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Pocahontas, From Fiction to Fact: Using Disney's Film to Teach the - Yale University
Grades
4 to 6
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This unit uses the Disney movie and two other versions to discover the truth about Pocahontas, the Powhatans, their encounters with the English in 1607, and the geography and climate...more
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This unit uses the Disney movie and two other versions to discover the truth about Pocahontas, the Powhatans, their encounters with the English in 1607, and the geography and climate of Virginia.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and classroom activities on this page! Great for an English classroom, plus the activities work on creating critical thinking in students. Be sure to save the site as a favorite to allow for easy reference later on.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Literature and Art Through Our Eyes: The African American Children - Yale University
Grades
3 to 4
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Increase students' awareness of African American culture through a study of books and art that integrates the elementary curriculum. Cultural traditions, extended family relationships,...more
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Increase students' awareness of African American culture through a study of books and art that integrates the elementary curriculum. Cultural traditions, extended family relationships, and life in urban America are the predominant themes highlighted in the selected readings and art works.
tag(s): africa (162), african american (130), cultures (290)
In the Classroom
Explore some of the readings on this site about African American culture, deepening your student's knowledge about African American cultural traditions, extended family relationships, and life in urban America. Have small groups of students create a mural on a large piece of butcher block paper, reflecting what they have learned.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Literature of the U.S. Civil War - Yale University
Grades
4 to 8
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This unit investigates the Civil War through children's literature, using multiple approaches to learning including reading, writing, dramatization, and music. ...more
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This unit investigates the Civil War through children's literature, using multiple approaches to learning including reading, writing, dramatization, and music.
tag(s): civil war (145), literature (215)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans that are offered on this site about the Civil War. The unit plan offers varying approaches, such as small and large group work varying on what is more efficient in your classroom. This lesson plan is worth sorting through the large amount of text - be patient!Older students can keep a blog sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or X (formerly Twitter) links. This blog creator requires no registration. If you are teaching younger students and looking for an easy way to integrate technology and check for understanding, challenge your students to create a blog using Seesaw, reviewed here.
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Friday Funtastic and Friends: The Art of Story-Telling Through Film - Yale University
Grades
1 to 2
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Puppetry and art are combined in this unit that helps young children approach film and literature in a more critical manner. Active participation is emphasized as students practice...more
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Puppetry and art are combined in this unit that helps young children approach film and literature in a more critical manner. Active participation is emphasized as students practice skills in illustration, writing, oral reading, acting, and narration. Lessons center around the films Heidi, Dumbo, and The Secret Garden.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the "Sample Lesson Plans" to use with your students. Try some of the fun activities suggested by the site in response to the beloved films Heidi, Dumbo, and The Secret Garden. Children can make pictures, write, read, and act as well as practice summarizing and retelling the story of each movie.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Folktales Through African Art - Yale University
Grades
3 to 5
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The cultural and religious beliefs inherent in traditional African society are explored in this unit that exposes students to the sculpture and stories of three different African cultures....more
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The cultural and religious beliefs inherent in traditional African society are explored in this unit that exposes students to the sculpture and stories of three different African cultures. By examining artwork with an understanding of the people who created it, students develop a more authentic impression of this ethnic group. A variety of art-related activities are included in this eight-week unit.
In the Classroom
Have students read a selected African folktale from the unit, then view examples of traditional African masks. They can sketch or write a brief response explaining how the themes, characters, or symbolism in the story connect to the masks' imagery and design. Have students design their own mask inspired by a character or spirit, then write a short folktale that features the mask in a meaningful way. They can share their mask and story with classmates to experience how art and storytelling work together in African traditions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World War II As Seen Through Children's Literature - Yale University
Grades
1 to 12
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This site will show the pervasive influence of World War II on children's literature. ...more
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This site will show the pervasive influence of World War II on children's literature.
tag(s): world war 2 (169)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plan on this site! Be sure to save as a favorite, allowing you to take advantage of it whenever you need.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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African-American Culture Through the Use of Children's Literature - Yale University
Grades
2 to 4
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Explore African-American poetry and fiction in this study using a wide gamut of language arts skills integrated with social studies themes about community, family, and culture. ...more
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Explore African-American poetry and fiction in this study using a wide gamut of language arts skills integrated with social studies themes about community, family, and culture.
tag(s): poetry (196), short stories (18)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities hosted on this site! Be sure to save this site as a favorite to allow for easy reference later on.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Developing Thinking and Reasoning Skills in Primary Learners Using Detective Fiction - Yale University
Grades
1 to 3
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Use detective fiction to address critical and creative thinking skills with early elementary students. The Private Eyes Club Mysteries, Nate the Great, and the Cam Jansen series form...more
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Use detective fiction to address critical and creative thinking skills with early elementary students. The Private Eyes Club Mysteries, Nate the Great, and the Cam Jansen series form the basis for this unit that progresses from basic recall of information to more complex problem-solving activities.
