Introduce some nonfiction reading into your classroom! This resource contains seven comprehension questions pertaining to an article from The New York Times website about the first middle schoolers to ever win the United States Chess...

Students define the key terms presented in the lesson. Students identify and describe the social structure of Southern society . Students explain how slavery evolved in the colonies and how slaves maintained their culture in the colonies.

Tone and mood are easy to use interchangeably—and yet they are very different elements of literature. Help middle schoolers discern between the way a speaker feels about his or her subject and the way the audience is meant to feel with a...

The Navajo would disagree with Shakespeare that the naming of things is irrelevant. Navajo people have to earn their names. Middle schoolers learn about the cultural significance of Navajo names in a lesson that uses a video and reading...

If you build it they can come. After reading a short article about the impact of western expansion, middle schoolers cite evidence from the article to explain how this expansion forced changes in transportation.

Use these worksheets to kick off a great lesson on The Crusades. Eighth graders will analyze a map and four short passages to answer six reading comprehension questions.

Eighth graders explore the key concepts within the Colonization of America, the significance of the Triangular Trade Route, the origin of slavery, and the Middle Passage. After a short discussion and review, 8th graders orally practice...

Introduce middle schoolers to free verse poetry with a lesson that has young poets read two free verse poems and list the common characteristics of the form. They then read a passage from Cesar Chavez's biography and a free verse poem...

New Deal programs are the focus of an activity that prompts middle and high schoolers to consider the end of the Great Depression. Groups examine primary source materials to gain an understanding of how these programs were...

Looking for ideas on ways to recognize Veteran's Day? Check out this 92-page packet that includes exercises designed for all grade levels. Reading passages detail the history of the holiday, research projects get individuals involved in...

Imagine dumping out a milk can and finding letters from one of the darkest moments in history! Scholars use Holocaust Reading Passages and research to discover how people recorded and hid history during the events of World War II. They...

Your students' world will literally take shape in this presentation, which chronicles the growing edges of the (flat) earth during European Exploration of New Worlds. Dias, da Gama, Magellean, and Columbus are key players in this game of...

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is always a favorite for middle and high school readers because it addresses issues that hit home to them, decades after the book is set. Have learners fill out an anticipation guide that encourages them to...

As part of a study of slavery during the US colonial period, class members investigate why enslaved people ran away, the risks inherent in escaping, and the methods used to locate them.

Learners study the concept of legislation as it relates to passing a bill in the House of Representatives. In this legislation: passing a bill in the house of representative lesson plan, students identify why and how bills are introduced...

Using Google Earth, a vocabulary assignment, and map handout, your class members will outline the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia and identify the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They will then complete graphic organizers...

Some days, the world seems like it is becoming darker, but research suggests that the world might actually be becoming a more peaceful place. An informational reading passage accompanied by a series of activities builds English language...

Analyze the components of precise wording and vivid language in this language arts lesson plan. Middle school writers illustrate a passage from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and write a response to a Norman Rockwell print....

As part of a close reading activity, individuals respond to three questions and craft two short essays based on a passage about Islam, one of the world most widespread religion.

Help your pupils take charge of their inferring abilities with an exercise designed for direct practice with making and supporting inferences. Learners read four short passages and answer two to three questions for each passage that...

Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...

The Olympics are about more than sports—at times, the games are also a place of racism and prejudice! Pupils investigate the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. They analyze the meaning behind the materials included in the United States...

Did you know that more than three million people fought in the Civil War? Through artifacts, graphics, and passages class members learn about the stark divide between North and South that led to the war, as well as about the events...

Students read a chapter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and define new words for their dictionaries. In this vocabulary lesson students choose two or three assignment from a list of projects and complete it using...