Young writers examine the writings of Raymond Carver to investigate editing skills. They will develop original sentences. Then read the work of Raymond Carver to edit and analyze the ending. They revise and ending of their original...

Partners or groups work together to practice the correct spelling of words. They speed-cut letters from print sources and arrange them into correctly spelled words from their lists. Newspapers are suggested, but magazines might result in...

Demonstrate how to engage in a polite and professional conversation with this banking and interfacing instructional activity. Focusing on explanatory and informaitonal texts, middle schoolers write sentences using banking and finance...

Students investigate how water is utilized in producing food. In this agriculture lesson, students examine how much water goes into the creation of their daily menu. Students create a new menu that can conserve water and cut their water...

Students get to build a piggy bank and experiment with coin denominations. Students gather parents and community volunteers to join with them for this class art project. Students and volunteers papier-mache an original piggy bank.

Students list and research "cutting edge" technology, then develop a Consumer Electronics Trade Show by designing posters, and developing speeches to promote products.

Learners cut out and trace a Flying Wing pattern on the bottom of the foam tray. They test flight it and observe the flight of the wing.

Students brainstorm new technological devices that apply cutting-edge 3-D computer modeling software to benefit different professions.

Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to the primary landforms of Illinois and discover how they were created. Landform cards are made for each pupil. They use the twenty-questions format until they have identified each one. Then,...

Students map watersheds to find their boundaries.  In this watershed activity students map and then give their "watershed address."  Students show the trail from stream, larger stream to oceans.  Students describe the...

Emerging consumers recognize the types and denominations of U.S. currency. They listen to a guest speaker (if possible) and view a video.  They create their own money using styrofoam and a toothpick for engraving. Consider creating...

Students examine the financial committment to running a campaign. They discuss the difference between electroal and popular votes. They realize how involved a political campaign is!

Here is a nice lesson, which includes some good worksheets, on pumpkins and how they grow. It is an ESL lesson designed for beginning and early intermediate learners. After listening to some books about pumpkins, learners label pumpkin...

Running an election campaign takes money. Class groups must effectively budget money in order to design and purchase sufficient advertising aimed at procuring classmates' votes. After completing an online tutorial, they also write and...

A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this lesson which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our solar system, young...

Students discover the primary landforms of Illinois. They examine how those landforms were formed as well. In groups, they research one of the landforms from their vocabulary list. They create their landform in a shoebox and present it...

Students examine the components of the water cycle and follow step by step directions to build a three dimensional cloud. The vocabulary words used in the lesson are attached to the cloud for a lesson review.

Students read a story about spending and saving money and talk about the difference between goods and services. In this money lesson plan, students also play a matching game to review the story and practice rhyming words from the story.

Students become civil engineers and assist in designing a Truss Bridge to carry a two-lane highway across a river valley using the West Point Bridge Designer 2003 Software. They construct bridges based upon budget and demos. Students...

Young scholars create a Mother's Day gift. In this arts and crafts lesson, students use paper mache to make a tray.

Students investigate the loom and weaving process. In this weaving lesson, students use soda straws to make a bracelet or a bookmark. Students use the over-under pattern of weaving.

Students create blueprints for imaginary inventions based on real-world technological principles. They write explanations of how their inventions work in the form of movie dialogues.

Students take a look back at the week's news by exploring the news summaries article offered in The New York Times' Week in Review section each week. They look further into ongoing news stories of interest to them in order to create...

Students examine the portrayal of women in action-adventure video games and in other forms of entertainment to assess whether or not these portrayals perpetuate positive images of women in today's world. They develop new female video...