Students investigate how levers help to lift heavy loads. They view and discuss examples of levers, explore various websites, experiment with the levers brought to the class, and watch the video for the book "Mike Mulligan and His Steam...

Second graders explore setting through improvisations.  In this theatre lesson, 2nd graders perform a variety of improvisations in different settings and chart how they established the setting in the different environments. 

Learners work with a partner to compile a new movie. They comprehend tat the movie requres a lot of preparation and media releases. Students use one computer, create the serval different materials for their film: A Publisher Flyer...

Young scholars choose two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. They then write a paper comparing and contrasting the two short stories that Edgar Allan Poe wrote using appropriate conventions.

Students practice using visualization to aid in their reading comprehension. After a read aloud of a selected story, students write a brief summary of the plot accompanied by an illustration of the characters they have visualized.

Good endings are hard to find. And write. This, the final lesson in a six-part series devoted to study of the ingredients of a good story, focuses on crafting endings. Class members draft ideas about what should happen to each of their...

Students create a fantasy/fairy tale book, with them and their reading buddy as the main characters. Using the Olympus digital cameras available, the older students photograph the younger students and have pictures taken of them reading...

Relate literary works and authors to the major themes of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 20th century. Working in groups, high schoolers will evaluate period philosophy, religion, and politics that influenced...

Learners identify geographical features of different regions encountered by migrants on the Oregon trail. Students research how the Oregon landscape may have affected life and 19th century westward migration. Learners write a narrative...

Students reproduce the pattern of one of Shakespeare's soliloquies, but use their own ideas and words to replace the character's. They replace each word with a word of their own that serves the same purpose.They discuss the speaker in a...

Students use the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" to identify and analyze drama vocabulary, literary terms and elements of fiction. They write an original version of scenes from the play and develop a character analysis for the lead.

Fifth graders explore mystery stories.  For this reading and writing lesson, 5th graders complete a planning guide for an original mystery.  Students use the writing process to create a mystery story. 

Learners explore conflict. In this contemporary history lesson plan, students participate in 4 weekly activities that require them to research current conflicts and create time-travel cartoons that illustrate how the conflcits...

Young scholars use several short stories to analyze different types of power. While discussing the role of power in these short stories, students will practice communication skills essential to conflict transformation, specifically...

So many themes are expertly woven through Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. On the first page, scholars will read five themes, selecting an incident and a quote to highlight that theme. On page two, they use chapters 29-31 to...

Provide an overview of setting in a narrative. Learners discuss story elements, focusing on setting. Then, they set the scene for an imaginary world using their five senses. This is a great way to help your class better understand this...

Twelfth graders brainstorm ideas for their own science fiction story. Using worksheets, they sketch the plot and setting for their story. They create appropriate characters and develop their interactions among each other. They share...

Students complete a unit of lessons on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. They analyze the plot, themes, and characterization, relate songs to thematic issues, develop plot summaries and translations, and compare the play to a movie version.

Students create a new ending for a familiar story that stand alone with a clear beginning, middle and end. As a class, students review a familiar text focusing on plot and character development. In small groups, students work...

Students read a story together then choose a favorite character to portray. In this inference lesson, students pretend to be one of the characters in the story, they prepare drawings or actions then present them to the class. Students...

Students describe the plot of the latest Harry Potter novel and comment on the highlights and weak points. They then evaluate the novel and understand the layout of a book review.

Students develop skills needed to write short stories. They pick out an object in the room and describe it without saying what it is. They describe their hand and the lines on their hand without using words "Line, finger,skin or vein"