tag(s): critical thinking (179), mysteries (27)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and activities hosted on this site! Be sure to save this site as a favorite to allow for easy reference later on. As a rainy day activity, read one of the featured mysteries together, and encourage students to notice the clues present as you read, stopping the reading to note each one. After you have finished the book, students retell the story to a partner, including the hints that helped the hero to solve the mystery.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cultural Understanding Through Folklore - Yale University
Grades
2 to 4
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Students explore folktales from a variety of cultures, learn about different nations and traditions, and gain an understanding of the common man's universal hopes, dreams, and fears....more
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Students explore folktales from a variety of cultures, learn about different nations and traditions, and gain an understanding of the common man's universal hopes, dreams, and fears. Using the folktale genre as a tool, students are encouraged to glean information about the personal, everyday lives of people throughout history.
tag(s): folktales (35)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free unit guide on this website! It's not in typical lesson plan form, but it is very helpful and a great guide for connecting Social Studies and Language arts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Celebrate A People! - Yale University
Grades
K to 3
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Celebrate A People! is a complete unit featuring many books and activities related to many diverse cultures. Although the site is text-heavy, there are topics to click on to the ...more
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Celebrate A People! is a complete unit featuring many books and activities related to many diverse cultures. Although the site is text-heavy, there are topics to click on to the left to find what you are looking for. The lesson activities include supply lists and lesson stems. The unit, as written, is 16 weeks. However, you can pick and choose which parts fit your lessons or use this site to learn about new literature for students.
tag(s): african american (130), book lists (161), kwanzaa (23)
In the Classroom
Save this site as a favorite on your classroom computer for easy reference later. Rather than using the entire lesson unit, you could sprinkle these book suggestions throughout your curriculum, making it more multicultural.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Beyond R. L. Stine: Read-Aloud Books and Group Activities for Fifth Graders - Yale University
Grades
4 to 6
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Want to know what books are favorites for 5th-grade students? TeachStarter gives a summary of 53 mentor texts and classroom read-alouds. Each book contains a blurb and some classroom...more
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Want to know what books are favorites for 5th-grade students? TeachStarter gives a summary of 53 mentor texts and classroom read-alouds. Each book contains a blurb and some classroom teaching ideas. Some books featured include: A Wrinkle in Time, Tuck Everlasting, Julie of the Wolves, Walk Two Moons, and more.
tag(s): book lists (161), independent reading (83)
In the Classroom
Students can use Google Slides, reviewed here to create a summary of a book. Students can create a quiz using Kahoot!, reviewed here. Students can use Trading Card Creator reviewed here to design a new book cover.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Beauty is More Than Skin Deep: Examining the Positive and Negative Depictions - Yale University
Grades
3 to 5
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Using a variety of children's films (especially Disney productions) and literature, students examine positive and negative depictions of physical appearance and develop an awareness...more
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Using a variety of children's films (especially Disney productions) and literature, students examine positive and negative depictions of physical appearance and develop an awareness of how these characteristics influence their own perceptions of certain characters. An excellent unit to enhance self-esteem, social awareness, and foster a more positive self-concept in young children.
tag(s): movies (52), social and emotional learning (195)
In the Classroom
Students can use Interactive 2 Circle Venn Diagram by Read Write Think, reviewed here to create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Disney movies. Students can create a comic showcasing positive body image using Witty Comics, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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African-American Folktales and their Use in an Integrated Curriculum - Yale University
Grades
2 to 5
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This unit from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute presents a collection of African American folktales as a foundation for understanding the heritage, history, and cultural resilience...more
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This unit from the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute presents a collection of African American folktales as a foundation for understanding the heritage, history, and cultural resilience of African American communities. Through carefully selected tales and integrated lesson plans, the unit helps students develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, art, vocabulary, social studies, and even math and science skills, using folktales as a cross-curricular springboard. Teachers are guided to introduce folktales by building background on the stories' origins, exploring vocabulary, reading aloud or performing the tales, and then inviting students to respond, summarize, reflect, or extend the stories through writing, discussion, art, or related subject activities. Ultimately, this unit aims to strengthen students' literacy and creative expression while honoring the power of oral tradition and storytelling rooted in African American history.
tag(s): africa (162), african american (130)
In the Classroom
Share a short African American folktale from the unit and have students sit in small circles to discuss one question: What message or lesson do you think this story is trying to teach? Invite students to choose a character from a folktale and act out how that character might move, speak, or react in a given situation. Select new or challenging words from the unit's stories. Have students create illustrated vocabulary cards that show the meaning through images and context.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Read Across America - NEA
Grades
K to 12
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Here's a chance to participate in a national (American) effort to encourage adults to read to children. NEA's Read Across America program wants every adult to read to a child ...more
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Here's a chance to participate in a national (American) effort to encourage adults to read to children. NEA's Read Across America program wants every adult to read to a child as part of the celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday. Visit this site to see how you can help with a celebration in your local community. Click the Plan a Reading Event to find resources for Dr. Seuss.
