Students use text and photos to visualize the delivery of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have A Dream" speech. They analyze Dr. King's speech for examples of imagery and allusion and create original poetry and illustrations...

Celebrate inventions such as lightning rods, bifocals, and stoves with a Ben Franklin Day. Young historians conduct research and write a paragraph about an accomplishment of Benjamin Franklin including an illustration...

Students complete a unit of lessons on the documents, symbols, and famous people involved in the founding of the U.S. government. They create a personal bill of rights, write a found poem, design a flag, conduct research, and role-play...

Transform your classroom into a fully functioning weather station with this series of hands-on investigations. Covering the topics of temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and cloud formation, these activities engage young...

Don't count your eggs before they hatch—unless they are dragon eggs. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher follows the main character as he finds himself hatching dragon eggs. Scholars work through the resource and read how Jeremy tries to...

Help young readers find, identify, and use their voices with a set of empowering activities based on Peter H. Reynolds' trilogy of books. Sky Color, Ish, and The Dot focus on recognizing moods and treating each other...

Take a closer look. Young academics become detectives in an engaging lesson plan on the American Revolution. Scholars work in groups to analyze documents to uncover whether the American colonists or British soldiers fired the first shot...

Students watch videos, listen to speeches and analyze the information that is presented about the civil rights movement. They examine visual art of the period.

Complete a number of activities in this group of lessons about dental health and teeth. Your elementary students will like the projects like making teeth models, reading a book, writing poetry and diagramming teeth.

Introduce your class to the techniques of proper writing. In groups, they brainstorm their ideas on family structures and discuss the importance of having a male figure in their lives. After listening to an African-American poem, they...

Read and analyze poems by African-American authors. Using the text, they identify the various patterns, subjects, language and dialects used. Then team up to compare and contrast the various authors and define new vocabulary. The lesson...

Young scholars engage in a lesson that is concerned with the study of poetry while focusing on Haiku as a format. They practice reading a variety of different pieces of literature in order to increase exposure. Students discuss the...

Students in an ESL classroom are introduced to new vocabulary before reading a story in their native language. In groups, they discuss how the tradition of writing stories down became a tradition and answer comprehension questions. To...

Learners examine the different types of poetic conventions. They write a poem about philanthropy using these conventions. They illustrate their poem with artwork of their choice.

Students prepare for their service learning project by listening to a representative from the Lake Michigan Federation. They volunteer their time to clean up the coast line. They reflect on the event by writing a poem about their...

The second activity of a pair about Paul Laurence Dunbar, this plan focuses in particular on his poem, "We Wear the Masks." After a short historical introduction, class members conduct a series or readings, marking up the text and...

Fifth graders determine how freedom comes with rights and responsibilities through literature and poetry about World War II. In this World War II lesson, 5th graders use the letters in the word "infamy" to write an acrostic poem. They...

The Navajo people build their dwellings with the doors facing the rising sun in the east to welcome wealth and fortune. Pupils learn about the traditions of the Navajo people in the first part of a 16-part unit. They explore American...

And now for the star witness! Scholars take a look at a model newspaper article and discuss the importance of eyewitness accounts. In groups of three, they take turns underlining text from eyewitnesses. They then regroup to talk about...

In order to understand figurative language, learners read 5 poems, each exemplifying a different literary device. They discuss and write responses to each poem. They then choose one literary device which they will use as the basis...

To celebrate National Poetry Month, young writers focus on the role letter writing has played in the development of poets. They begin by journaling three to five associations to a writing prompt that requires them to identify their...

Groups of older elementary learners begin their study of figurative language by visiting a website and completing the exercises detailed there. They then apply what they have learned by finding examples in several poems. Finally, they...

Go beyond the textbook to gain a better appreciation for the English language. A series of ESL lessons help expand the concepts found in Theme 2: Give It All You've Got. The second lesson in a three-part unit incorporates strategies such...

Engage your middle schoolers with Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem that begins, "First they came for the communists." Now that you have their attention, send learners to the various work stations you created to have them explore...