Candace Fleming's award winning Ben Franklin's Almanac is the anchor text for a classroom guide that provides teachers with a cache of pre, during, and post-reading activities.

Students practice using a World Almanac by completing the provided worksheet on animals.

Maria Mitchell discovered a comet, became the first female astronomer in the United States, and even has a crater on the moon named after her! Learn more about her passion for the stars with an informative reading passage, followed by...

Fourth graders use research skills and the writing process to create a newspaper. Although students work in groups to complete the final draft of the newspaper, each student is responsible for doing his or her own research and writing...

After a class discussion where kids share how they find answers to their questions, learners explore the world of reference materials such as, an atlas, an almanac, and an encyclopedia. The Internet is also discussed as a way to access...

A class discussion on reference materials opens up a activity on how to use these important resources. They discover that dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses are called word reference resources, and they practice using them. The...

The class brainstorms a list of prominent people from their knowledge of social studies. Groups of two pupils get together and select one of these people to research. They create five questions to research on their person and record them...

Students formulate guiding questions to use as an aid for research and then use the guiding questions worksheet to help gather information necessary for meeting all criteria for completing the project. They then work together to collect...

Students compare and contrast simple machines and their functions. In this cross-curriculum science simple machines lesson plan, students observe examples and read about simple machines, then use body movement to demonstrate how...

Happy birthday! Celebrate everyone's birthday with this writing activity, which prompts seventh graders to research historical events in a country at the time of their birth to create an essay. Working in pairs, they proofread each...

Keep your class in conversation with others across the country or across the sea by writing letters to pen pals. The activity calls for students to be pan pals with pupils in Africa; however, the listed steps could be used for any...

Learners participate in different activities examining Benjamin Franklin and his activities. They work together in groups and as a class to research his inventions and his self-improvement plans.

Eighth graders explore reference materials and then complete a research project.  In this research project lesson, 8th graders choose the best reference source to use. Students learn to correctly site sources for their project....

Students describe the characters and the importance of symbolism in "To Kill A Mockingbird". They develop symbols that represent themselves and their school as well. They present these symbols on a poster and show them to their classmates.

Students research countries around the world. They develop and write a research paper that includes maps, photographs, and diagrams. They describe the culture, society, economy, religious beliefs, government structure, and history of...

Eighth graders research a project of their choice in relation to a career they may want. In this language arts lesson, 8th graders create a bibliography of references used both print and online sources. Students make an outline of their...

Students investigate the age of trees by analyzing tree rings.  In this dendocronology lesson, students examine sample images of tree rings and identify their age by the amount of rings.  Students complete a chart identifying...

Young scholars create an expository essay. In this writing lesson Students are assigned a country and must conduct research surrounding a historic event that occurred in that country at the time of their birth.

Students use agriculture related questions in order to build research skills. The questions are given and then they are expected to determine the best resource for finding the answers. The connection to the farmer is how they use...

Fourth graders construct a miniature robot using recyclable materials. They write a descriptive explanation from the robot's point of view explaining how it aid in protecting the environment.

Learners chose a special topic of interest. They check the card catalog to see how many books are available in the school library on the chosen topic and lists them alphabetically. They take the list to the library and check the card...

Students read and analyze the novel, 'The Giver.' They classify activities in an activity regarding freedom of choice, create a list of rules, conduct a debate, write a skit, and write an essay on genetic engineering or utopian societies.