Here is a way to build your pupils' public speaking abilities. The lesson plan describes a reader's report chair, which is used each week by a student who has just finished reading a book. The featured reader sits in the chair and talks...

Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson plan, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their...

Young scholars explore "main idea." For this main idea and details reading comprehension lesson, students view a Brain POP video about main idea and then identify sentences displayed on the SMART Board that would be included in a...

Get your class talking, even debating, about Gary Paulsen's popular novel Canyons. As they finish chapters 10-12, they complete the following discussion web concerning Brennan and the skull. They fill out the graphic organizer provided...

One of the most confusing aspects of any presidential election year is the role of the Electoral College. Learners read a bit about how the Electoral College works and then they hold a mock election in their classroom. They'll redraw a...

Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. Students conduct research on issues and interests by...

Learners create a Power Point scrapbook that compiles memorabilia representing the life of Jay Gatsby. They read the novel, "The Great Gatsby" and conduct internet research using the "American Twenties" website. In small groups, they...

Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...

Seventh graders write a short reaction to the "Zero Tolerance" policy in regards to students and play guns. They read several news articles about the problems associated with the zero tolerance and students with play guns. They write a...

Learners take a book they've read previously and create a multimedia book report. They use the book report graphic organizer (attached) to plan their PowerPoint presentation. A thorough rubric is provided for you to ease grading. There's...

Middle schoolers explore grouping symbols to mathematical equations to discover the importance of the "order of operations." Learners compare the absence of commas in connected text to the absence of grouping symbols in mathematical...

Young geographers view an excellent description of how compasses work, then work in partners to make a compass of their own. There is a heavy religious component in this lesson plan; for example, as closure, the teacher reads a verse...

Use these inventive strategies to focus on the letter r, forming sound associations along with letter recognition. Explain the tongue movement in making the /r/ sound, asking learners to try it. Draw the r on the board and give...

Sixth graders engage in an investigation about the concepts related to fractions. They read, represent, compare, and order proper and improper fractions, and mixed numbers. They demonstrate an understanding of relationships involving...

Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This lesson includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words" from sample...

Students read the novel, "Night" by Elie Wiesel. Using excerpts from the novel, they complete a performance and literary technique objective. In groups, they finish handouts to give them more information on the Holocaust. They compare...

Learners read The Complete Maus to explore how Maus is actually three books in one. In groups, they evaluate the book as a tale of surviving the Holocaust and a tale of impacting future generations. They examine the conditions at...

In this mathematics worksheet, 1st graders identify what time the concert starts and ends. Then they use a clock to act out the time and draw the hands on the clock to show when the concert will be over.

Students respond aesthetically to a piece of text. They give book talks about a picture book their small group read and rate it. Each student has a different job in the literature cirlce during the discussions. Finally, the students...

Students explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.

Students match sentences and phrases to pictures in a target language. They identify the proper written form of familiar spoken phrases. Students practice labeling objects and pictures with the proper greeting, color, number or object...

Eighth graders write and proofread dictated sentences. In this spelling lesson, 8th graders practice writing 4 dictated sentences. They proofread the sentences for spelling, written conventions, apostrophes, plurals, "ie"/"ei" spellings,...

Students are introduced to cursive handwriting as a symbolic language system. In this cursive handwriting lesson, students apply the Peterson sequence approach and practice gross motor patterning and action word rhythm. Students...

As part of their study of the 1963 March on Washington, class members do a side-by-side comparison of the original text of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" with a transcript of the speech he delivered. The take away from the...