Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Learning Network: Re-envisioning Classic Stories

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Readers reflect on enjoyable stories they know, brainstorm criteria that make a story "good," analyze a New York Times article about innovative children's performances, re-envision classics on their own, and peer edit drafts. Use this as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Crazy Critters Creative Writing

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Pupils brainstorm animals with unusual characteristics such as a giraffe with a short neck or a zebra without stripes. They write paragraphs about their animals and work in peer editing groups to refine their stories.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan: Before and After a Moment in Time

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Think about a moment, frozen in time. Now take a critical look at the painting, Better, Homes, Better Gardens. This painting works to provide learners the opportunity to analyze art, critique artist's choices, and write a story inspired...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Children's Books

For Teachers 5th
A challenging lesson on writing a book for children awaits your fifth-graders. They must use laptops, document cameras, and a projector to create and present an original piece of writing. A checklist that has all of the requirements for...
Lesson Plan
Denver Art Museum

Putting Images into Words

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dali & Desnos: Surrealism in Poetry and Art

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research the surrealism movement and its primary artists. Language is also analyzed, and students will create their own original poem utilizing surrealistic techniques.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Comic and Film Strip Writing

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students write a funny story and illustrate it in a comic strip. In this comic strip lesson, students study comic strips and determine the plot of each story. Students then write a short story and illustrate it using a comic strip...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"All About Me" Paragraph

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders write a paragraph titled "All About Me" in the computer lab after they have drawn graphic organizers to fill in background information about themselves and used a "10-Point Writing Checklist" to do peer editing.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Digital Storytelling

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders write a creative story and turn it into a digital storybook. In this digital storytelling lesson, 6th graders write a creative story, illustrate the story, and then use computer technology to turn their story and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Music in Words

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Your class can build strong, well-represented opinions about the music they hear. They listen to, and share thoughts about, a piece of classical music. Then they write a piece of music or a poem, and analyze their peers' work and their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Swirling, Twirling, Glistening Jewels... Glass Art In Words

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students examine the art form of the glass sculpture. After viewing a three dimensional object, they write creatively describing the object through the use of metaphors. They use peer editing to check for grammatical and spelling errors.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Amazing Fibonacci

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Learners integrate the patterns of Fibonacci into music. In this geometry activity, students apply the concepts of recursion, pattern and Phi or Golden Ratio to composing and playing music on various instruments. They activity is...