Kids usually love crayon resist projects. It is so fascinating for them to see how the dark paint accentuates and resists the waxy crayon. Here are instructions for executing a crayon resist project of your own. Tip: Make the project fit...

Students complete a scavenger hunt which highlights events on the journey by Lewis and Clark. Using the internet and journals, they identify events on the journey and places them on a timeline. They complete a worksheet as well to end...

A lesson plan originally designed around the short story "Mr. Saito of Heaven Building" by Yamanokuchi Baku, this resource provides historical background, discussion questions, and brief writing assignments that help your class explore...

This lesson plan is more of a series of tips for you, the teacher, to implement when standardized testing comes around. The strongest component of this guide is that it invites the teacher to reflect on what worked the best, and what...

Some of what we know about a character is directly stated. Some of what we know is inferred by events in the story. Character maps help primary learners recognize the difference. After modeling with a story your class has read, pupils...

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...

Combine your lessons on animals and context clues with this cloze procedure. Fifth graders fill in the fifteen missing words in the passage to help identify their reading level. There is no word bank provided, so you could create one for...

Students observe and paint sunsets. In this sunsets lesson plan, students look outside and at pictures of sunsets, paint sunsets using water color or tempura paint, and cut out silhouettes from black paper and insert them into the painting.

Students create linoleum block prints using linoleum squares, knives, ink, and paper in this Art activity for 4th through 12th grades. It is suggested to introduce the concept of printmaking prior to this activity (resource links...

Young scholars create examples of American Abstract Expressionism after studying the art of Jackson Pollock in this Art lesson for all levels. It is suggested to work with small groups of students if this lesson is done with a younger...

Students create original works of art using their knowledge of Georgia O'Keeffe's artwork, flowers, pencils, crayons, and pastels in this K-6 Art lesson. The lesson includes Georgia O'Keeffe resource links and a recommended reading list.

Learners discover artist Georges Seurat and his technique of Pointillism and create Pointillist examples using Q-Tips and watercolors in this exciting multi-level art lesson. This lesson can be adapted for various grade levels and...

Students create their own tie-dye shirts. In this visual arts lesson, students take shirts and wrap a rubber band around a few small areas. They dot these areas with sharpies and then blend them together with rubbing alcohol. 

Students take a closer look at sculpture. In this visual arts lesson plan, students may visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the New Art Center Sculpture Park, the Fruitmarket Gallery, or Tate Britain online or in-person to discover...

Students examine the plight of Japanese Americans during World War II. For this World War II lesson, students participate in a mock evocation simulation, research primary and secondary documents about internment camps, and share their...

Young scholars study about the Civil War through primary sources used in the PBS production of "Freedom: A History of US" based on Joy Hakim's books, "A History of US", and the companion PBS Web site.

Students interview a grandparent/elder to as part of a history and writing project. In this grandparent/elder project instructional activity, students record an interview of an older person who is willing to share their past. They look...

Fifth graders become familiar with the events of Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this reconstruction lesson, 5th graders work in pairs where each student  creates a building with blocks and draws it. Their...

Students discover music that was inspired by the spooky and bizarre. In this music of Hector Berlioz and Camille Saint-Saens lesson, students identify elements of music and listen to the Symphonie Fantastique and Danse Macabre....

Young scholars practice spelling and word recognition. In this spelling lesson plan, students play a game. . Young scholars are given a word to spell and as they call out each letter, they swat the letter with a fly swatter allowing each...

Students investigate equality by reading a historical fiction book in class.  In this civil rights lesson, students read the story Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry with their classmates and define the Jim Crow Laws that kept blacks...

After reading primary and secondary source materials about the life of Henry Bibb, individuals identify a core democratic value Bibb demonstrated and give examples drawn from their readings.

Bugs can be creepy - and fun! Kids create a positive and negative design by repeatedly drawing a simple insect overlaid with a geometric shape. The outcome is really neat and will help build spacial reasoning, visual acuteness,...

The Gettysburg Address may have been four score and seven years ago, but its message is still as relevant today. Young historians explore the context of the famous speech, as well as its central theme and argument, before discussing the...