Ravenous or hungry, happy or ecstatic—why does word choice matter? Scholars continue to analyze working conditions in the mill and how the conditions affect the protagonist of Katherine Paterson's novel, Lyddie. They engage in a close...

Scholars demonstrate their knowledge of root words aqua and aud, and develop vocabulary skills by completing of a chart, handout, and worksheet using creative thinking skills, a dictionary, and a thesaurus.   

"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own...

Division can be seen in two ways; as splitting a whole into a certain number of pieces, or splitting it into pieces of a certain size. Help your class reach this understanding with these two simple word problems. Encourage the use of...

People should always choose their words carefully. Scholars examine the words used by Martin Luther King, Jr. in paragraphs 10 and 11 of his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Readers answer questions about word use, think about synonyms,...

Let's build a castle! Dennis and Cody have big plans, but do they have enough blocks between the two of them to accomplish their goal? A great context that requires students to add and compare mixed numbers. Encourage the use of pictures...

Two exercises boost scholars' knowledge of a onomatopoeia with excerpts from famous poems. In exercise one, participants circle onomatopoeia words. Exercise two challenges writers to choose three words to use in an...

Don't lose your marbles! This simple story problem helps make teaching division with fractions much easier. Work on this problem along with the instructional activity titled, How Many Servings of Oatmeal? to highlight the...

Introduce young mathematicians to concepts of financial literacy with this open-ended word problem. With seven dollars to spend during field day and given a list of available items and their prices, children must determine how they want...

Mrs. Moore's class is trying to earn money for a trip to the science museum, but how much more do they need? Solve this problem with your own class as they develop their ability to model real-life situations algebraically. As an added...

Daily routines not only help to manage classrooms, they can also provide students with rich opportunities for learning. This activity supports young learners in developing their number sense by counting up the school days on a class...

Young scholars write rhyming poems using rebus. With pictures instead of words, authors create original work about things they love. 

Is there a relationship between powers and roots? Here is a lesson that asks individuals to examine the graphical relationship. Pupils create a table of values and then graph a square root and quadratic equation. They repeat the process...

Let's use math to solve an argument. Jon and Charlie are debating about who can run farther, but who is right? That's what your class will figure out as they apply their understanding of fractions to this real-life situation. A simple,...

Quiz time! Serving as the mid-unit assessment, scholars complete a Two Opinions Word Sort activity. In addition, they read an article about the importance of sports in America and answer text-based questions. 

Students read, listen to, and/or view MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. They analyze his use of literary devices and choose powerful words. Then they arrange them into original diamante poems, seven-line, diamond-shaped poems based on...

Story chains connect literary concepts, reinforce context clues, and even help learners predict what's coming next! Using words from the next chapter of Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, middle schoolers craft story chains to...

One of the most common, everyday applications of math is dealing with money. This single problem calculating how much change Margie receives is more involved than it appears at first glance. An understanding of how fractions and decimals...

Beginning with a pre-lab, kindergarteners trace the letters in the word earthquake and discuss what happens in an earthquake. The lab portion allows young scientists realize that earthquakes trigger shaking of different intensities...

Take an in-depth look into the vocabulary from the novel, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. With a list of words to choose from, scholars discover the definition, origin, stories associated with...

The language of the Constitution can feel quite ominous to young learners, but there are a variety of strategies you can utilize to help your class grasp the important concepts and ideals in our nation's founding document. This lesson...

Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his...

Which vase holds more water: a cylinder, sphere, or cone? Figure out which should be used for your sister's birthday bouquet with this practical word problem.

A short, multiple choice assessment that determines your 3rd graders' ability to correctly compare fractions with like denominators. This quiz asks learners to compare two fractions using words, the greater than/less than symbols, and...