Middle schoolers read a short selection of a story individually or as a class. On their own, they create a story pyramid for the selection and write a one page summary. They use text from the story for their supporting details. To end...

Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...

Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in text....

Students study earthquakes, monitor seismic activity using the Web, and plot real-time activity. They examine movement of the Earth's tectonic plates. They create an earthquake preparedness project.

Students download information from a NASA website into a database. They transfer it to a spreadsheet by completing the information and analyze the information. They determine temperature averages, mode, and graph the results. They write...

Sixth graders write a narrative. They choose options for plot and climax within the context of an outdoor survival story.

Students explore language arts by completing a graphic organizer in class. In this story structure lesson, students read the poem "Sick" by Shel Silverstein and discuss the different elements in the piece which make it an effective...

Students revise Spanish mystery stories. They sequence the events from a group's mystery story and suggest revisions for the setting. They revise their stories using the suggestions from classmates and describe characters in folktales....

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Are wages based on race? On gender? Class members research wages for workers according to race and gender, create graphs and charts of their data, and compute differences by percentages. They then share their findings with adults and...

Spice up your writing! Your amateur writers will benefit from concentrating on understanding and improving verb use in writing. An introductory activity addresses weak verbs. A second exercise helps them see the importance of strong...

Fifth graders read the selection Black Cowboy, Wild Horses and identify characteristics of self-discipline shown by story's main character, Bob Lemmons. Students then identify some of their own traits of self-discipline and reflect upon...

Students write a story from the perspective of a water droplet on a journey through the water cycle. They use the 6+1 Traits writing method to focus on voice in the writing as they create characters that their water droplet has...

Third graders read "The Land and the Water," a fictional short story and an article about John F. Kennedy, Jr. and compare and contrast fictional tragedy to a non-fiction tragedy. They fill out a Venn diagram and write an essay using...