questions about the artist they are researching, check off types of reference...
Curated OER
Identify Healthy Food and Lifestyle Choices
Poll your scholars about their choices on food they eat, or don't eat, and on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Topic statements such as "I ate breakfast this morning" start a discussion on what are healthy choices and what are unhealthy...
Curated OER
Excessive Nominalizations
Eliminate unnecessary nominalizations from your middle schoolers' writing! After reviewing a reference page for the -tion ending (and when it can be excessive in writing), students rewrite eight sentences to change nominalizations to a...
Curated OER
One Grain of Rice
Upper graders read the story One Grain of Rice, and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast topics found in the story to current event topics today. Groups of three learners work together to create their diagram. The topics they must...
Curated OER
Peer Editing Checklist
Peer editing can be fun and enlightening if it's done effectively. If you're having your class peer edit a general piece of writing (perhaps a personal response or short answer response), this graphic organizer could help. Reviewers look...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Wildlife Habitat Checklist
Take a walk on the wild side with a project about animal habitats. After kids observe a chosen animal in its home, they describe the animal's food and water sources, shelter, and how it raises its young. They then write a short fictional...
Curated OER
The Glory That Was Greece
After finishing a unit on Greek history, it's important to test how much learners remember. This handout provides six different essay topics related to Greek History, influences, Athenian Democracy, or Alexander the Great. A rubric is...
Curated OER
Creating a Peace Poem
Second graders write a poem using words from a list and practice poetic forms. In this lesson on writing a peace poem, 2nd graders brainstorm words or phrases associated with "peace." Students choose a poetic form to express their...
Curated OER
Quick and Sticky Context Clues
Discuss strategies for defining word your young readers don't know. They read sentences with key words covered by sticky notes and guess from the context what the word might be. They peek at the first letter and guess again.
Curated OER
Responding to Literature
Your class will create a four section flip book and write titles for characters, setting, problem, and solution. They will also draw a picture to show what they wrote about.
Mrs. Sol's Class
Solar System Project
Finish or launch your unit on the solar system with a jigsaw project covering major celestial concepts such as the Milky Way Galaxy, asteroids, meteors, comets, Earth's moon, and, of course, all the planets. Learners start by writing...
Curated OER
An Introduction To Volume
Upper graders explore the topic of volume. In this math lesson plan, pupils count volume in cubic units, multiply to find volume, estimate volume, write a multiplication sentence to find the volume, and make a cost analysis of different...
Curated OER
Propaganda
How does word choice affect the reading of a text? Compare two headlines that were written about the same event. Is one biased? Discuss how word choice often reveals the author's feelings about a topic. Then look at different techniques...
Newspaper in Education
Lesson 10: Studying Content-Specific Language
Stanchion, spar, spinnaker. Right wing, sweeper, hip check. Every subject has specialized vocabulary. Here’s a fun way to introduce your learners to this jargon. Provide class groups with newspapers and have them search pre-selected...
LearnEnglishFeelGood.com
Commonly Confused Words
Test your scholars' knowledge of commonly confused words with this grammar learning exercise. With multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank options, this ten question activity is certain to express your learners' understanding.
Curated OER
Komm mit! Our Vacation
Students study the German language. They research in small groups and create a Power Point presentation, write an essay with 15 sentences in German, prepare a food or wear a costume, and give an oral presentation.
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day activity, day...
Curated OER
Christmas Candy
Here is a tasty topic for a lesson plan: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create an...
Curated OER
Subject and Object Pronouns: Challenges
Enhance problem solving skills while refining grammar proficiency with a learning game focused on subject and object pronouns. With playing cards in hand, class members create a dialogue in which one presents a problem while the other...