A great student reference tool and graphic organizer in one worksheet! Young writers can read a detailed description of each section of a standard five-paragraph essay before completing a graphic organized with their own writing. The...

Use this presentation to aid young writers as they move through any writing assignment. The slides, which detail each step of the writing process, could easily be used over a series of class periods. Most slides ask leading questions and...

Build unity in the dojo or the gym with an activity that not only teaches the importance of stretching and flexibility but also offers class members an opportunity to get to know one another. After warming up and engaging in a Medicine...

“Words can be like x-rays if you use them properly—they’ll go through anything.” Readers of Brave New World will be pierced by an activity that asks them to use details from the text to craft a biopoem for one of the characters in Aldous...

During a lesson on wave motion, physical science participants basically act out the waves as a group. Through their movements, the amplitude, speed, frequency, and wavelength are all identified. Ideas for modeling the reflection and...

Here's an "old-school" lesson plan on an event in US history. High schoolers look into the massive layoffs that occurred in New Orleans in 2005. Discussion and debate take place, and groups of learners must cut and paste a series of...

Begin the lesson plan by having your class write what they know about diabetes. They learn through a skit how the body metabolizes glucose. A visual representation of the two types of diabetes is displayed, and then learners participate...

Experiment with light and dark in a series of interactive activities that lead up to reading and writing poetry. Class members have the opportunity to observe their feelings while sitting in the light and dark and to play with shadow...

A scarlet letter “V” stands for a desktop teaching vocabulary activity designed for Speak. Prior to reading Laurie Hales Anderson’s young adult novel, individuals sign up for a word, design a handout that illustrates the word, includes...

This line dance incorporates the grapevine, step-claps, the Twist, and the Lindy step. It's a great way to introduce the Lindy step in a line dance before teaching them to dance the Lindy with a partner. The directions are well written...

The worst part of the week is trying to scrounge quarters for the laundromat. Make the task of cleaning laundry an easy one for your high-functioning special needs learners. You take a trip to a local laundromat to practice using coin...

How can you graph lines that don't seem to fit on the given graph? What makes a line straight? What does the rate of change mean when graphing a line? How do you know if a slope is positive or negative? How do you know if the graph of a...

For the warm-up in this cool climate lesson, you will need to click on "Mapping" and then "US Mapping" once you arrive at NOAA's "US Climate at a Glance" page. Earth science explorers realize that 2012 was a warm winter for us. They read...

Define, simplify, add, and subtract polynomials. Identify the degrees of a polynomial. Determine if a polynomial is a monomial, a binomial, or a trinomial. Then look at simplifying a polynomial by combining the coefficient values of like...

An interesting instructional activity on hypothesizing about the diameter of a drop of blood that is splattered. To test their theories, learners work in groups to make blood droplets splatter from different heights. They use graphed...

Let's play ball! A great springtime activity to learn about ratios. This activity challenges learners to draw stadiums to scale on standard letter paper and also on construction paper. This three-day lesson includes a pre-assessment...

Hey Macarena! Just a few moves to learn. It's only a 16-count dance that keeps repeating.  Hands in front, palms down, then palms up, hands to upper arms, hands to arms, hands to hips, hands to cheeks, and wiggle. Yes! That's all...

Oskar Schell's narrative about his expedition to find out more about his father serves as a model for writers who are crafting their own narratives. Class members choose two characters from the novel and collect examples of the methods...

As a before reading strategy, class members select a tale from mythology, examine several picture book versions of the myth, and fill out part of a Venn diagram with observations about the hero in particular and the myth in...

As an introductory activity to Mississippi Trial, 1955, class members use color-coded dots to respond anonymously to a series of statements about prejudice and responsibility to their fellow-man that are posted about the room. The...

Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Class members use Bloom's taxonomy to craft six levels of discussion questions for Chris Crowe's novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955. Model questions from Chapter 3, a...

Readers of Dandelion Wine work in groups to develop questions on four levels (right there, think and search, the author and you, and on my own) about Chapter 34 of Ray Bradbury's reflection on the joys of summer. Groups jigsaw and...

Considering an examination of point of view? Use visual arts to engage learners in of this element of art and literature. Class members select a portrait from the Renaissance Connection and, guided by a series of brainstorming...

Class members are asked to consider how they would respond to situations faced by characters in Great Expectations. After completing one exercise as guided practice, individuals are presented with a second problematic situation and...