Young scholars create a map showing where crops would be grown around the world. In this crops lesson plan, students show how the world climate would produce different parts of the world at different times. Young scholars fill out...

Students explore the concept of fishing as it relates to oceans and how some fishing practices can damage the health of the marine ecosystems. In this instructional activity on the impact of fishing, students research the many places in...

What to wear today; such a vexing question. Spend some time introducing the names, fabrics, types, colors, and functions of various articles of clothing to your class. Each child will take turns asking each other what they are wearing....

It's important that writers leave their readers with a strong and satisfying conclusion. Help your young writers develop the skills to compose a concluding sentence with the steps outlined here. After class members have had a chance to...

Students are able to describe the principles of gravity. They name other places in the real world where we compensate for gravity. Students design a shock absorber with limited materials and explain how it works to protect an egg. They...

Provide time to polish paragraphs in class. Pupils, who have been working on these informational pieces for several days now, will have a chance to check for spelling and grammar before publishing their work. Sure to be a rewarding final...

Discuss tone and imagery with Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." In an attempt to get his fair lady to consummate their relationship, he write a poem urging her to seize the day! Introduce the author to your high school class,...

“What do you mean that my language is improper?” Prior to My Fair Lady was Pygmalion. Fair Eliza’s struggles with English, which according to George Bernard Shaw “is not accessible even to Englishmen,” come alive in the 1938 film version...

RJ and Zoey are at camp and need to get back to the mess hall for lunch, but they don't know how far they have to walk. Help them figure out the distance while teaching young mathematicians how to add and subtract fractions with this...

Arthur and his friends help children explore the concepts of family, community, and diversity in a fun series of activities. From performing peer interviews to mapping out the different places learners have lived or visited, this...

Boxes and cartons of pencils are a natural, real-world example for understanding bundles of ten and their relationship to a hundred. When you have many cartons, you can discuss place value, and how to represent multiple hundreds.  

Celebrate poetry month all of April with a guide that uses six of Shel Silverstein's most famous books as a basis for the lessons. Discussion questions and writing activities are provided for each of Silverstein's books.

Class members compare the ways the subject of immigration is treated in The Tempest, Act I, scene ii, Act II, scene i and Act III, scene ii with patterns in American history. After tracing their own family’s journey, a series of...

There is more than one way to answer a question; especially when you have fractions in measurement. Here are three questions with real-world situations in which 5th graders are asked to provide answers in three ways: a larger unit of...

Students examine the guidelines the United States Department of Agriculture places on food. In groups, they create a list of the foods they consume and discuss the political and environmental implications of purchasing the food. They...

The six instructional shifts in this workshop definitely move math and science teachers' understanding of instruction. The workshop, 13th out of a series of 15, asks participants to examine sample tests and to look at how the six...

Students investigate the trip Christopher Columbus took to the new world.  In this U.S. History lesson, students create a fictional ship from cardboard and construction paper simulating the ship Columbus used to get to the New...

Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.

When it comes to the law, is justice always served? Teach scholars about how law sometimes enables prejudice of entire groups of people with a unit on World War II that includes a warm-up activity, analysis of primary sources,...

Looking for ideas on ways to recognize Veteran's Day? Check out this 92-page packet that includes exercises designed for all grade levels. Reading passages detail the history of the holiday, research projects get individuals involved in...

A mouse can fall from large heights without injury! Air resistance is a large influence on small falling objects. In an exploratory lesson, young scholars build a raindrop bottle to compare the falling rate of different-sized objects.

Shakespeare's plays may be old, but they still have relevant lessons for today's world! A collection of lesson plans uses examples from The Merchant of Venice and District Merchants to teach about bravery. In addition to learning...

Pre-assessments are great to help teachers determine what information their classes lack, what misconceptions they have, and how in depth to teach specific concepts. The first in a five-part series is a pre-assessment of middle...

What is your body saying that maybe your words aren't? Scholars explore the vast world of the subtle, and not-so-subtle, nonverbal communication cues through group and individual work. Lesson seven in a series of peacebuilding exercises...