Have your upper graders watch the documentary, "The Persuaders" as they explore how advertisers try to gain potential customers. The video is followed by a discussion and close examination of new marketing trends and strategies.

Build literacy through social studies and reading strategies. This lesson focuses on using pre-reading, vocabulary building, and comprehension questions to boost literacy while educating learners on international trade, NAFTA, and...

Students enter and experience the world of Sherlock Holmes and hard-boiled detectives in this unit on mysteries. They review and analyze the ""Whodunit Requirements" and the "Mystery Contract" that accompany this instructional activity....

In this geography research worksheet, student examine books, newspapers, or the internet to find information about the history of flooding in the United Kingdom. They write a fictional account in a news report, TV interview, or a blog....

This activity provides an interesting way for learners to review vocabulary and practice comprehension skills. There is a six-paragraph passage about the process of fingerprinting and the role it takes on convicting criminals. Eleven...

How do you make a pet’s transition into your family a smooth one? Preparing for a pet and learning how to keep it safe is the focus of this research lesson. After searching the Internet for tips on animal care, pet owners and potential...

To underscore the importance of practicing good listening skills class members engage in a series of activities that model poor listening skills. In pairs and then as a whole group, class members enact different, more positive techniques...

Mix up your writing lessons by having kids look at recent newspaper articles instead of their own work. They work in pairs and rewrite sports news articles using synonyms and antonyms for a set number of words. Then they share their work...

Commas, colons, and semicolons truly are the "clutter busters" of the written world. Students see many examples of how each are properly used, then must identify the sentence in each slide that uses these punctuation marks in the correct...

Students are introduced to different context clues.  In this context clues activity, students analyze sentences to find the meaning of a word using context clues.

This New York Times Learning Network exercise provides a cloze exercise along with a word bank that readers can use to complete the passage about the television show, "The Voice" and Jermaine Paul, a recent winner. Another option is...

The first of a three-part series on bullying, this plan has class members present skits about bullying, write and sign an anti-bullying pledge, and complete a service project. For the skit, learners use information from previous lessons...

This New York Times "Learning Network" activity poses 11 questions on an article and video about commercial branding and marketing on college campuses. The related article, "On the Market: Thinking Critically About Advertising", is...

Supplement your lessons on The Lorax with four related word exercises. Pupils alphabetize, unscramble, choose the correct spelling of, and complete words related to the story.

What happens when an animal becomes endangered or extinct? Explore the ways that human influence throughout the environment has threatened the existence of other species with a reading passage. After reading the paragraphs, kids answer...

What is life like on a Native American reservation? Learn about the ways a tribal government works with a reading comprehension activity. After reading a short passage, kids use context clues to answer five comprehension questions.

Explore the impact of wildfires with a reading passage about ecosystems. Pupils read the passage and respond to five questions related to the content of the text.

Your learners have likely heard about animals going extinct. By reading this passage, they can find out some reasons why this happens and how to protect endangered species. After reading, individuals respond to five related questions.

The California Gold Rush sparked many people to try for their fortunes and led to the formation of some well-known California cities. Have your class read about the changes that happened and then respond to the five included questions.

Although designed as an assessment, consider using this resource as the basis for a lesson on reading comprehension strategies or as a practice exercise. The five multiple choice questions, based on a short passage about stock market...

It's an erroneous assumption that vocabulary practice must be tedious. Rather than a draconian approach, tantalize your learners with a sentence completion exercise that will enthrall them. A detailed answer key makes the seemingly...

The value in this sentence completion activity is in the answers and explanations key that accompanies the resource. The key not only indicates the correct response, but also details the strategies learners can use to determine why one...

Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...

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...