Many young people act globally by reducing, reusing, and recycling, Now they take it to the next level by upcycling. Middle schoolers design a proposal to eliminate waste by exploring the new material cycle and applying their knowledge...

Joseph Bruchac's Code Talker tells the remarkable story of Navajo Marines' role in battles of the Pacific Theater during World War II. As scholars read the novel, they also engage in activities that expand their knowledge of Navajo...

Introduce your seventh graders to the Harlem Renaissance with a unit that explores this dynamic period's music, literature, and ideas. The 160-page guide includes a unit calendar, an introduction to the unit, 10 richly detailed lessons...

Erin Entrada Kelly's award-winning novel, Hello, Universe is the anchor text in this 236-page teacher guide. The guide includes introductions to the Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) program and the unit, a unit calendar, 12 lessons...

Deter, detect, defect. Pupils watch a PowerPoint presentation and video about identity theft and credit card safety, taking notes to use later. Next, they develop a plan for maintaining credit safety and write an essay about the topic. 

Teach literary lovers how to form opinions about form. Scholars read informational text about the form used in villanelles. After analyzing the structure used in the poetry with graphic organizers and gallery walks, writers create...

Children in foster care face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. A guide for the novel One for the Murphys introduces a main character, Carley, who is thrust into the foster care system. Chapter-by-chapter questions cover key details in...

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

Rome wasn't built in a day, but researchers can be with proper scaffolding. This writing unit has scholars write a research paper through scaffolding of various parts of the process. Learners begin with identifying a topic and crafting a...

I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...

The United States Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. But such was not always the case. The library was destroyed during the War of 1812. In a persuasive letter to Samuel H. Smith, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his...

Create a sense of accountability among scholars with a instructional activity that focuses on making and keeping New Year's resolutions. Writers compose a five paragraph essay focused on three resolutions—promises to self improvement, to...

Would your ideal science lab be filled with bubbling beakers and zapping Tesla coils? Or would it contain state-of-the-art computer technology and data analysis? Dream big with an innovative lesson that connects math and language arts...

Learners create a standing cube with four panels that display information on the North and South's economy, geography and climate, society, and means of transportation before the Civil War. Through discussion and reading informational...

Even the most thrilling sports career can end in an asterisk if the player uses performance-enhancing drugs. Focused on the topic of doping in sports, a seventh grade unit breaks down the arguments for and against steroids in five...

Help your seventh graders relate the ELA Common Core standards to their own learning with these "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been translated into a statement that pupils can understand and placed on its own page for easy...

Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess, and...

Upper elementary and middle school writers learn how to craft an expository paragraph by following the six steps detailed in a 48-page instructional guide. Learners learn how to write six different types of informational paragraphs: to...

Young scholars demonstrate their knowledge of geography with this fun, collaborative social studies project. Working in small groups, students develop their very own countries, writing descriptions of their physical location, social...

Use the historical account of Claudette Colvin to study civil rights and connect past injustices to modern issues. As learners read, they examine chapter titles, record quotes, and participate in discussion. Next, they research active...