What items would most people want to have with them if they were stranded on a desert island? Using the novel study for The Swiss Family Robinson, scholars attempt to answer the question from their own perspectives. They also explore...

Your class won't be a bunch of squares from using this well-rounded activity! Instead, they'll be expressing thoughtful questions using the cubing strategy. The class brainstorms questions of increasing rigor about Zach's Lie in the...

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader guide includes chapter-by-chapter vocabulary lists and quizzes, discussion questions and writing prompts, and an explanation of Narnia expressions. Great for mainstream classrooms and homeschool situations.

If a bar of chocolate was on the floor, would you try to pick it up? What if it was covered with glue? The eighth lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl has scholars imagine crazy scenarios. The...

Readers of Lord of the Flies examine the four main symbols William Golding develops in his novel: the island, the conch, the Lord of the Flies effigy, and fire. Partners select one of the major symbols and create an image by adding words...

Readers of  Lord of the Flies hunt down direct and indirect examples of how William Golding brings his characters to life. After instructors guide learners through the process of collecting evidence of these two types of...

How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...

A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...

After reviewing persuasion techniques, young historians examine how a specific technique was used in the pro- or anti-suffrage messages. They then examine how that same technique is used in modern-day media messages.

Young historians learn how to make generalizations based on primary sources in a lesson that uses the autobiographies of two women born into slavery. The class watches a historical re-enactment of scenes from the lives of Harriet Jacobs...

A lesson on evaluating sources of information teaches scholars to "think twice" before using a source. Researchers examine a resource's home page, author, and sponsor, as well as the date published and the documentation provided.

Scholars generally agree on the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. This inquiry-based lesson asks high schoolers to consider more than the claims of who freed the enslaved people but the significance of the issues...

The second lesson in the series asks groups to analyze an exchange of love letters between Abigail and John Adams. Scholars identify the many allusions and references in the letters and consider what they can infer about the writers.

Ten drama lessons are the perfect addition to your language arts or theater class. With a focus on script elements, plot development, and parts of a dramatic story, the lessons guide young playwrights through the steps of telling a story...

Explore a variety of fables to learn life's lessons through engaging stories. Add rigor to the learning process with activities that include matching a a fable to the story's moral, short answer exit slips, and a three-column graphic...

Are you enjoying the use of all five senses? Imagine that you have to lose one of them; you can choose which one, but it's gone forever. Work through a lesson based on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis that asks class...

Start with the question in mind with a discussion activity on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. With four focus questions, note-taking prompts, and discussion points, readers practice answering thematic questions based on textual evidence.

In this reading comprehension activity, students read facts about Harry S. Truman and choose from multiple choice answers to evaluate their comprehension. Students answer three multiple choice questions.  

Explore the elements of a story with this two-page graphic organizer. Readers write and draw descriptions of each element, including setting, plot, conflict, rising action, climax, dialogue, and narration.

Explore the theme of release and death in Lois Lowry's The Giver with a K-W-H-L chart. After noting what they already know, kids come up with a list of questions about topics that they would like to know about, as well as how they...

Create a picture dictionary for one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. After readers finish The Tempest, they assign each letter of the alphabet to a concept or character, and add a description and evidence from...

To gain insight into the many different types of habitats, individuals must first get to know their own. Here, scholars explore their school environment, draw a map, compare and contrast their surroundings to larger ones. They then...

Authors use many strategies when writing stories. A series of extra support lessons breaks down those strategies, as well as key grammatical and phonics-based concepts to support struggling learners. The last of three lessons offers...

Class members continue their analysis of Letters to a Young Poet, paying particular attention to how Rilke uses metaphor to develop his ideas about the source of inspiration.