Everyone is a writer! Youngsters compose an original piece of writing. In this writing lesson, they come up with their own idea for a piece of writing, revise it, and then publish it with illustrations. This lesson includes three...

Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and...

The focus of the fourth unit in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Curriculum is on healthy eating and exercise. Class members examine healthy habits data from the YRBD Youth Online Tool, learn about the importance of a healthy diet and...

Students identify principal causes of the Great Depression. They analyze causes including a decline in worldwide trade, the stock market crash, and bank failures and explain the legacy of the Depression in American society.

Students work in groups to prepare a brief broadcast or print news report from one of five possible viewpoints about an environmental contamination scenario. Students are given basic information about a chemical spill in a small town and...

Second graders take a field trip to a nearby church or other historical building and examine it from a mathematical perspective. In groups, they calculate the seating capacity, describe the window patterns, differentiate types of...

Help youngsters get to know their states and capitals, explore their own country, and study American symbolism. They take a "trip" across America collecting symbols, images, and information about each state as they go (through text and...

An authentic and engaging way to practice literacy skills, this lesson calls for young language arts pupils to conduct interviews with classmates and family members. First, pupils watch as the teacher models the interview process with a...

What does a philanthropist do? Help your class explore philanthropy using character development and literacy ideas. Learners will define and give examples of philanthropy, listen to The Lion and the Mouse, discuss how the characters help...

A talkative old man? A naïve believer in Human Perfectibility? A Sage? Who is this guy, anyway? The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin launches a study of the way Franklin uses structure, style, and purpose, as well as different...

Themes in Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier's young adult fantasy novel, are the focus of an anticipation guide that asks individuals to agree or disagree with a series of statements.

What to wear? Help your special needs class make independent choices about what they should wear during various weather conditions. They'll discuss weather-appropriate clothing, dress dolls for the weather outside, and even put on a...

Use STEM activities within the class to provide connections to concepts. The resource includes activities that range from working with buoyancy to building rockets and launching them. Other activities involve the engineering design...

Young scholars watch Tell About the South II: Poets and Prophets video, discuss Lillian Smith's work and her triple focus of race, class and gender, and create persuasive essays that argue whether racism, classism, or sexism is strongest...

Students analyze the film, "Freedom on My Mind." They view the film and discuss its points in small groups. They create a fictional southern state reflecting segregation in the 1960's. They present their states to the class.

Students describe effective sex education and its outcomes. They provide a tool for educators, policy-makers and others to evaluate existing or new programs, curricula or policies. Students comprehend that sex education refers both to...

Third graders explore communities. In this communities lesson, 3rd graders discover different types of communities. Students compare and contrast communities.

The article for this lesson no longer accessible through the links in the lesson plan, but can be found in the National Center for Biotechnology Information website. After reading it, environmental science learners answer questions and...

In order to learn more about energy conservation, pupils work to promote energy efficiency by participating in a school-wide science fair with an emphasis on energy conservation. In addition to displaying their projects, learners invite...

Letter writing may be outdated but it's a great way to practice English conventions, grammar, and spelling. The class researches consumer scams, then writes a letter about them. They each choose a scam to write about paying close...

In order to understand how tax dollars are spent, young economists use given data and graph it on a circle graph. Circle graphs are highly visual and can help individuals describe data. A class discussion follows the initial activity.

When little ones make things out of clay they're not just exercising their creativity, they are following directions, developing fine motor skills, and building a sense of pride in their work. First graders use the pinch-and-score...

Students research volcanoes and then build one out of salt dough. Before the final step is completed, they find main ideas about volcanoes, write sequential steps to building, use correct grammar, to gain knowledge about them. There is...

Fifth graders investigate what a covenant was and how they relate to contemporary government ideals. In this comparing covenant instructional activity, 5th graders examine primary source documents that are examples of covenants from 18th...