Break your class in to the general structure and function of the brain. Brainiacs discuss what they know about it and create personalized brain development timelines. They also take a true-false, pre-assessment quiz to get them thinking...

Racist, independent, conflicted? Readers of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brainstorm words that describe the traits of characters in Twain’s novel and then rate these qualities in several of their favorite characters. Individuals...

Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...

By using explicit textual evidence, individuals can strongly support their ideas and opinions. The presentation suggests in order to use explicit textual evidence, one must state their idea, cite evidence in the text that led...

Practice with paragraphs while thinking about careers! Learners examine and discuss two sample paragraphs, marking the different elements (topic sentences, body, concluding sentences), and try out writing their own paragraphs. Focusing...

Gradually build understanding of author's point of view through a scaffolded set of exercises. Moving from direct instruction, to collaborative work, and eventually to independent practice, these steps will assist your class in...

Delve into Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan with close reading and evidence-based, text-dependent questions. Part of a unit series, this well-sequenced, Common Core designed instructional activity draws on material from the...

Middle schoolers practice playing "The Star Spangled Banner" while focusing on phrasing. They work with the instructor to mark the lyrics and music, then play the song using the phrasing indicated. Several...

Your class won't get on your nerves while doing this modeling activity! After teaching the structure and function of a neuron using the included diagrams, give individuals some clay and chenille stems so that they can make their own...

Lub-dub, lub-dub. Why does the heart beat? Why does blood circulate throughout the body? Life scientists find out how important circulation is for dissolving and dispersing materials by timing how long it takes for food coloring spread...

Give your class a colorful and tasty representation of the components of the mixture that we call air. Pop a few batches of popcorn in four different colors, one to represent each gas: nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide. The...

Why do writers choose the language they do? Here's a resource that has the poet himself answer that very question. Joseph Coelho explains why he chose the words and images he used in his poem, "If All the World Were Paper."

Discover the joy and excitement of improving your math fluency through four different puzzles. Combine those with 25 different ways to represent numbers and you have hours of enjoyment that can be fun outside of the classroom as well.

Prior to reading Night, class members engage in a guided imagery activity that helps them make text-to-self connections to Elie Wiesel’s account of his experiences with his father in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Complete directions, as well...

Post-It notes, highlighting, underlining. Sam Anderson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text,” launches a study of “marginalia,” or writing thoughts in the margins of a text. After...

Continue working through Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, by looking into language choices and discussing text-dependent questions. Pupils converse in small groups and as a class about plot, setting, and figurative language. Using...

Delve into Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan with close reading and evidence-based, text-dependent questions. Part of a unit series, this well-sequenced, Common Core-designed activity draws on material from the previous day and homework...

Using a reading passage, this lesson leads learners through an exploration of a text. This activity focuses on identifying what the reading passage is about, its tone, and key elements.

Arm your young scientists with knowledge about anatomy as they build their own model of the elbow joint. Help them get a firm grasp on how muscles and bones interact to allow movement as they try different positions for the muscles on...

Young writers examine dialogue conventions, including indentation, quotation marks, and expressing thoughts and feelings through a fictional text. By noticing where and when authors use dialogue, they decide how to incorporate dialogue...

Every class enjoys reading new books at the beginning of a unit. Use this resource to identify a variety of books for kindergarten to third grade that can be used to complement social studies standards. The books can kindle learners'...

Here is a tasty topic for a lesson: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create an illustration...

Upper graders read the story One Grain of Rice, and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast topics found in the story to current event topics today. Groups of three learners work together to create their diagram. The topics they must...

Prepare a gameboard and die-cut race cars to play a fun fluency game. Also create several flash cards to review the long /i/ sound. Then, model reading smoothly and with expression, emphasizing the importance of re-reading...