Approach a difficult subject with budding readers through Eve Bunting's story Fly Away Home, a child's perspective on homelessness. Focus on vocabulary in context, going over the terms learners will hear before reading...

Polish the writing skills of your emerging writers by eliminating run-on sentences in their work. Discuss the ways to correct run-ons before releasing your class to work on this 20-sentence worksheet independently. An answer sheet is...

Close reading is key to the analysis and interpretation of literature. A close reading of the title and the epigraph of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” offers readers an opportunity to examine how even single words or names can...

Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...

Over the course of the lesson, your pupils read and analyze a translated eight-line poem from the Tang Dynasty written by Du Fu, a poet caught behind enemy lines during the An Lu-Shan rebellion (755-763). Literary/historical context is...

Explore the life and writing of John Steinbeck. A 48-slide presentation introduces the famous American author, his California heritage, and his impressive collection of published work. Viewers are then introduced to Of Mice and Men, one...

Designed originally for higher education, this PowerPoint could also be used to introduce your high schoolers to the semicolon, colon, and comma splice. The texts do not contain pictures or graphics; instead, they present information in...

Lost! (or misplaced) a modifier. Last seen dangling at the end of a sentence! Reward offered! To underscore the humor, class members are each given a sample sentence to illustrate (A woman passed by, leading a Springer Spaniel, in a...

Determine if the graphic novel Maus, by Art Spiegelman, is an appropriate reading level for your class by performing this cloze activity. Kids read the passage and attempt to complete the sentences on a second or third read through. All...

Use this cloze procedure to determine if the reading (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) is at an appropriate level for your readers. They read the included selection through once, and then they attempt to fill in the empty spaces on the...

Turn your classroom into a live demonstration of how the earth and sun interact to create the four seasons. Using a globe, a light source, and a series of constellation cards, super scientists discover how the...

Nails can get really dirty really fast. Prepare your special education class for life on their own by introducing them to a regular nail care routine. They discuss why it is important to care for your nails and practice washing,...

Imagine being able to teach a lesson and keep track of student behavior easily and effectively. This app does that through a point system that translates into easy-to-explain graphs that can be shared with parents and pupils on any...

Clearly written as an assignment for a higher-level education class, this formal lesson plan contains some fun and well-researched strategies for teaching the novel Tuck Everlasting  by Natalie Babbitt. Among the best ideas...

The Star Festival or Tanbata, is a holiday celebrated in Japan every year. People make tanzakus out of paper and hang them on the trees. Pupils will learn about this culturally significant holiday while creating tanzakus of...

There are a lot of great ideas to be found here. To better understand the connection between art and history, learners research several music and art pieces, then relate them to major social events. They study the lives and works...

What makes a poem a poem? Give your class a basic understanding of some of the different aspects of poetry by showing them a slide show of poetic devices and elements. The presentation is quite long, so you might split it up into a few...

Culture and art are two things that change with time and context. Learners compare and contrast two landscape prints from different time periods. They work through art terminology to help them describe what they see in each piece. The...

Why is arts education so important? It builds critical thinking, analysis and creative problem-solving skills. Learners review the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, and then analyze his piece, The Pieta. After that, they'll sculpt a human...

Discuss the balance, color, emotion, and context of the painting Paris Street; Rainy Day by Caillebotte. After a deep discussion, let creativity run free in your class as learners create a dimensional piece that reflects a...

Your class is going to love this activity. They get out their rulers, cardboard, and paints as they make Samurai breastplates. The simple art lesson lends itself to many different subjects such as, math/measurement, world history, and...