As your class reaches the end of the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the seventh lesson in this literary unit helps third graders transition from reading narrative to expository writing. Scholars develop their note-taking skills...

Young writers use technology and other media to research information on a chosen topic. They explore countries where keypals and e-mail friends are located. Using their writing skills, they correspond with their e-mail friend and...

Explore the life's work of one of the great children's authors using this ten-lesson author study unit. After first performing some whole-group research into the life of Cynthia Rylant, the class goes on to read six different...

Should Charlie undergo an operation to increase his intelligence? A mini-lesson for a unit on Daniel Keyes novel Flowers for Algernon uses a RAFT activity, which prompts learners to write a letter to Charlie's doctors explaining why they...

All ages love to engage in cartoon writing –- little do they know that they actually learn quite a bit from it! In an instructional session focused on literacy syntax and vocabulary, your pupils work cooperatively to draw six pictures...

Make a study of Charles M. Scultz's famous comic strip Peanuts in your language arts class. Class members read and discuss the baseball-themed book POW! A Peanuts Collection. After talking about themes and vocabulary, they complete...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...

Students collect and convey information about a current event. By focusing on who, what, when, where, why, and how questions, students study to thoroughly analyze and report on important world events.

Go on an electronic field trip. Discover Spanish-speaking countries through Internet exploration. Students participate in a whole group discussion to general knowledge about the location, cultural background, independence and current...

Listening to poems about feeling lonely and feeling like an outsider set the stage for a group activity that focuses on Stevie Smith's "Not Waving But Drowning." Groups examine the three stanzas of Smith's poem separately and identify in...

After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...

Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...

Students brainstorm all the possible scenarios that would help them tell a story in detail with the whole class and with partners. They create web outlines to create a name story and then illustrate it with creative grammar usage and...

What skills are necessary to interact with different types of text? Twenty-first century learners live in a digital world and must develop a whole new set of skills to develop media literacy. Class members engage in a series of...

Three annotated passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on "Nature" provide young philosophers a chance to improve their reading comprehension skills as they gain insight into Emerson's ideas.

A free press, free to investigate and report on responsibly, compelling stories, is essential to a democracy. A 10-slide presentation details where to get ideas, how to go about an investigation, gather data, and assure the accuracy of...

"Advertising has no impact on whether people buy something." "Looting is morally permissible during national disasters and emergencies." "Gay teenagers should be allowed to take dates to the prom." Considering a class debate? Check out...

Develop novice script-writers. Small groups sift through a sample script, noting any script-writing conventions to share with the whole class. Using these conventions and plot structures, these groups compose a script for a 10-minute...

Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...

It's time to write! First, lead your emerging writers in a power writing activity. It takes six minutes and focuses on creative brainstorming. The class is given two words (duck and apple are suggested, but alter the words for different...

Capitalism, socialism, communism ... these may seem like a whole bunch of isms to your scholars. High schoolers won't  confuse them after completing an informative resource. Your class masters how to use primary sources to...

Tap into the wisdom and knowledge of older members of the community with this New York Times plan. To warm up, learners write about and discuss advice they have been given. After reading "The Life Report," an op-ed column that asks older...

Combat hate online by bringing it into the light. Begin by giving learners a quiz, then lead a discussion based on the issues the quiz brought up. As a class, develop strategies to confront online hate. Assign different venues to groups...

A whole world of career options await in the armed forces! Lesson three in a six-part career and college readiness series introduces eighth grade scholars to military careers. Individuals research the entry requirements for the armed...