What makes a good monarch? Elementary and middle schoolers examine popular symbols of the British monarchy before designing a television advertisement about the qualities needed in a monarch. Next, they write poems using metaphors and...

The Harlem Renaissance if the focus of a carefully crafted, interdisciplinary unit designed to introduce middle schoolers to the contributions key figures made to American art and culture during the period. Class members select...

Celebrate Women's History Month with hands on-learning. The resource provides seven strategies to help educators teach Women's History Month, ranging from watching films to reading books written by women. Activities including writing...

The unit study of Angel Island Immigration Station concludes with scholars using information from the previous lessons to craft a news story about the Angel Island program.

Students complete a variety of poems that focus on many different literary techniques and styles. As part of this experience, students share their portfolios with adults in the school and at home.

Students create individual poems containing varied line lengths, punctuation, and rhythm, and explain how each contributes to overall effect of the poem.

Students analyze how a poet uses language to capture creatures and draft a poem on a 'sinister' animal. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Ted Hughes' poem 'Pike' and analyze pictures of pike fish. Students use their research...

Second graders read the poem together, "Quack Said the Billy-goat" and discuss what makes the poem funny and which words rhyme. They observe the teacher writing a new first verse, changing some of the text, but leaving the original rhyme...

Seventh graders read a book of poems called "Out of the Dust". In groups, they research the Dust Bowl and how it affected people living through the Great Depression. Using the text, they identify the theme and key turning points and...

Young scholars explore U.S. history by identifying American symbolism. In this American Flag instructional activity, students read the poem "The Flag" by M. Hubbard and define the symbolism of the colors and stripes within the U.S. flag....

Second graders analyze storytelling devices by examining sensory details in literature. In this descriptive writing lesson, 2nd graders define the 5 senses and practice using descriptive vocabulary words in their writing. Students read...

Students create new words to convey their thoughts. They find, list and discuss the poetic devices used by the poet in creating his or her war poem and create their own war poems. They use sensory perception words and memory in...

Students use the cinquain structure and correct parts of speech to write a poem with a desert theme.

Students brainstorm a list of stereotypes associated with the Hispanic or Latin culture. In groups, they use the internet to research issues of importance to the Puerto Rican community. They focus on the cultures that speak Spanish and...

A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...

As the culminating project for a unit study of The House of the Scorpion, class members craft a multi-genre research paper to demonstrate not only their depth of knowledge of a topic of interest to them, but also their...

Learning about the fifty states can be motivating. After listening to books, pupils discuss and learn about the nicknames of various states. This is an interesting way to review the locations and characteristics of the states.

Students differentiate between fact and legend. In this Barbara Freitchie instructional activity, students read poetry and non-fiction accounts regarding the story of Freitchie. Students analyze the story of the American patriot to...

Students analyze 'Where I'm From' by George Ella Lyon. In this poetry lesson plan students examine the content and structure of the poem and mimic it to create a similar poem of their own.

Students explore emotions and memories in preparation for poetry writing. In this poetry lesson students use a graphic organizer and prompts to begin to describe a specific memory which they will turned into a poem.

Students explore what poetry is and certain aspects within it. They write their own knowledge and perceptions of poetry and the expand that knowledge and experience through listening to, reading, and writing poetry and exploring poetic...

Students explore unit rate and ratio and discuss the relationship.

Young scholars examine examples of literary terms in poetry. Then they choose two songs, write out the lyrics, and decipher what they think the artist is trying to say. Each student presents their song to the class and they cite examples...

A hearing impaired student identifies rhyming words. In this rhyming word instructional activity for the hearing impaired, 2nd graders read and write poetry correctly using rhyming words.