“All the world’s a stage,” exclaims Jaques in As You Like It, but it is the structure of the Globe stage and how that structure influenced Shakespeare’s plays that is the focus of an on-line research project. Class members visit a series...

Is the circus a form of theater? Read "A City of Clowns? What Else Is New?" to sway your class that a circus, is indeed, a theatrical performance. Critical thinkers compare/contrast various forms of theater and identify what makes the...

After reading Sandra Cisneros’ novel The House on Mango Street, class members design a canned food drive, create advertisements for the drive, and use digital cameras to document the entire process. In addition, pupils journal their...

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...

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”  Readers of The Stranger rate Mersault’s moral development (or lack thereof) using Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development scale. Using...

Conduct a Reader's Theater. Third, fourth, and fifth graders rewrite books with a baseball theme to a Reader's Theater format. They form groups of four or five, practice reading the script, and then perform it for an audience.

A reading of Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson launches this study of slavery, freedom, and the Underground Railroad. After a discussion of the importance of showing respect for others and of helping each other in...

Whose responsibility is it to improve schools in developing countries? How does quality education affect my neighborhood? Questions of responsibility, whether global or local, form the heart of this lesson. Using the UN’s Millennium...

Learning about literature can be so much fun; it can also be made more accessible through projects and dramatic play. As they explore theme, character, and setting, the class gets creative and makes a dramatic recreation of a classic...

High schoolers read a scene from Hamlet, without stage directions. They recreate the scene using their own stage directions as they see fit for the scene.

Shake things up in your STEM or earth science classroom when you have small groups construct their own seismographs. A reading assignment on the history of seismographs, the Richter scale, and current technology sets the stage for the...

Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...

Student read a section of Shakespeare's, Julius Caesar to identify the context. In this Shakespeare lesson, learners discuss a section of Julius Caesar to determine how Cassius feels about Antony. They work with a partner to develop a...

Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Fishing Fun. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer questions, have...

Students identify and research cultural, historical, and symbolic clues in dramatic texts. They demonstrate knowledge of research sources.

Examine the evolution of various species of hominids from their earliest existence approximately 4.5 million years ago to today. In small groups, learners research one of the ten stages of hominid evolution and then create a poster and...

Connect to real-world experiences by having your primary learners create an award certificate based upon literal and inferential information from a story. They present the award to a character from a story and explain the criteria used....

To better understand the cultural achievements of the Harlem Renaissance and become familiar with its major figures, class members examine a painting by Aaron Douglas and a poem by Langston Hughes and compare how the artists develop...

Young scholars read three different genres of fiction. They create a story map and brainstorm possible collage inclusions. Each student prepares a minimum of two scrapbook page entries for each text or passage. Students write beside each...

First graders investigate Cinderella tales from different lands to discover their commonalities in this unit. They perform their favorite Cinderella story.

Learners draw the life cycle of a butterfly. In this life cycle lesson plan, students read about and discuss the life cycle and then draw what they have learned. 

Students listen to a lecture covering the process of going from one cell to two cells. Using the textbook, students differentiate between meiosis I and Meiosis II. Students work in pairs to create one stage using pipe cleaners, sequins,...

Students 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.

Drama and movement are wonderful ways to cover story elements such as setting, character, and descriptive writing. Little ones listen to a poem about imaginary creatures. As they listen, they shape their bodies into what they think the...