High schoolers analyze photographs as a development activity for their literacy skills. They will review the 6 Q's feature for analyzing photographs and analyze a variety of photographs and then write comments in the space around the...

It's hard to find inspiration; have your learners bring in a slew of magazines and search for inspiring pictures! They look for characters, setting, and possibly even conflict clues. They analyze the pictures they select, turn their...

Get your class to use the scientific process to solve a scientific problem. They utilize the Natural Inquirer magazine to identify a research question which they write an introduction to and collect data to answer. They use graphs,...

Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...

Sometimes the New Order becomes synonymous with its implications for European countries, but what about its consequences for East Asia? The final instructional activity in a four-part series teaches scholars about World War II. High...

Learners explore the basic principles of caption writing and write captions for assigned photographs.

How do writers use the interaction between elements like characterization and setting to create meaning? Readers of "A Worn Path" create a series of comic book-style graphics of Eudora Welty's short story and reflect on how Welty...

Dissect the parts of an advertisement with your class. Middle schoolers discuss advertisements and locate the hook in them. Then, they create an advertisement for a business, in which they include the name of the business, an...

Young scholars examine a picture for details, write questions they need answered about the picture, create lead-ins and captions appropriate for a picture and write captions appropriate for other pictures.

Surprise! is the theme of this series of challenge activities. The surprise comes from the information your scholars will discover when researching topics such as alligators and crocodiles, living in other countries, becoming a...

Students conduct research on a selected topic, organize the research information, and write a report. They read and discuss the rubric, brainstorm to develop criteria for determining credible sources, complete a KWL chart or web, and...

"How do photographs contribute to an autobiography?" Laurence Yep's The Lost Garden provides learners with an opportunity to examine how photos and their captions contribute to and clarify events in a story. Class members use expressive...

High schoolers examine the historical, social, cultural and economic context of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Students determine the place of the middle class woman and her role in society.

All ages love to engage in cartoon writing –- little do they know that they actually learn quite a bit from it! In an instructional session focused on literacy syntax and vocabulary, your pupils work cooperatively to draw six pictures...

"How can a magazine reflect a particular time and culture?" Using this prompt, your class explores the Victorian Era as it relates to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. They can also play the "Victorian Women's Rights" game for the year 1840...

Madison was there! Scholars go on a journey to discover the person behind the founding father label as they explore James Madison's role in the formation of the United States government. The culmination is a writing assignment and...

Do your classes love reading and drawing cartoons? Middle schoolers read an editorial cartoon from a newspaper. They discuss the cartoonist's topic, audience, and purpose. Next, they brainstorm questions they have about the cartoon and...

Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...

High schoolers are have begun to learn  the art of diplomacy with each other, but do they understand how diplomacy works at a global level?  The second in a series of four lessons, guides scholars in evaluating primary sources....

Everyone knows that George Washington was the first president, but do your scholars know why that was so important? The lesson plan, the third in a sequence of three, allows learners to understand how George Washington set a precedent...

Slavery is a serious topic that can be challenging for middle schoolers to study. Young scholars can see firsthand through primary sources what occurred during that time period in the United States. The third of five lessons provides...

Young scholars research the social context of Elizabethan England for Shakespeare's "Hamlet". They identify cultural influences on the play focusing on the theme of revenge and then analyze and compare film interpretations of the play.

A variation of a standard graphic organizer for a five-paragraph essay, young writers may find this style of organization helpful while drafting their writing. Some key features of this particular organizer are sections for transition...