Middle schoolers imagine that they are on a panel to consider if a solar energy system would be advantageous to a new school as it is being built. They read the included handout and then each play a role as a participant in a community...

Various Muslim holidays and their meanings are researched and your learners will predict whether or not they should be recognized on the New York City school calendar.  An extension could be to write a letter to the Mayor about...

What would school be like if you couldn't teach lessons that require technology? Would it benefit the class? Would it hold them back? Have your learners read this article and answer the basic reading comprehension questions. Then have...

You'll feel prepared and ready to begin your school week when you've considered the progression of your lessons on an hourly and day-to-day basis. 

Do pupils know that the Vietnam War spanned a period of 30 years? A war that long is bound to leave devastating effects. Help young historians develop a comprehensive understanding of the war through multiple units on the subject that...

If you are a woodshop teacher, here is an excellent presentation to show your new students at the beginning of a school year. Important safety rules and procedures are present, as well as instructions for the very first project of the...

Learning how to read is a big challenge for young learners, but this series of lessons provides them with the extra support they need to succeed. With each lesson following the a clearly outlined format, children are introduced...

If you'd always wanted an expensive swimming pool, how would you make the money to build it? Kids read a short passage about a quest to create a dream swimming pool, and use a list of words to fill in eight spaces throughout the...

How do you make sure that your income doesn't disappear before you have a chance to save it? Use a creative budgeting activity to teach learners in both special education and mainstream classes how to keep track of their expenditures and...

Turn aluminum cans into pickles! An engaging experiment has learners chemically change aluminum into a substance with many purposes including the manufacture of pickles. After performing the chemical conversion, the experimenters verify...

Those in positions of authority don't always have the best interest of their people in mind. As part of a sample assessment question, readers must consider how works of literature they read apply to a quote from Edmund Burke—"The greater...

Students rewrite the ending of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.  In this Of Mice and Men lesson, students enter a fictitious contest in which they compose a new ending for Of Mice and Men in which Lennie is not killed.  The...

Why are rules so important? Just ask the main characters in the children's book Officer Buckle and Gloria. After a class read aloud, compare and contrast the safety tips mentioned in the story with your classroom rules, noting any...

Before diving head first into the year's curriculum, take time to establish clear routines and procedures for your classroom. Starting with how to set up a class schedule that meets the needs of fifth grade learners, this sample...

A variation of the Walkabout Review process, carousel brainstorming directs groups to rotate through a series of stations posting ideas on the topic or question posted at each stop. 

Learners become familiar with the problems of new students and interview new learners to understand their experiences when they first arrived.  In this new students lesson, learners design informational packages to help a new...

The mother of a graduating high school senior sues the school district in the mock trial case, Chris Moss v. New Columbia Public School District and Dr. Terry Preece.

In the first part of a middle school assessment task, learners analyze a given statement about the amount of confetti revelers throw at Times Square on New Year's Eve. The second part of the task requires learners to identify objects...

Students engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the research of finding information to help them develop new science projects. They conduct research using a variety of resources that includes e-mail and discussion groups.

Puzzle your way through to a new understanding of area. Scholars learn about the area of polygons through equidecomposability, the idea that polygons that can be decomposed into the same set of pieces have the same area. By using...

First graders explore wildlife and habitats in the Arizona desert. Throughout a classroom discussion, 1st graders observe pictures of the desert and animals that live there. As they go on a nature walk around the school, students...

This trigonometry textbook takes the learner from a basic understanding of angles and triangles through the use of polar coordinates on the complex plane. Written by a mathematician-engineer, examples and problems here are used to...