True friends stick together. In the case of The Wind In The Willows, the friends just happen to be a toad, mole, rat, and badger who team up to beat the weasels. The resource covers the first chapter of their raucous adventures. Scholars...

Is it hubris that drives the creative process? Is it the desire to be remembered long past death? An interactive asks readers of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Percy Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" to consider what this wife and...

Readers of Paradise Lost draw parallels between Milton's tale and Gene Zion's Harry the Dirty Dog, an illustrated children's book.

Here is a solid lesson plan to support your instruction on the Continental Congress and the Articles of Confederation. It includes close analysis of primary source images, a guided notes template and answer key, and many key...

Have you ever felt trapped in your own body? That is likely how Melody in Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind feels. As scholars read to find out how Melody finally expresses herself, they complete sentences with new words, describe...

Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...

Shakespeare loved to write plays about famous kings. A study guide for Richard II explores the drama surrounding the reign of King Richard while reinforcing important language arts skills. After attending a performance of the play,...

Take inventory. Scholars analyze pages 28-31 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World and use a note catcher to model how Meg Lowman took inventory of the species in the rainforest. Learners then take a close look at the vocabulary...

A pop-up video version of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech engages scholars in depending their understanding of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After watching the video, class members select five new things that they learned and research how...

Biodiversity is essential for every habitat, but many species are at risk due to pollution and other factors. Explore several different species native to Illinois in a gallery walk with posters that learners have created after research...

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a pivotal moment in American history, but what were the immediate effects throughout the newly unified country? A document-based question focuses on the consequences of the first...

As teachers, it is our job to encourage learners to stand up for what they believe in and help them learn lessons from life's events. A set of practice questions designed for the ELA MCAS assessment features passages that teach positive...

Do pictures really last longer? A prompt from the 2001 AP® English Language and Composition Free-Response Questions asks scholars to analyze the opinion that photography actually limits people when it comes to understanding the world....

After a close reading of Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" and Flora de Falbe's "Five Things About the Lake," young poets craft their own personification list poem about a very special place.

Scholars weigh in on FDR's New Deal policies in an in-depth activity. The resource uses historical documents to explore whether the New Deal polices were reformatory or revolutionary. Learners review documents, rate them using a scale,...

How did the United States respond to the Holocaust refugee crisis during World War II? The activity focuses on the United States' foreign policies and the arguments for and against offering assistance. Scholars analyze historical...

Young historians delve into the origin of federal social programs to understand the impact of the New Deal. An informative activity explores some of the New Deal programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corp, using historical...

The unsinkable ship that sunk. Scholars review the case against the White Star Line following the tragic loss of life from the Titanic disaster. Academics read documents and organize them into arguments for and against the cruise line....

Native Americans lost so much—and gained so little in return. Scholars explore Native Americans' resistance to the United States government. The lesson uses primary sources to explore the different forms of protest and gives a voice to...

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb," featured at the 2021 inauguration of President Joseph Biden, is the focus of a six-page guide. The guide includes before reading, during reading, and after reading...

Learners compare and contrast what they are thankful for and what the pilgrims were thankful for, and create a Thanksgiving placemat. They read and recite the poem "I'm Thankful For," and create a laminated landscape placemat that...

Young scholars explore ecology. In this ecology lesson, students read scenarios, discuss them in groups and decide if they are eco-friendly or not. Young scholars discuss the differences in eco-friendly practices fifty years ago and now....

Create a T chart of similarities and differences between the past and present from the story Long Ago and Today. Using their handy T chart, youngsters will chart things that are the same or different today and long ago. They'll draw a...

Pose the question to your historians: who really freed the slaves? They critically assess various arguments, using primary sources as evidence. In small groups, scholars jigsaw 5 primary source documents (linked), and fill out an...