What makes a good advocate? An informative lesson plan teaches class members how to advocate persuasively. They participate in a fishbowl activity and listen to the teacher model advocating persuasively. They then practice independently,...

Class members complete the final part of the The Omnivore’s Dilemma end-of-unit assessment. The portion includes a fishbowl activity where learners demonstrate their persuasive advocacy abilities. As each pupil speaks, their peers assess...

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? As part of the end-of-unit assessment for The Omnivore’s Dilemma, scholars watch a video about organic eggs versus conventional farm eggs. They use graphic organizers to collect evidence as they...

Eye contact, volume, pronunciation. Working with partners, scholars practice presenting their speeches about the best food chain. Additionally, they choose a visual component to support their end-of-unit speech.

What's the difference between a position speech and a position paper? Scholars use a rubric to analyze a model essay about Michael Pollan's food chains to understand what makes them unique. Additionally, pupils create anchor charts...

What is the purpose of an introduction and conclusion? Using the resource, scholars review the model position paper from activity one and discuss the author's choices. Next, they draft their position papers' introductory and concluding...

All good essays must come to an end. Pupils write the final drafts of their position papers about the best food chain from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Next, they share their favorite part of their papers with their partners.

It's time to put down those pencils and celebrate! Scholars share the visual representations of their position papers with the class. They participate in a gallery walk to view each other's work, writing a piece of praise for their...

You wrote it, now what? Learners take their writing to the next level when they perform it for classmates. They then engage in a self-reflection and assessment of their work to determine how well they hit targets, such as identifying...

What exactly is a visual representation? Scholars use a think-pair-share to answer questions and record their information on anchor charts. Next, they use what they've learned to create visual representations of their position papers on...

Elementary and middle schoolers research animal facts and use them in a fable. First, they pair-share to find animal traits to use in writing a fable. They then complete a prewriting worksheet. After going through the writing process,...

Write in all three authorial purposes (persuasive, informational, entertaining) with this lesson. Young writers consider a time when a friend of theirs helped them out and gave them advice on something. They write a short paragraph (no...

Consisting of a thorough and straightforward list of poetry terminology, the first part of this presentation would be a good introduction to a poetry unit, or a review for an upcoming poetry project. The list of terms is quite extensive,...

Why does Steinbeck use animal imagery to describe Lennie in Of Mice and Men? Readers examine a series of descriptions and comment on the effect Steinbeck creates with his word choice. 

Singular and plural forms of count and non-count nouns are the focus of the worksheets included in this packet.

Poetry is everywhere you look! Create found poems using headlines from newspapers and magazines. Young poetry focus on creating alliterative phrases with words they find in headlines, tying their poems to a central theme.

Bring a time machine into your classroom with this writing lesson, in which young writers project themselves back in time and have a variety of choices from that point forward. They either write a conversation with a historical figure,...

How well do your class members understand the figurative meaning of idioms? Find out with this 15 question multiple choice assessment.

Scholars closely read Justice John Marshall Harlan's dissenting opinion in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, seeking to understand why he disagreed with the court's decision that racial segregation laws for public spaces were constitutional....

Introduce your young scholars to personification. The literary device is clearly defined and illustrated with clever examples. Opportunities for guided and independent practice using poems by Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes are also...

William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew combines three things that are sure to capture scholars' attention: love, deception, and clown attire. With the curriculum guide, learners hone their opinion-writing skills and...

Learners complete acting exercises as a part of a precise language activity to help them build vocabulary and improve their descriptive writing skills. In this theatre and writing lesson, students create and act out a sentence with two...

Pupils review the main points of note-taking to summarize the content of a formal or informal spoken presentation. They hear a guest speaker talk about a pre-arranged topic and take notes during the presentation. Next, they write a...

Conquer those pesky moments when the Turkish language appears in class. Don’t be afraid to discover a few new Turkish morphemes, and their corresponding English words in this quick lesson.  Who knows where this knowledge can go?...