Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...

Review the narrative writing process with your emerging story writers. They read a sample narrative and identify five vague verbs that could be replaced with a more exact, exciting verb. Then they write a personal narrative making sure...

Students explore different countries, their locations, and their cultures. Using an encyclopedia, they locate the information, then write a report. Ultimately, they create a paper doll to represent their chosen country.

Have your class explore Buddhist Jataka Tales to compare and contrast them to European fables. After defining fables, Jataka tales, and the elements of each, learners identify themes and patterns for both types of narratives and the...

A reading of Panic in Paris launches a review of the elements of narrative writing. Class members work in groups to find narrative devices in the book and record their findings on a provided worksheet. Using the completed pages,...

Follow the procedural details here to model for your class how to identify author's voice in two poems, "Since Hannah Moved Away" by Judith Viorst and Mirriam Chaikin's "I Hate Harry." Together, determine voice and the words that reveal...

Individuals complete a pre-assessment to gauge their ability to determine the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They examine a new piece of nonfiction reading by looking at the table of contents, headings, and index...

Develop multiplication skills with your class. Youngsters will visualize multiplication as repeated addition. Then they will create a multiplication bug book and discover arrays as a strategy for multiplication problem solving....

Here's a thought-provoking and engaging lesson for your charges. It's a Webquest about Thanksgiving. Groups of learners research Thanksgiving customs, history, and experiences. They are assigned the task of renaming Thanksgiving in order...

Discover journalistic techniques by having learners prepare and write their own class newspaper. They discuss the five W's of investigative journalism and conduct interviews with school figures. They utilize video technology, podcast...

Young explorers study South American geography. They study maps and create a physical map of the Andes themselves! They also research the geography, environment, and the culture of the Andes and present a report to the class.

Explore children's literature by researching a book and it's author. Youngsters read the story The Mitten by Jan Brett and discuss the animals and characters mentioned in the story. Then, they practice retelling their favorite portion of...

Create a class anthology with your young writers. In this personal narrative lesson, each writer reflects on actions and events from their own lives and chronicles them in a three-part written sequence. They create a table of contents...

Young historians explore how technology and science affected life in the state of New Hampshire. They define technology and give personal experiences of how technology affects people and how people have used technology. They compare the...

After reading The Cricket in Times Square chapter titled "Caught in the Kitchen," learners list three describing details about the characters and setting. Groups collaborate to find sensory details to support their character assertions....

Explore the cultural heritage through of your class through reading, writing, and speaking exercises. They create illustrated mini-books that express their unique cultural and personal experiences. They share their stores with the class...

Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...

Third, fourth, and fifth graders read the book The Bracelet by Yushiko Uchida and examine the events of Uchida's life. They participate in a guided discussion of Japanese culture, perform a reader's...

Students, assessing a variety of formatting tools with Microsoft Word, utilize a bank of vocabulary words to make a personal dictionary of nouns. They classify nouns for people, places, things and ideas and separate them into common and...

Learners interpret statistical geographic information by creating a cartogram.

Read aloud to your class the fable "The Lion and the Mouse" as you explore characters' choices and the effects they have on a story. Apply what is discussed to finding a theme of the chapter "Not Giving Up" from The Wizard of...

Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...

Students explore the framework of government and examine the Constitution to see its impact on their lives.

Kids of all ages discover their family histories through pictures. First, flip through the PowerPoint provided (or consider making one of your own). It should show pictures of your family and have clear, easy to understand sentences that...