Arthur Sze's poem, "The Shapes of Leaves," encourages young scholars to notice and speak for others who "do not speak." The lesson begins with pupils writing about a tree that they really like. The class then examines an image of...

Five activity ideas begin a six-part series that looks closely at social-emotional competencies. Activities include ways to incorporate kindness, several lessons from Kids Health, a variety of mindfulness practices, scenario discussions,...

A Tale of Two Cities is the core text for five lessons in a Curriculum Guide for Charles Dickens' famous novel. To begin, scholars examine Dickens' use of anaphora in the first line of the novel. Next, they compare the point of view in a...

"What should I do?" "How should I do it?" Middle Schoolers learn that answering these two questions is the key to solving problems. They begin with the first two steps of the Decision Making Process (gathering information and identifying...

Motivate young scientists to stand up and take action with this environmental science lesson. To begin, the class works in small groups brainstorming actions that support the conservation of the earth before creating and implementing an...

Find similarities in seemingly unlike organisms. The second instructional activity in a series of 12 builds the concept of a taxonomy and explores the use of a dichotomous key. Learners begin in part one by attempting to group a set of...

Now you can introduce rational functions using ... spaghetti. Scholars begin to learn about rational functions. After collecting data using an experiment on the amount of mass that different lengths of spaghetti can support, they write...

Put another set of eyes on your class's historical fiction narratives with one of the final lessons in the unit. Fourth graders use feedback from their peers to annotate their drafts for revision, particularly their bold beginnings and...

Did Bernie Madoff fit the profile of a Ponzi schemer because, as Diana Henrique contends in an excerpt from her The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death, he “did not fit the profile of a Ponzi schemer”? Huh? Groups begin their...

Help pupils to determine whether using square roots is the method of choice when solving quadratic equations by presenting a instructional activity that begins with a dropped object example and asks for a solution. This introduction...

Wait, let's start over — teach your class how to return to the beginning. The first lesson looking at inverse matrices introduces the concept of being able to undo a matrix transformation. Learners work with matrices with a determinant...

Repeated addition also works for multiplying integers. The lesson plan has the class play the integer game again, but has one card multiplied several times. Scholars write the multiplication expression and the addition expression that...

Take a look at the world through my eyes. Readers begin to understand the techniques Du Bois uses to advance his point of view in the fifth paragraph of the chapter "Of Our Spiritual Strivings." They complete a Rhetorical Impact Tracking...

Who? Where? Why? Scholars answer these questions to help identify the gist of Inside Out & Back Again. First, they add text evidence to their research folders. They then begin looking at a performance task in which they write their...

Class members participate in two circle group discussions to compare Atticus and Mr. Gilmer in chapters 17-19 of To Kill a Mockingbird. They use a note-catcher to guide their thinking. For homework, readers begin looking at chapters 20-21.

Copy that! Writers carefully analyze a model essay to gain a better understanding of their upcoming essays about A Long Walk to Water. They begin by circling unfamiliar words in the model as teachers read it aloud. They then pinpoint...

Road trip! Scholars take a look at a researcher's roadmap as they begin discussing the research process. They view the research performance task portion about Pygmalion, and then hunt for research process cards hidden under chairs....

Organize your thoughts! Scholars work on the drafts of their position papers about sustainable water management. The draft serves as their mid-unit assessment. Before beginning, the class discusses the prompt and then learners work...

Choose your words carefully. Scholars continue looking at the creation of a newspaper article by examining word choice. They highlight key verbs, vocabulary, and descriptive words in the model article Sandy wreaks havoc...

In this sentence completion activity, 5th graders read the sentences and select the best word or words to complete the 12 sentences.

In this missing letter worksheet, students fill in the blanks in each of 7 examples with a word that begins with the letter "p." They examine a black and white clip art picture before writing the letters on the blanks.

In this D'nealian printing practice worksheet, students trace the letters of 4 words that begin with the letter I on the provided lines.

In this printing practice activity, students trace and pronounce words that begin with the lower case letter e. Students trace four e words.

For this letter recognition and printing practice worksheet, students trace dotted lines to write 4 words that begin with the letter a. They write alligator, apple, ant, and astronaut on a page that contains a black line picture of an...