Young historians study the Angel Island Immigration Station with activities examining primary and secondary source materials, maps, and websites. The unit begins with individuals creating a map of Angel Island, labeling sites on the...

Celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America Day with a collection of activities, lessons, and printables for lower elementary scholars. 

Fifth graders dive into real-world concepts such as human rights, difficult life circumstances, immigration, and personal growth as they read the novel Esperanza Rising. They will compare and contrast characters, pen a two-voice poem,...

The first series of lessons in this unit module examines George Washington's contributions to the Revolutionary War and as the first president of the United States. Scholars also consider Washington as a slaveholder and discuss attitudes...

For Native Americans, the connection between themselves and the land on which they live runs deep and is apparent throughout their different cultures. During a series of three lessons, young scholars explore the culture of the Hopi...

How does an author’s culture influence their perspective and point of view? Moreover, how does an author’s purpose affect their point of view? These are the questions middle schoolers investigate in a three-unit module that uses works by...

To conclude the module, sixth-graders research factual information about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire to make connections to literary texts about the disaster. After learning about the features of a newspaper article, young...

In this three-unit module, juniors examine literary and nonfiction text, observing how authors develop their central ideas. In Units 1 and 2, scholars practice close reading, annotating text, and evidence-based discussions and writing....

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the anchor text in a three-unit module that has eighth graders examine how Shakespeare develops the theme of control. Young scholars look at why and how the characters seek control and the results of...

Eighth-graders develop their ability to read and understand a complex text as they consider the plight of refugees. The first unit uses Thanhha Lai’s novel, Inside Out & Back Again, as well as informational text, to build background...

What makes stories powerful? That’s the question seventh-graders consider in a three-unit, eight-week module. Scholars analyze how Frederick Douglas, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, uses figurative language and word...

An eight-week module has seventh-graders investigate the impact of the Second Sudanese Civil War on the peoples of Southern Sudan. Using Linda Sue Park’s novel, A Long Walk to Water, and informational texts, young historians learn how to...

As the culmination of their study of the Second Civil War in Southern Sudan, seventh-graders draw from what they learned reading Linda Sue Park’s novel, A Long Walk to Water, and from informational texts to create a two-voice poem...

Were things really harder back in the day? That is the question sixth graders research in a three-unit module. They read information articles and literature about the adversities of medieval life, and then draft an essay in which they...

John Grandits’s concrete poems in the collections Blue Lipstick and Technically, It’s Not My Fault provide learners with modern voices struggling with adversities. After close reading of the poems and discussions, for the final...

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village is the anchor text for the second unit in Module 2B. Sixth-graders examine monologues, read articles about challenges and adversities faced by children in medieval villages,...

Eight lessons make up a collection designed to help high schoolers make sense of an election year. Class members learn about voting rights, the importance of a free press, and civic participation. The focus is on the 2020 presidential...

A collection of lessons calls kids to craft clever creations. Each of the 10 resources focuses on a single poetry form and includes an explanation of the form, rules to use when writing the form, and examples. Poems and poetry planning...

The mission of the Standing Up for Democracy unit is to bring about “a more humane, just, and compassionate society rooted in democratic values.” These 16 lessons, built on a foundation of mutual respect, tolerance, and participation,...

An awareness of historical context and author’s purpose are key to understanding informational text. The 15 lessons in the Module 3, Unit 1 collection provide seventh graders with background information about slavery and the debate over...

Begin the school year with a collection of lessons that asks sixth-graders to consider who they are, their new role in middle school, and their role in their community. They study examples of peoples of the past dealing with issues of...

Two texts anchor a 14-lesson unit that explores what it means to be a woman in America. In her "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton" Stanton argues for women's right to vote. Audre Lorde offers a different point of view in her poem, "...

Christopher Paul Curtis' Newberry Medal winning novel Bud, Not Buddy is the anchor text in a unit that asks middle schoolers to examine Bud's rules to live by. They compare these rules to those in President Barack Obama's 2009...

The third and final unit in Module 1 asks students to craft two research-based, free verse, narrative poems that capture the experiences of refugees from a specific culture. Poets draw inspiration from their reading of Thanhha Lai's...