Learners brainstorm all the possible scenarios that would help them tell a story in detail with the whole class and with partners. They create web outlines to create a name story and then illustrate it with creative grammar usage and...

Young scholars examine what it was like to travel west on the Oregon Trail. They develop a list of questions about the trip, explore various websites, and create a story about the experiences of a 19th century family travelling on the...

Do talk back! The transcript of one side of a telephone conversation launches a study of dialogue. Class members imagine the response of the speaker on the other side of the conversation and record these responses on the provided...

Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...

Students investigate historical figures and how they play a role in tourism by reading and discussing the article "When Robin Hood Supped, Was it Yorkshire Pudding?" In groups, students investigate issues related in the article in...

Lesson 6 of this extensive unit finally has your class begin to work their way through specific articles from the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Before examining the rights actually detailed in the...

Bring a time machine into your classroom with this writing instructional activity, in which young writers project themselves back in time and have a variety of choices from that point forward. They either write a conversation with a...

Albert Bierstadt's painting Wind River Country shows viewers how a reader progresses through a story. Your class studies the light and dark areas, how the eye moves across the painting, and what attracts the audience to the work, and...

A reading of Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter opens a discussion of justice and fairness. Using a Venn diagram and an Idea Wheel graphic organizer, class members consider the similarities and differences in these two terms. They then...

Let's get graphic. Serving as the final performance task of the unit, scholars complete their graphic novelettes and design covers based on their sketches. Finally, they present their hard work to classmates. 

Use a Courbet painting of a cave or tunnel opening to reinforce the importance of descriptive writing. Writers of all ages use sensory details to describe what the scene depicts as they pretend to be in the painting. Then they imagine...

Have your class construct an adverb wheel. Learners brainstorm adverbs to modify the verbs they use to describe how they will eat a doughnut hole. They then use the wheel to help them write creative sentences.

Oh the joys of love! As a special Valentine's Day assignment, budding authors research the life of one of the most romantic poets, Keats. They read the letter, "To Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819," then compose a love letter of their own....

Students read and discuss the "fractured" fairy tale "The Stinky Cheese Man". They imagine that they are in the fairy tale and write a letter of complaint concerning the Cheese Man and how he stinks up the town.

Students study the effect of history on fictional or dramatic works of art by reading, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. They examine the ties between a nation's history and culture with the literature it produces.

Introduce the background of design and designers and their role in communicating their thoughts to others. In groups, you can assign participation in a writing cluster on various designers and write paragraphs to submit to magazines. To...

Students analyze the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In this U.S. government lesson, students examine books, movies, and music that influence them today and then investigate writings that influenced the framers of the...

Young scholars study classic paintings by masters like Monet. In this art history instructional activity, students listen to the story Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and sing flower songs with the rest of their class. Young scholars...

How does consumerism affect global poverty? Upper graders find out about cost benefit, wants and needs, and making good consumer choices as they explore this global topic. They role-play an impulse spending experience and work through...

Putting together an interesting story can be hard, but this set of worksheets will guide your writers into the depths of their own creativity as they characterize both their main character and villain. Using humor to keep learners...

Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...

How many of your students know that even today new species are being found all over the globe? Introduce them to the amazing diversity our planet houses with a creative activity about animal variation and classification. They'll use a...

Our young scientists have now specifically identified a problem, and this step helps them think of possible solutions. An outline, including guidelines, for brainstorming helps scholars stay on the right path. The resource includes...

Use inverse trigonometric functions to work with ramps, rabbits, and Talladega. The class models real-world situations with trigonometric functions and solves them using inverses in the 15th installment of a 16-part series. Pupils solve...