Honk if you love bumper stickers! Long used as a persuasive tool, bumper stickers are used to launch this study of persuasive writing. Each class member is given a bumper sticker and asked to formulate three questions the strip might...

As a writer, if you have a weak introductory paragraph or thesis statement, you might lose your audience! Have your middle and high schoolers practice writing introductory paragraphs that include clear thesis statements in response to...

The second and third movements of the Eroica, Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, provides listeners with an opportunity to connect to French Revolution and to Napoleon Bonaparte. As they listen to the music, individuals draw what their ears...

Emerging writers create a response to their reading. They read Notes from the Trail and discuss whose perspective the journal entry is written from. Then, they write a response to the journal entry in first person perspective as if...

Eighth graders identify the self as an individual and as a member of a diverse local and global community. They recognize roles and responsibilities of being a family, school, or community member and the interrelationship of roles and...

Eighth graders compose or create works of communication for specific audiences and purposes. They locate, access, and select relevant information from a variety of sources. They revise and edit their work to improve content, organization...

Third graders, in pairs, complete Venn diagrams in the shape of kites displaying the attributes of a smoothly operating home and school. On the tailpieces they write roles and responsibilities for home and school. Once completed, 3rd...

Learners read a novel and write short journal entries about the characters, setting and interesting facts. Using email, they share their responses to the novel with other students at a different school. Student also create slide shows...

Here's a fun way to incorporate technology into your curriculum. E-mail each of your class members a picture and 10 questions about the photo. Individuals then imagine the story behind the image and e-mail back their responses. Although...

High schoolers discuss a dramatic situation involving realistic characters and create response "letters" to the situation in this Drama lesson for the high school classroom. The lesson emphasizes the study of empathy and sympathy as it...

Fourth graders meet law-related professionals and examine the need for them. They explore how people who have authority in certain situations also have responsibilities.

Fourth graders (two) enter the classroom arguing loudly. They are asked to tell what they observed. Students look through the mediation packet and begin to brainstorm answers to "What is conflict?" They discuss various conflict scenarios...

Learners of all ages interview, record, and photograph teachers and staff at their school. They organize the photo with a soundbite into a PowerPoint presentation. They transcribe the interview and write a response to it. 

Students examine physical and chemical properties of plastics, interfaces of plastics, and forms of plastics. In three lab activities, students discover the two characteristic responses of plastics to heating, thermoplastic or...

When does hair (or clothing) disrupt the school process? This question is the topic of the argumentative paper your class with write. They read and react to an article about a boy who was expelled from school for sporting a Mohawk, then...

Students examine the development of racial stereotyping beginning with the antebellum years. They research how blackface minstrel songs reinforced the antebellum mindset of African-Americans. Secondly, students investigate "Uncle Tom's...

Make a study of Timothy and his development as a character over the course of the first half or so of The Cay. This idea focuses in particular on chapters 10 through 12. Learners start out by working on double-entry journals created in...

In response to reading Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, individuals are asked to complete a multi-genre writing assignment, crafting eight different pieces including a research paper.

Students create a group poem. In this poetry lesson, students make a cultural poem titled "We Come From." They share their poems using the document camera and SMARTboard. 

You have the power! Scholars learn that they have power of the pen in their writing. After reading and viewing various sources about standardized testing, they express their own opinions about the testing by writing letters to the...

Sixth graders strengthen their understanding of what a high quality website is composed of. Learners evaluate three websites for accuracy, credibility, and reliability by completing a chart.

After a read-aloud of the story Goldielocks and the Three Bears, scholars gather into small groups to answer a series of questions. Peers examine the idea of smart decisions and identify three feelings of characters alongside three...

A activity challenges scholars to prove their understanding of conflict mediation. Small groups role-play scenarios using two mediators and two disputants. Peers observe then discuss their findings. A worksheet outlines groups'...

Two scholars walk into a room arguing, what is happening? Peers observe the two actors in preparation for a whole-class discussion about conflict. Learners establish a conflict, name the three approaches—passive, aggressive, and...