tag(s): humor (14)
In the Classroom
Download the free RAA calendars or have students create family reading calendars or reading videos as part of the Read Across America celebration. Even upper level high school students will enjoy the chance to relive Seuss in their lives. Plan a trip with your school service group to read to elementary kids at the school next door. Or have student groups in any middle or high school class create a Seuss-style book-in-verse on a current curriculum topic, using various Seuss books for inspiration. How about a book about healthy eating or the fun of reading? Be sure to have students create a storyboard to help make the story creation go smoothly. Replace paper and pencil using a digital storyboard like the Story Map, reviewed here, or SuperNotecard, reviewed here. Then modify learning with the challenge for students to make a new interactive "book" using a tool such as Bookemon, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hero's Journey - ReadWriteThink
Grades
4 to 12
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This resource from ReadWriteThink is an interactive guide to the structure of myths and mythology and the hero's journey. The site offers ideas on telling mythological stories, and...more
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This resource from ReadWriteThink is an interactive guide to the structure of myths and mythology and the hero's journey. The site offers ideas on telling mythological stories, and it illustrates how the structures of these ancient stories have been adapted over the centuries. Using this interacrtive, students can plan out a hero's journey of their own.
tag(s): creative writing (123), myths and legends (44), narrative (16), writing (309)
In the Classroom
Introduce this activity with a projector or on an interactive whiteboard to show students how to navigate the site. Pair weaker readers with a stronger one and have student pairs read the information Have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. Students could then copy over the plan they have for their own hero's journey in their blog. With Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or X (formerly Twitter) links. Once students have finished writing the journey, have them publish it for their parents and peers using a tool like Ourboox, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Folk Tales Collected by Phillip Martin - Phillip Martin
Grades
3 to 8
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This website, by artist and educator Phillip Martin, offers a rich collection of Liberia-focused folktales, along with stories from countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and...more
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This website, by artist and educator Phillip Martin, offers a rich collection of Liberia-focused folktales, along with stories from countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Teachers can explore traditional tales from Liberia and from countries such as China, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil, and many others represented in the broader folktale collection. The site also provides scripts adapted for student performances, brief lesson ideas for introducing global art and storytelling, and an extensive library of free clip art created by Martin. These resources make it a helpful tool for supporting lessons on world cultures, folktales, and visual arts in the classroom.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): africa (162), african american (130), europe (82)
In the Classroom
After reading a short folktale from Liberia or another country on the site, have students complete a 5-minute sketch of one scene using inspiration from Phillip Martin's clip art style. They can share their sketches in pairs and explain why they chose that moment. Let students select one of the included folktale play scripts (or adapt a story themselves) and perform it as a short reader's theater. They can design simple props or background art inspired by Martin's clip art. Display a world map and have students place markers on the countries where the folktales originate (e.g., Liberia, China, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil). Have students briefly discuss similarities and differences they notice across regions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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A Word a Day Homepage
Grades
4 to 12
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Register for daily e-mail "word of the day". - Grades 4 and up - You can register for FREE daily e-mail "word of the day". The entry includes phonetic pronunciation, ...more
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Register for daily e-mail "word of the day". - Grades 4 and up - You can register for FREE daily e-mail "word of the day". The entry includes phonetic pronunciation, various meanings, and derivation. There is even a sound wave pronunciation of the word. You can retrieve a complete list of words presented. (examples: euphony, paragon) Excellent site for upper elementary through High School.
tag(s): vocabulary (251)
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Scholastic - Scholastic
Grades
1 to 12
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Scholastic's site is all about reading for students, parents, librarians, and teachers. Find teacher info for book clubs and lessons, parent ideas for supporting reading at home, loads...more
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Scholastic's site is all about reading for students, parents, librarians, and teachers. Find teacher info for book clubs and lessons, parent ideas for supporting reading at home, loads of fun for kids, and much more. Since Scholastic is "in the business," they of course have things to sell, but there is much available for free.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): authors (113), book lists (161), literacy (124)
In the Classroom
Access the "Educators" section of this web site to use the thousands of free lesson plans, printables, and images in your classroom. In the "student activities" section there are plenty of online games and projects that would make this site an excellent learning center or station. Pre-select activities and save their links to the desktop for students to complete.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Read Up On It! - Library of Canda
Grades
1 to 12
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Though this site is archived, it is still intact and ready for use. This site promotes reading in themes from the Canadian Library. The themes are designed to promote reading ...more
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Though this site is archived, it is still intact and ready for use. This site promotes reading in themes from the Canadian Library. The themes are designed to promote reading and give educators resources that worked for this group. It promotes children's literature also. The site itself contains reading lists in French and English. The lists are centered around themes. There is also ways to share your success with the kit and pose questions in an open forum. They offer tips and suggestions on ways to encourage reading and learning among children and adolescents.
tag(s): reading lists (76)
In the Classroom
Use these recommended book lists and discussion questions as a way to inject something new into your classroom. If there is a theme that matches up with one already existing in the classroom, this website is excellent for enrichment. Use the free recommendations in your classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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StoryArts - Storytelling Resources
Grades
K to 1
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Here's a site devoted to helping educators improve their storytelling skills. There are many pages of resources, including ideas for storytelling occasions and festivals, specific story...more
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Here's a site devoted to helping educators improve their storytelling skills. There are many pages of resources, including ideas for storytelling occasions and festivals, specific story sites, and lots of other good stuff. Check this one out if you read to your students!
tag(s): stories and storytelling (75)
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