Second graders practice asking the 5 W questions by reading a Boxcar Children book.  In this journalism lesson, 2nd graders read a single story from the Boxcar Children series and answer the 5 W's about each specific chapter....

Fifth graders identify the parts and functions of the body's five senses. In this biology lesson, 5th graders create a replica of the nervous system highlighting its parts. They create a scrapbook containing information on the senses...

Help your class recognize the capital and lower-case forms of the five vowels. They will learn how to make capital and lower-case forms of the vowels and all the rules surrounding vowels. Fun songs and activities are included. Links to...

Students imagine themselves on a field trip to Seoul, Korea. They use the 5-W questioning method to decide how to gain information about the city.

What is the missing link? Provide your class with this incomplete essay (it's missing transition words), and have writers place words from the transition word bank into the essay. Also, since only three of the five paragraphs are...

Investigate ethical issues surrounding the Decode project in Iceland. Middle and high schoolers take the positions of the Icelandic government, scientific researchers, and citizens and defend or refute the Decode project in a Reykjavik...

Discover journalistic techniques by having learners prepare and write their own class newspaper. They discuss the five W's of investigative journalism and conduct interviews with school figures. They utilize video technology, podcast...

Birds help other birds find food? Scholars are placed into one of five groups of different birds. Each group then "feeds" on letters of paper in a field and gather five pieces per person. As each group plays, more food is exposed,...

Intended as a follow up to the Protecting Your Drinking Water activity, young environmentalists use their assessment of the a hypothetical town's water supply to debate the installation of underground chemical storage tanks. With...

Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...

After reading Julius Caesar 1.2 and 1.3, break your class into pairs for this role-play. Each pair will receive one of four prompts (or more, if you create additional examples), in which one person tries to persuade the other to do...

Young historians research the devastating attacks of 9/11 and use that information to script their own documentaries. The follow-up activity includes recording the documentary and conducting classmate interviews, 

Research water use in California, environmental protection laws, and the proposition to raise Shasta Dam by 200 feet. Researchers use their findings to build an argument which will be presented at a mock decision panel. Groups then...

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...

Fifth graders investigate diseases of the respiratory system. In this respiratory system lesson, 5th graders research, using a variety of sources, the common diseases this system. They determine the causes of a breakdown in the system...

High schoolers read sales promotion reports and create a sales promotion summary using information from the report. They develop a graphic organizer to outline their information for a presentation. There is an assessment checklist...

Students research the job marketplace and try to find a job for themselves. In this job search lesson, students make a list of possible job sites, read the Child Labor Laws, and complete the application process for a job. Students create...

Students read a book with each student having a specific job for the class.  In this literature lesson, students read Sarah, Plain and Tall over 10 days, dividing up responsibilities for each student to make sure everyone...

Ninth graders brainstorm different situations in which formal English is used. Individually, they describe how people would act if they were invited to the White House for dinner and what they would do. To end the lesson, they role...

Eighth graders participate in a brief introduction to the classroom rules and procedures. They role play the proper procedures for maintaining a productive classroom atmosphere. Rules and parent letters are distributed and discussed.

Eleventh graders investigate industrialization and explain how laissez-faire policies influenced entrepreneurship. On bubble maps, 11th graders locate causes of industrialization. In an activity/demonstration, students role-play as...

Students remember new vocabulary. They say one of the vocabulary words and throw the ball to someone else. That student then has to say a different vocabulary word and pass the ball. Students investigate six to eight new vocabulary words.

Learners learning the English language play a simulation game in which they pretend to travel to another country. They complete several activities starting with "Deciding Where to Go" and working through "Going on the Flight." In each,...

Third graders complete book reports. They are given the following jobs; chef, who organizes them into genres; maître d', who calls students to share the menu; and waiters/waitresses, who take orders for books from customers, pass out...