The SAT. The ACT. AP exams. The very mention of these exams can cause the college bound to feel anxious. One way to combat Test Anxiety is to provide high schoolers with models of these tests and give them opportunities to analyze...

Avoid donuts on test days! Teach your classes how to prepare for assessments, ranging from pop quizzes to major exams, with a lesson that helps scholars identify and practice effective test-taking strategies. Participants learn about the...

A lesson on taking notes challenges scholars to listen and write important information they can use later. Pupils begin with practice notes, write new notes with guidance, then test their note-taking skills independently. Peers share...

Can science scholars describe a nucleus without mentioning DNA, or a chloroplast without mentioning the color green? Test their organelle understanding through an exciting card game. Groups take turns guessing the correct organelle or...

Is light related to insulation? An informative hands-on STEM activity demonstrates how light affects temperature. First, the class investigates how light passes through different mediums and how that relates to temperature. Then,...

Add a splash of color to your chemistry class! Science scholars discover the principles behind color through a wide variety of hands-on activities. Lessons include dyes, chromatography, and flame tests.

Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...

Let's eat kids. Let's eat, kids. Commas make a difference! Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (and Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation explains ways to teach the importance and use of conventions. Learners take part in...

The moon takes just over 27 days to orbit around Earth. Young scientists position themselves as the earth as they rotate around the sun and hold the moon. This allows them to observe the patterns and phases of the moon.

The Renaissance is the theme of a five-week unit designed to boost reading comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, and expository writing skills. Scholars listen to and discuss daily readings and engage in skills practice activities...

We taste with our taste buds, so why do flavors change when we have a stuffy nose? Scholars experiment with taste testing while holding their noses and then while smelling. They record their observations in pairs and come together to...

Take the time out of preparing an algebra review and use this multiple-choice assessment to prep for the big test. Some included topics are factoring, FOILing, inequalities, and linear graphs. 

Discuss the ethical and practical consequences of dishonesty at work by analyzing a hypothetical situation in which a young employee at a pizza shop is being asked by her friends for free meals.

Challenge writers to compose an essay detailing their stance on, and the history of, voting. Three assignments, each broken down into three parts, requires fifth graders to take notes, read and complete charts, write paragraphs, compare...

Scholars test their skills of reading body language with a collaborative learning experience that focuses on showing and identifying emotions. Pairs take turns acting out an emotion, one uses body language while the other guesses what...

Potty humor is always a big hit with the school-age crowd, and potty algebra takes this topic to a whole new level. Here the class develops a model that connects the dimensions (radii, paper thickness, and length of paper) of a...

A class discussion on reference materials opens up a lesson plan on how to use these important resources. They discover that dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses are called word reference resources, and they practice using them. The...

Why do medical examiners always state the contents of a person's stomach? Scholars learn about the importance of macromolecules through a case study of stomach contents. They perform multiple tests to determine a conclusion before they...

Looking for a terrific chemistry lesson for your 5th graders? This one could be for you! After a teacher-led demonstration, learners are broken up into groups and perform an experiment using cabbage juice, water, window cleaner, and...

Why did the United States choose to invade Cuba in 1898? As part of a 3-day lesson, your young historians will first develop working hypotheses to answer this question, then work with a variety of historical primary source documents that...

What could be more relevant to teens and preteens than experiencing stress? Use an article from the New York Times website to practice valuable Common Core skills for informational text reading, and also get a discussion going in your...

Will it sink or will it float? Learners predict the outcome as they drop random objects into a container of water. Then, they keep track of the results and record the data in a t-chart to draw a final conclusion.

It's probably a good idea to use the unit. Young mathematicians learn about conditional probability using Venn diagrams, tree diagrams, and two-way tables. They also take into consideration independence and the addition rules.

You'll never forget the importance of toilet paper and hand washing ever again. Scholars perform an experiment to model the transfer of microbes in the bathroom. They perform three trials to test the transmission of yeast using their...