Curated OER
"No News Like Ancient News"
Want to know more about Ancient history? Young historians will read a minimum of two web sites to complete the chart "Residents of Olympus". They choose one Greek god or goddess to research. This could be a small group activity or...
Curated OER
Debates on Persuasive Language That Extend Outside of Class
There is no better sight to see than a classroom full of eager young adults, hands raised high, eager to jump into a class discussion. Get your class identifying and discussing rhetorical strategies and then debating long into the night...
Curated OER
Details, Details, Details
Writing can become one-dimensional if authors don't involve all their senses. First, scholars observe a strange object which, ideally, they can touch and even smell. Without using certain words (you can create a list or have the class...
Agriculture in the Classroom
The Garden Chef
Introduce young chefs to nutritious eating with a cookbook that is divided into sections focusing on one of the five food groups. It includes lessons, activities, and recipes. How wholesome!
K12 Reader
If
Rudyard Kipling's advice to his son in the poem "If" is a resounding message that echoes through generations. After reading the famous poem, middle schoolers work on analyzing specific lines, completing activities based on...
ReadWriteThink
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure
A picture is worth a thousand words, but a comic strip combines both images and words for the ultimate narrative effect. After reading The Three Little Pigs and deciphering the plot elements, elementary readers work through four...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 2
Ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM, ta DUM. The force will be strong in the hearts of your young Jedi as they use their lightsabers to strike the accentted syllables in lines from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New...
Curated OER
Black History Lesson Plan: Gwendolyn Brooks
Learn more about the work of Gwendolyn Brooks with a language arts lesson plan. Young learners read an informational passage about the acclaimed poet before attempting a shape poem of their own.
Curated OER
Turn the Ordinary into Something Extraordinary!
Summer writing ideas that encourage young authors to find their own writing prompts.
Great Schools
Letter of Complaint
If you've ever received bad service or disagreed with a company's decision, writing a letter of complaint might be a good skill to have. Review the format of a letter, author's purpose, and other aspects of persuasive writing with an...
Crafting Freedom
Thomas Day's Letter to His Daughter, Mary Ann
Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....
Curated OER
Chateau Meddybemps Young Writers Workshop
In this writing worksheet, students are given an illustration and a story starter. Students complete the worksheet by writing what the character says to his birds every morning.
Curated OER
Chateau Meddybemps Young Writers Workshop
In this writing worksheet, students finish writing a story about what they would like a balloon lady to make for them. A color illustration is included.
Curated OER
Character Traits: Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear
Lensey Namioka’s Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear provides an opportunity for young readers to observe how writers bring their characters to life. Each class member selects a character to trace through the novel, recording...
Scholastic
Spin-a-Story: Writing Prompts Chart
"But I don't know what to write about!" Now, there's a very familiar complaint. And here's a very creative solution. Young authors are given a writing prompt chart, spin three wheels that provide suggestions for the who, what, and where...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Volume 2 - A History of the United States: Modern Times—Late 1800s to the 2000s
The second volume of the Core Knowledge History of the United States ebook begins by asking young scholars to consider the impact immigration, industrialization, and urbanization had on the United States in the late 1800s. The text ends...
Japan Society
The “I” Novels in the Context of Early 20th-Century Japan
Although this lesson plan covers the rather obscure topic of the Japanese "I-novel", it also includes a great deal of historical information and material for an in-depth discussion of universal literary concepts. Specifically, young...
Curated OER
Unlikely Diary keepers Using Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Put your class in the shoes of someone - or something - else with this lesson, which encourages writers to keep a diary from the perspective of a living creature or an abstraction. Use Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm and the Six Trait...
Curated OER
Halloween Rhyme Time
Take advantage of Halloween to teach young readers and writers about rhyming words, adjectives, and figurative language.
Curated OER
My Alphabetical Autobiography
Design a pictorial autobiography using the letters of the alphabet. For each letter, writers select visual images that represent life events and interests. Younger writers add words or sentences of explanation while older writers narrate...
Curated OER
Parallelism, Including Correlative Conjunctions and Comparisons
After reading the first reference page about parallel structure using correlative conjunctions, young learners rewrite nine sentences with errors in parallelism. Even the strongest writers in your language arts class could benefit from...
DeKalb County Schools
Compare/Contrast
A series of reading activities is sure to engage your young readers! Based on comparing and contrasting ideas, the packet provides opportunities to compare characters, themes, texts, and other elements of fiction.
Curated OER
Using Prepositional Phrases
The class reads the book Heckedy Peg. Stopping to point out the prepositional phrases, the teacher models and guides the young scholars to deeper comprehension. Small groups collaborate to read A Sweet Smell of Roses. They thenfind the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Songwriting Skill - Finding Your Voice: The Academy Is - “About A Girl”
The seventh in a series of nine exercises focusing on songwriting models for young lyricists on how to find and develop their unique voice. Class members suggest songs that they feel sound authentic and contrast the wording with songs...