Sometimes, sensory details can bring you back to a familiar place. Study the setting descriptions from a critical chapter in Amy Tan's A Joy Luck Club, and discuss how they enhance the book's plot and contribute to a central theme.

Uncover the exciting world of the Roaring Twenties with The Great Gatsby study guide. Individuals become critics as they write a review of the production. Scholars also read historical information and analyze the differences between the...

Review selections from Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and recognize characterization and tone used. Discuss and compare the various tones of each poem. Learners complete a character map and a pair share activity as well....

A house with no windows and a garden full of stinging nettles make the perfect home for Mr. and Mrs. Twit. The seventh instructional activity in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl takes a closer look at...

Second graders should be familiar with characters of a story and adjectives. The students should have some knowledge of Kidspiration. After reading a story, they will use Kidspiration and create a character web to describe a character in...

"How can a few good words save a pig's life?" Posed with this question, your ELD students explore E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in a meaningful, valuable way. By analyzing specific word choice from the book, especially the excerpts...

Students research the characters of Hamlet.  In this Shakespearean literature lesson, students complete a pre-reading activity designed to improve their familiarity with the characters in the story.  In small groups, students...

What will become of the giraffes of Amali? Pupils participate in a large scale role-playing activity to study the art of conflict mediation. The activity engages participants in the struggle between two countries and the animals caught...

Students develop their map skills. In this geography lesson, students participate in an activity that requires them to survey their social studies book in order to find different types of maps and purposes for their uses.

A useful scaffold to help your class with character analysis and text interpretation. Questions about characters from Sparrow Hawk Red by Ben Mikaelsen guide your young readers to describe a character literally, along with interpreting...

Pupils complete readings, a group activity using cards, and a writing activity to better understand people's lives during the American Revolution. The resource emphasizes people such as the militiamen, women, officers, and children,...

Students identify and interpret the value of the dragonfly as a predator of the mosquito. They create their own folktales using the dragonfly or a creature of their choice to solve the malaria problem or another issue. Students also...

As part of a study of the Civil War, class members conduct a WebQuest to create a timeline of battles fought by the 10th Alabama Infantry Regimen. They then use Google Earth to pinpoint these battles of the Civil War on a map of Alabama.

Each one of the learners in your class has a story to tell, so help them learn the most efficient and organized way to tell their tale. A thorough unit on narrative writing addresses the writing process, grammar, story structure,...

Students discover the uses for various types of maps. In this geography skills lesson, students discuss the type of maps that exist and what their individual features are. Students then practice using different types of maps.

Students examine the nations, battlefields, troop movement of the Germans through Belgium and the location of both fronts during World War I by creating a map. They visualize the strength of the Germans early in the war.

Help young historians personally engage in the stories of African Americans during the Great Migration! Assessing a migration route map, learners create a migrant character's experience, adding details while studying primary sources. A...

Upper graders listen to and watch a documentary about an all female group Antigone Rising. They discuss how females are portrayed in the rock world, the type of music they play, their song lyrics, and what they note in the documentary....

Analyze a fictional text with a four-page packet that explores a story's main character and moral, challenges scholars to ask and answer questions about the text, and to create a story map. 

At over 450 pages, John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Grapes of Wrath can be a challenging choice for full-class, book circle, or independent reading. The activities in a 10-page sample The Grapes of Wrath...

Students investigate a variety of maps to explain what each one is used for.

Students write a character sketch and present it in first person.  In this historical heroes and character sketches lesson, students "meet" Harriet Tubman (played by their teacher) and discuss her contributions. ...

Fourth graders watch a video about mapping distances and then calculate the distance their individual mushers travel each day. This occurs each Monday through Friday until each musher has crossed the finish line in Nome Alaska.

Students define the boundaries of their community by comparing the community's official boundaries with other historical, political, physical, and perceived boundaries of the area and create a community map.