Middle schoolers delve deep into facts about HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis, and other STI's by way of discussion and a hands-on activity. Scholars ask and discuss questions anonymously using a Question Box. Two experiments showcase the...

 The Native American symbol, The Circle of Life, represents life's spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional well being. By way of deep discussion, and two games, the lesson uses the Circle of Life to explore the stages of...

Autism isn't an illness or a disability. In the first chapter of Animals in Translation, we learn about Temple Grandin's unique ability to understand animals through her experience with autism. Having read pages four through eight for...

Focus on chapter two of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a questioning activity. After teaching and modeling several types of questions, learners work with partners and then independently to answer and...

Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...

Is your class reading Pride and Prejudice? In order to link scenes to the themes in Austen's novel, pairs take on the confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth (Chapter XIV). After writing their own version of the...

Art, music, poetry, and the beauty of the seasons is what you'll find in this very nice unit idea. You can use any of the suggested books and activities to engage your second graders in an exploration of the changes that take place...

Following the book, Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal, readers complete an activity for each chapter, take part in discussions, and respond to several questions. To show what they know, scholars create an alphabet book using primary...

Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...

Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

By way of group discussion, reading, and role-play a series of six activities encourage scholars to make responsible decisions. Following an online introduction, pupils review the concept of volition and answer questions. Middle...

Invite your young writers to take the reins with writing dialogue. Using two characters of their own creation, kids work with partners and then individually to write short conversations.

Readers of Ordinary People employ a cubing strategy based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to analyze, from multiple perspectives, an excerpt from Chapter 10 of Judith Guest’s novel.  The excerpt, a rationale and complete directions for the...

Class members identify bullying in contemporary texts and role play how they might change those scenes to examples of anti-bullying. They then re-define their initial definitions of bullying and discuss what they...

What exactly does make life worth living? In preparation for a fishbowl discussion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, readers of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel highlight sections that show a character grieving, coping, or suffering...

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...

Here's a wonderful way to learn English grammar. Class members examine the plural count nouns in Thiele and Weiss's "What a Wonderful World," reading the lyrics as they listen to Louis Armstrong's version of this classic song.

Describing a problem efficiently doesn't solve it, but a well-crafted argument can move readers to action. High schoolers focus on structuring problem statements by reading examples of strong essays and working in groups to create...