Using the real-world example of elevation, above or below sea level, young mathematicians interpret expressions using negative signs, and absolute value. This task provides a good opportunity to discuss the notion of magnitude and...

Ground-truthing ... is it even a word? The last installment of a five-part series analyzes how scientists collect sea surface temperature data. Scholars use government websites to compare temperature data collected directly from buoys...

What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb? Encourages scholars to explore the answer to this question while building a foundation of the English language. The lesson comes complete with an attention grabber, notes, and a...

Join Congress as they assess their economic abilities for spending—and as they discover their limits. High schoolers use an educational resource to explore Congress's economic powers and learn to apply these concepts to their everyday...

My forecast is that you'll want to use the resource. Pupils design and create a weather bot as part of a project-based unit. These bots should be able to measure temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and...

Bayer Pharmaceuticals sold heroin as a cough medicine in the 1900s ... who knew? Scholars discover this, and other interesting facts, when they use the resource to prepare for a class discussion or debate. They browse videos, readers'...

Explore indirect and direct characterization and review rules of punctuation. After a review, middle schoolers complete a short worksheet, labeling sentences as an example of a direct or indirect characterization. In groups, they play a...

In this Christmas worksheet learners complete a variety of holiday activities. Students follow directions to color some bells, put holiday events in order, and make a Rudolph head.

In this social studies worksheet, students are directed to a Web site to read about famous people. Students choose 2 people and use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast. Students then investigate the difference between being "famous"...

In this everyday editing worksheet, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about journalist Nellie Bly. The errors range from capitalization, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Students solve pentomino puzzles.  In this problem solving lesson, students discuss how pentomino puzzles play into the plot of Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett and practice solving a pentomino puzzle on their own....

Collaborative earth science groups create a working model of a watershed. Once it has been developed, you come along and introduce a change in land use, impacting the quality of water throughout their watershed. Model making is an...

An excellent review of the very specific stages of mitosis, the detailed slides start with explanations of the directionality of DNA and then develop the concept of daughter strands. The intricate diagrams are intended for experienced...

Following a contour map of a hill, a stream, and the ocean, are five multiple choice questions. Earth science enthusiasts determine elevation, direction of water flow, distance, and steepness. They also match the map to a selection of...

With the BP oil spill still fresh on your scholars' minds, take the opportunity to analyze various perspectives on it through political cartoons. This critical-analysis handout features 2 cartoons on the incident. Background information...

Direct your class’s attention to the elements that make their community unique. After examining sample travel brochures, groups select something from their community to use as the subject, and then research, create, and publish a...

There are 12 symbols on this large grid, and scholars must record a location for each. They use the coordinate pair system which is made easier because every symbol is directly inside a square. Use this to introduce coordinate pair...

Expand your third graders' universe with a science activity about Earth's rotation. They read a short explanation about the direction of sunlight, then draw an arrow to indicate which way the sun is pointed at an illustration of the...

Gary Paulsen’s Canyons is the focus of an exercise that models how to read closely using a Questioning the Author (QtA) strategy. Complete directions for the strategy, which can be used with any text, are included in the richly-detailed...

Complete this after-reading activity for the novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy in order to explore the books themes of societal prejudice, peer pressure, authority, and bullying. Write the seven provided questions on...

“The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?” Prediction, verification, judgment, and extensions of thought are all part of a Directed ReadingThinking Activity (DRTA) developed for Measure for Measure. The rationale, assessments...

Challenge your class to hold a discussion about the theme of death in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead without direct teacher guidance. After going over the discussion protocols and quotes from the text, learners move in a circle...

Readers of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will learn much “more than what (is) said to them” as they use the biopoem format and craft a poem about one of the major characters in Steinbeck’s tragic story of Geroge Milton and Lennie...