The pop movie Moulin Rouge was based on the opera La Boheme. Learners watch the last 30 minutes of each musical to compare and contrast social opposites. They'll first discuss the social differences of the main characters and how those...

Learners compare and contrast sine and cosine graphs in order to describe their characteristics in a collaborative activity. As they explain their reasoning, learners strengthen their writing and vocabulary skills associated with...

Four lessons spotlight a variety of professions while boosting listening and observational skills and making inferences. Lesson one challenges pupils to group cards based on a commonality then justify the relationship they see....

Pain and suffering do not have to be inevitable in a study of Crime and Punishment. A carefully scaffolded lesson introduces readers to the divided natures of the characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's complex novel. Groups use the...

Review the difference between rocks and minerals using this resource. Learners identify and investigate the physical properties of these objects. They create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast types of rocks. This is a motivating way...

Everyone learns and experiences life differently. A set of lessons about character intensities encourages middle and high schoolers to analyze themselves, their peers, and characters from a book based on the five listed intensities:...

Examine human resilience across two texts with a detailed unit. Over the course of a week, learners will conduct a close reading of excerpts from Unbroken and Farewell to Manzanar. The resource includes clear procedures for reading and...

Here is a fine unit of lessons which compare and contrast the culture during the time period of the classic book, Little Women to present day. Topics covered are the family, politics, morality, fashion, transportation, cities, historical...

Enrich a unit on fairy tales and tall tales with a set of read-aloud lessons. Second graders hone writing, vocabulary, comprehension, and literary analysis skills as they read classic stories. Complete with extension projects, discussion...

Sixth graders complete a shared reading of the book Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco and character analysis Venn diagram. In this character analysis activity, 6th graders read the book and work in groups to compare and contrast the two...

Students explore biome data. In this world geography and weather data analysis instructional activity, students record data about weather conditions in North Carolina, Las Vegas, and Brazil. Students convert Fahrenheit degrees to Celsius...

Third graders compare various voices. In this author's voice activity students read poems from two books, Spooky ABC and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Students choose words that indicate the voice of the author.

Sixth graders compare science fiction to reality. In this setting lesson students use Chapter 6 of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Students record detailed descriptions from the text that are different of similar to real life.

How much can opinion influence a news story? A standalone resource discusses the importance of John Brown's Raid through the lens of journalism. Learners analyze two different texts, one from the perspective of the North and the other of...

A Tale of Two Cities is the core text for five lessons in a Curriculum Guide for Charles Dickens' famous novel. To begin, scholars examine Dickens' use of anaphora in the first line of the novel. Next, they compare the point of view in a...

Partners examine the family tree of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish admiral and explorer who founded St. Augustine, Florida, and answer several questions about the text using a worksheet. After they've explored the family tree,...

The Oscar for the Best Adapted Screenplay acknowledges a writer's excellence in adapting material found in another source. What do your class members know about adapted resources? Find out with an assessment that asks readers to...

Family traditions help to instill personal values, social norms, and the warmest of childhood memories. Elementary and secondary learners share their favorite family traditions with a fun diorama project. Using modeling clay, they create...

Informational text and impressionistic art lead a lesson about Harriet Tubman. Working in teams, scholars examine a variety of resources. They analyze, compare, and contrast the work.  Using their research findings, pupils create an...

Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...

Examine American political culture with your scholars using this self-assessment lesson. Individuals rate a list of 14 values from highest to lowest, including ideas such as financial security, right to private property, justice,...

Middle and high schoolers hone their writing skills by reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. They fill out a graphic organizer (included here), and use the organizer to write an...

Students distinguish various books by David Shannon from other authors, compare three of Shannon's books for similarities, list various possible settings for stories, integrate Shannon's pattern of writing into their own, and formulate...

Introduce the class to the Civil Rights Movement by taking a critical look at the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. They will pay close attention to the role women played in organizing the boycott and bringing national attention to the...