Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...

After listening to a story learners engage in a kinesthetic activity to answer comprehension and critical thinking questions. Finally, the students identify three main facts about the story. Extensions include a fact and opinion...

Take the fear out of reading with this series of three lessons from HotWire Magazine about fears and phobias. Each lesson contains pre-reading and post-reading activities aimed at improving learners' reading comprehension skills with the...

Few aspects of life make better fodder for a comedic play than politics. A study guide introduces George Bernard's Shaw comedy Arms and the Man. Along with summaries of each scene and brief biographies of the main characters, two lesson...

The simple instructional techniques described in this plan will help young readers learn and practice basic reading skills and strategies. Before reading, introduce your readers to the meaning of main character, setting, and plot. Then...

Students play games.  In this comprehension and recall lesson, students play Give Me A Break, Bingo and Jeopardy to reinforce the knowledge they've learned about Lewis and Clark.

Use drama techniques to recreate the story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. They engage in problem-solving as they identify the roles they will fufill in their groups for the performance. This is a motivating way to...

Young scholars categorize studenT toys by intelligence types. They review toy safety and function and identify the appropriate play age of various toys. They read and evaluate studenT books and write one of their own.

How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...

Fifth graders examine the impact of Benjamin Franklin's ideas on the goods and services available in Colonial America as well as analyze the importance of Franklin to modern society. While listening to "How Ben Franklin Stole the...

HIgh schoolers respond to a persuasive article on using animal research. In this english lesson, writers listen to a conversation, and discuss the point of arguments. They write a critique on a certain film and share it with their...

Young scholars write a report about infectious diseases where they demonstrate their understanding of new terminology. In this writing activity, students analyze the effect of disease in their lives and and make scientific inquiry about...

With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...

Weaving is an important part of Navajo culture. Read The Goat in the Rug to your fourth and fifth graders, and give them a glimpse into the process of rug making from the point of view of a goat! They will learn new vocabulary words and...

Connect the ideas of jazz improvisation and art to writing poetry. Learners collaborate and write different lines of poetry, imitating the jazz styles of improvisation and freewriting. Take a close look at the poems "Tenebrae" by Yusef...

Students create a car using physics. In this forces and motion lesson plan, students create a car and test which changes in design change the performance of the car. Students complete a graphic organizer with the different...

Students explore the trail followed by Lewis and Clark on their journey across the United States. In this United States History instructional activity, students complete several activities to establish the Lewis and Clark Expedition,...

This activity addresses proper seam allowances, how those seams should be finished, and the importance of pressing them. Class members learn by listening as well as by practicing and creating their own samples. There are many attachments...

Learners make an earthquake simulator and test their structure to see if it lasts through the earthquake. In this earthquake lesson plan, students make a structure and test and record the results from an earthquake simulator made out of...

Second graders practice dance using different speeds of music and types of movement. In this dance instructional activity, 2nd graders view a clip of tap dancing and analyze the speed of music in coordinating with the speed of dance...

Model for emergent readers how to write a story by interpreting picture clues. For guided practice a second book is used, and then pupils work independently or with an adult to write their own stories based on illustrations.

Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...

Students examine uses for water. In this water lesson, students discuss how they use water. As a class students make a PowerPoint by naming one swimming safety rule. Students compare and contrast fishing for fun and fishing for survival.

Students develop and apply strategies using visualization. In this reading lesson, students listen to sounds and draw images that depict the audio recordings. Students then apply this visualization strategy to nonfiction material...