Students draw and describe their monster. They exchange papers with another student and recreate the monster based on the other student's description.

Students discuss and define folklore, locate town of Sleepy Hollow, NY, on map, calculate distance from Sleepy Hollow to their school, if applicable, review vocabulary list from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, read story aloud, and write...

Students delve into primary research. In this Japanese Internment lesson plan, students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the advantages...

Observe images and discuss what messages they convey. In this critical thinking lesson plan, students determine whether works of art are trying to persuade their audience. They also consider the media and how they communicate messages to...

Students study the problems in their school and work on solutions for those problems. In this writing process lesson, students analyze a problem and work as a team to find a solution.  Students present written and oral work to...

Students 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.

Students 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,...

Eighth graders explore advertisements and deception in advertising.  In this marketing and advertising lesson, 8th graders write cause and effect paragraphs describing products, promises made, deceptions caused, and the immediate...

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...

Students 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...

Students 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,...

Eighth graders explore themselves and their community. In this writing lesson, 8th graders brainstorm ideas about their childhood, middle years, family, and future goals.  Students write an autobiographical sketch about...

Students 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 area....

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...

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

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

Reflecting on what life was like during the Holocaust, 8th graders will read excerpts from the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, then complete five classroom activities that reflect on the readings. The classroom will be set-up to portray...

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.

Young scholars 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 young scholars using an...

Students read and answer questions based on One Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. In 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.

Middle schoolers 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...