Let the journey begin! Fifth graders take their first steps down the road of self-discovery during the first of five career and college readiness lesson plans. After taking an interests inventory, groups create a graphic representation...

The big idea for this lesson is that the past enriches our present and future. Learners explore the origin of the Olympic Games and how one man took an event from the past and reinvented it for modern times. They compare and contrast the...

Engage conversation and explore the journey as you challenge young readers to interpret the german folktale, "The Fisherman and His Wife" written by literary brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

Coming up on the Olympics? Be sure your middle schoolers understand the dynamic and ancient history of this global tradition. They begin by recalling traditions parents have passed down, considering their relevance and ways they might be...

To understand the history of Native American education, high schoolers examine the record of young scholars who attended the Carlisle Indian School from 1879-1918. They also examine sources that contain information about indigenous...

Help young readers learn to read and interpret complex text independently. Teach young children to ask interpretive questions and use the text itself to answer them. Use art, word play and drama to provide a deeper understanding of...

Introduce the scientific method with a reading comprehension activity. Have kids read a few paragraphs that describe the process of making a hypothesis, gathering evidence, and taking notes that will support the experiment.

". . . gentlenenss is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force." Prior to beginning Siddhartha, employ a KWHL strategy to provided your class members with the background knowledge of Hinduism,...

Your budding scholars spent the day in the library looking for a topic for their research essay, and now they are all in tears because there is too much information available on their topics. Wipe those tears away with the ideas and...

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 you're reading Gary Paulsen's tale of self discovery and adventure, Canyons, bring this questioning strategy into your classroom. The QAR questioning strategy is meant to encourage a deeper analysis of the text, as some questions are...

Develop novice script-writers. Small groups sift through a sample script, noting any script-writing conventions to share with the whole class. Using these conventions and plot structures, these groups compose a script for a 10-minute...

Set in Oklahoma in the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath presents a powerful view of life during the Great Depression. An insightful lesson plan takes a closer look at the characters in John Steinbeck's classic novel, combining the...

Six lessons make up a unit all about biographies. Scholars read about a remarkable life while taking notes and identifying characteristics of the biographical genre. Readers examine the tale's obstacles, accomplishments, and sequence of...

Celebrate the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day with a collection of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics activities, each linked to a popular Dr. Seuss story. 

Guide your class on an adventure 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with this Hampton-Brown outline. It provides educators with a guide to increase reading comprehension, critical thinking, literary analysis, and reading strategies. This...

Here's an awesome unit that uses The Cay as the anchor text. The 16-page packet is loaded with teaching ideas, activities, and suggested adjustments.

Here is instructional activity 5 from a 7 instructional activity unit on using blogging to create a community of writers. The aim of this instructional activity is to get students writing about what Archaeologists do and how they use...

What is the cost of change? Roberto Guerra's photo essay "La Carretera: Life and Change Along Peru's Interoceanic Highway" asks viewers to consider the impacts of the 1,600 mile-long highway through Peru and Brazil that connects Pacific...