Young scholars explore character, plot, setting, symbolism, and conflict for a book that they are reading. Sample book covers are provided and students apply what they have learned by designing a book cover.

Learners complete a variety of activities that revolve around the book "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen. They view and discuss stills from the move "Hoot" and compose original storylines, conduct Internet research about the life of Carl Hiaasen,...

Students perform an "autopsy" on a dill pickle to determine its' cause of death. After finding "clues" inside the "body," students organize facts and use their imagination to write an epitaph. As an alternative, students may view a...

Learners create and write a "Choose Your Own Adventure" story as they investigate the Revolutionary War. They choose a historical figure who played a key role in the war who meets other influential figures and has the opportunity to...

Learners reflect on the Holocaust in two lessons. Using prior knowledge, they investigate and make decisions dealing with human behavior before beginning their studies on the Holocaust. After examining different aspects of the event,...

Young scholars read a fiction and nonfiction accounts about different types of disasters. The class uses iChat AV and iSight camera to interview students in a different part of the country about natural or manmade disasters in their...

Students become familiar with local organizations from the four sectors of the economy that help the needy. In this service project lesson, students interview people from organizations that help the needy. Students explore the needs of...

Young scholars define discrimination and what its like to be a stranger.In this discrimination activity, students research the lives of Vivien Thomas and Hamilton Naki. Young scholars produce a wall display showing how they've overcome...

Students discover effective writing techniques to create persuasive essays. In this writing lesson, students investigate ways to express facts and points of view through persuasive essays. Finally, the students write their own persuasive...

Students familiarize themselves with photo editing and montage techniques. They create a montage that tells the viewer about themselves.

Students complete a unit on words, their origins, and their usage. They explore various websites, create a word ladder online, develop a list of anagrams, write a story using homonyms, and create a list of vocabulary words.

Students work in groups making drawing of monsters and then given written instructions to students in another class about how to draw the same monster. After the drawings are complete, they share with other students using an iSight...

Students read and answer questions based on One Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. For this tolerance lesson, students record their feelings and reflections during discussion of the book. Students create a dress using their own ideas.

Research a historic event using textbooks, primary source documents, the Internet, and other library and media resources. Young historians will take the research they have gathered and write an attention-grabbing, historically accurate...

Students discuss cliques, intimidators, support systems and how it feels to be victimized, and discuss ways to deal with hurtful people.

Students participate in an official "Hip on Hemingway Club." They explore Hemingway and create a biography of Ernest Hemingway patterned after an alphabet book. They record their "key word" with each of the twenty-six letters of the...

Students define human rights and describe how it applies to politics, economics and cultural rights. As a class, they watch a video how the Constitution was made and discuss its purpose. In groups, they present information to the class...

Students complete a critical reading of the novel "The Midwife's Apprentice." During their reading, students create several journal responses to the character's situation and transformation. Working with computers, students complete...

Students listen to the song "Scarecrow" by Melissa Etheridge and draw what they think the song is about. They discover the song is about a man who was attacked. They again express their feelings about the song through drawing. Finally...

Middle schoolers explore and review punctuation. They discuss examples of poorly punctuated paragraphs and how it affects writing. Students describe the types of punctuation used for writing. They correctly punctuate a variety of...

Students examine the lives of people who stood up for their beliefs. In this biography lesson plan, students research the lives of people such as Gandi, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Robert Kennedy. Students use a graphic organizer...

Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Everglades Forever. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions,...

Learners read about an autistic boy and  learn about how he communicates.  In this picture book summary instructional activity, students draw illustrations of events in the story that convey the theme.

Middle schoolers practice the correct use of quotation marks. In this grammar lesson, students watch and then discuss a video on the use of quotation marks. Middle schoolers find examples of quotation marks in books and periodicals and...