After your class has completed The Cay by Theodore Taylor, assess understanding of the plot. First, model how to fill out a plot line for your class. Next, have class members fill in the plot of The Cay on the provided story map. Invite...

Students examine animal reproduction by interpreting data and making arguments and then create their own graphs to explore relationships of organ systems. This lesson includes an individual worksheet and a reflective review question for...

Young scholars learn to check and evaluate their letter writing skills using a checklist created during interactive writing sessions. The lesson provides students with criteria for good letter writing and serves as an evaluation tool for...

Learners create a small group dance that addresses free-flowing techniques and transitions for in-class performance. This lesson meets state arts standards and includes rubric for assessment.

Young scholars participate in class discussions, study vocabulary, study culture and complete workbook activities. Students then display knowledge of cultural criteria through assessment.

This unit encourages students to assess the validity of a set of statements and then plan and carry out investigations to find out whether the statements are true. Students then carry out statistical investigations of their own.

Can a negative perception of a president's foreign policy harm his or her historical legacy? A project that winds the clock back to the date of Theodore Roosevelt's death puts students at the editorial desk of a fictional newspaper....

Third graders review concepts of fractions, and one-half. They discuss self portraits and the relationships of eyes, nose and mouth to the whole face. Students create base-line self-portraits. On the second day, 3rd graders observe and...

Young scholars engage in a lesson that is about the meaning of a verb or adverb. They perform sketches with the subject matter of the words. The goal is for the actors to show the meaning of the verb or adverb with an action.

Working in small groups students develop three alternative boat designs. They discuss the rationale for the type of hull, propeller, location of ballast, and type of building material used in their design. They build their boat.

In the words of Yogi Berra, "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." Keep team members of your professional learning community (PLC) mindful of where they are going with a worksheet that designates steps...

How do you assess whether pupils have mastered certain concepts and skills? Designing a performance task that asks learners to demonstrate their skills and providing writers with a rubric that identifies these skills and provides...

Young scientists access the EARTH Web site in order to engage in this lesson life forms found in the ocean. Student groups of 3 - 4 choose one set of deep-sea organism images. The groups decide how they would classify their organisms and...

Here's a fresh take on the student writing portfolio. Consider having learners create an electronic portfolio. After examining sample e-portfolios, class members explore various software programs they will use throughout the course and...

Young composers demonstrate their understanding of the stylistic features of descriptive music, including pitch, tempo, dynamics, rhythm, and timbre, by developing a melody and countermelody for a main character in a story. As part of...

Your intermediate or advanced thespians choose dramatic scenes to perform in duos, small groups, or solo to demonstrate vocal and physical characterization. Use class time to prepare and rehearse. Detailed rubrics work for peer assessment.

Eighth graders read the book The Outsiders for understanding. They develop arguments, with support, for six assigned debate points. They write a position paper based on six debate points. The dress up as a character in the book and...

Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth lesson in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing visible thinking...

What determines whether a function has an inverse? Learners investigate that criteria when they examine values in a partially completed input-output table for two different functions. The task is to complete the table so that one of the...

Sixth graders strengthen their understanding of what a high quality website is composed of. Learners evaluate three websites for accuracy, credibility, and reliability by completing a chart.

Serve four towns with one bus route. Pupils develop a bus route that meets certain criteria to serve four towns. They determine which of the routes would best serve all of them. Individuals then hypothesize where a fifth town should be...

Eighth graders research, write, edit and publish a class newspaper focusing on topics related to first aid. They research how to care for injuries and write informative articles for the paper. Students compile the articles to produce a...

Help your secondary reader/writers assess texts by studying press releases from Statistics Canada and drafting articles based on them. They then compare the press release, their own articles, and actual news stories they find online. I'd...

Novice writers often struggle to determine what style of essay to write when given a prompt. This worksheet helps to identify an appropriate form based on the language of the question. For example, key words like prove or justify...