Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...

Young scholars investigate the historical person of Alexander The Great. They view a video in order to create the context for the instructional activity. They read some biographies and conduct research using a variety of resources. Then...

Young scholars use digital cameras to document school experiences. Afterwards, they use computer software to manipulate their photos and write poetry, essays or biographies to compliment the pictures. Finally, students create an...

Students research and chronologically sort written information about Boyle's life. They create a time line of importand events in Boyle's life and write a biography on Robert Boyle.

Middle schoolers view pictures of Amelia Earhart and discuss the social and historical context of her life. They read excerpts of Earhart's autobiography "The Fun of It" and analyze her purpose in writing it.

The most valuable part of this lesson plan is the instructions to "Vocabulary Baseball," which can be applied to any vocabulary or key terms list. The game uses word boxes and the autobiography of Roberto Clemente, which the lesson plan...

Students use their research skills to determine the famous person given in clues. Using a character recently dicussed in their classroom, they discuss how they would create a costume for them. They write sentences to be used as dialogue...

Students interpret and analyze primary source documents and compare and contrast childhood today with that of the past.

Students improve their written and spoken accuracy by having a good grasp of the relationship between time expressions. After a lecture/demo, students work individually to complete an assignment imbedded in this plan.

Students read excerpts from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, "The Fun if It," and identify her character traits. To aid visualization of her transatlantic flight, they search books and the Internet for photos related to Earhart's flights....

Middle schoolers investigate author's purpose in autobiography by reading Amelia Earhart's autobiography entitled The Fun of It. Young scholars examine character traits needed to fulfill personal goals.

In collaborative teams, pupils create individual autobiographical presentations that help them investigate their historical background. As they collaborate and create their projects they discuss and come to realize how current decisions...

Students evaluate nonfiction text. In this evaluating nonfiction lesson students read two pieces of nonfiction text and respond with a short free-writing piece. Students discuss the content and focus on the accuracy.

Students read excerpts of autobiographies from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. After listening to excerpts of an oral reading of Frederick Douglass' book, they discuss the ways African Americans were treated on plantations. ...

Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Last Day of Slavery. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer...

Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. In this figurative language lesson plan, students first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc. Learners...

Students are introduced to the idea of traditional oral narratives and divide them into genres. They explore the genres of context, motifs and variants. Each student finds oral narratives in their own lives and practice retelling them in...

Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. They apply knowledge of language structure,...

While an interesting lesson idea involving the exploration of a story about an Asian American boy named Imduk, a teacher would need to have assess to the Scott Foresman reading program to make this work. If not, a teacher could use...

Students discuss the personal and historical significance of journals, analyze the issues raised in a N.Y. Times article regarding Anne Frank's diary, and evaluate a Letter to the Editor written in response to the article.

Students compose a story and tell it to the class.  In this storytelling lesson, students work in small groups to create an illustrated story.  Students are given a checklist of elements to include in the...

Learners, in groups, read and analyze portions of Keith Gilyard's "Poemographies". They create original visual "poemographies" and participate in a written response activity.

Young scholars work in groups to create a story that will be presented to the class.  In this story writing lesson, students complete a project planning sheet, work together to create a story that includes a hero and at least two...