Students explore the controversy surrounding performance-enhancing drugs. In this current events lesson plan, students discuss the prevalence of drug use in the sports world and create poetry about sports. Older students may design a...

Students combine prefixes and suffixes to form nonsense words and sentences in the style of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky."  In this "Jabberwocky" lesson, students brainstorm ways to decode an unfamiliar word and apply these skills...

Students identify jargon in poetry, prose and fiction. In this literature lesson plan, students will read selections from Mark Twain and identify figurative langauge, focusing on jargon.

Describe yourself or a character from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with a biopoem activity. Using the provided format, kids write their own characteristics or the character traits from the novel to create a poetic portrait.

Young learners examine how different traits could give one organism an advantage over another. In groups, they view two different organisms in different environments. To end the lesson, they complete a Venn Diagram on the two organisms...

Students create a poem based on the teacher example provided. Students utilize the poem within their box construction which is something that will hold meaning and portray the student the best.

students think of scientists as heroes and heroines by dispelling the stereotypes of persons in scientific careers. They work in cooperative groups to research the life and works of a scientist and (through the use of the library and the...

Students work together to develop a survey to ask people who lived during the Great Depression. Using the information from the survey, they write an essay or a poem describing why it was bad for one of their family members to lose their...

Young scholars view the comic "Time sliders" from the Celebrate the Stamp Unit from the 1980's. They discuss what the comic magazine contains. Students listen to a speaker from the post office discuss how stamps are selected. They use...

How do barns serve as a window to a community's past? Here are a series of lessons on the symbolism and historical context of barns throughout American history. Topics include community-building, in-depth primary and secondary...

Seventh graders research an assigned poet's life and times and read examples of their poetry. They prepare a word-processed paper analyzing the poems by their poet, and answering the essential question then they give an oral...

Students compare and contrast related two- and three-dimensional shapes, and complete a Venn diagram illustrating the attributes of each. Using a poem pattern from another lesson, students use data from the diagram to write an attribute...

Students examine how to use their vocabulary, writing skills, and creative thinking to address environmental concerns in this unit. They write messages to using creative writing to address the issues of solid waste and recycling.

Students listen to the poem, "De Cunjah Man" and discover how and why this language came into existence. They are introduced to the idea that songs are a way of expressing human feelings and name a song that makes them feel happy or sad.

Seventh graders explore the progression of immigration patterns in the United States. They examine how immigrants perceived and adapted to the United States culture. Students discuss how immigrants were able to perserve their culture in...

Students examine how traditions change over time. In this lesson on Jewish culture, students interview persons of the Jewish faith, write poems, and create murals that exemplify Jewish culture.

Students evaluate art to enhance their core knowledge of fiction, American folk heroes, and the water cycle. In this art lesson, students complete a unit of activities to use art to study various topics of literature, history, and...

Students scan headlines on the Journey North News Updates each day to track the changes that spring brings as it comes to different areas of the United States.

Students complete a unit on clouds and a report about one type of cloud. They collect data through observation about different types of cloud cover and then create a spreadsheet to reflect their observations over a 2 week period.

Students apply their knowledge of math by rewriting word problems using equations. In this word problem lesson, students build upon previous knowledge as they set up the correct steps to solve word problems. This lesson is full of hints...

Middle schoolers can analyze primary source documents to answer the question, "Why did the Aztec and Inca civilizations disappear?" They will read the provided excerpts then answer 11 different questions to uncover the ultimate answer.

Students examine the human cost of war on both sides of the Civil War. Using the internet, they research the role of women on the homefront and the impact the war had on families. They also read the novel "Across Five Aprils" and discuss...

Students use the Internet, encyclopedias, and other library resources to discover basic facts about the Battle of New Orleans and the 1768 revolt by French colonists in Spanish Louisiana. They examine two websites that give information...