The narrative works of Frederick Douglass engage learners in the topic of slavery. They will experience American history in a new way, a Douglass expresses his thoughts in his own words. Pupils then interpret this literary...

Walt Whitman was a composter? Certainly the cycle of life and death he describes in "Leaves of Grass" parallels the processes going on in a compose pile. The interdisciplinary approach detailed here could be used to foster a deeper...

Be more specific. Scholars take a look at domain-specific vocabulary by discussing an anchor chart. They then look at vocabulary words recorded from paragraphs one through five in Water of Life. After analyzing the vocabulary used in the...

How do poets convey emotion and represent their views of life? Pupils learn more about Whitman and Dickinson through the unit and analyze their bold reinvention of craft and style for poets to come. Looking at classic pieces such as...

The documentary, The Legendary King of San Miguel Island, introduces the fascinating tale of Herb Lester, his family, and their life on San Miguel Island. Viewers have an opportunity to expand their study of the island and of...

Introduce "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namioka to your middle schoolers with a reader's resource page. It includes links to different activities, including a creative writing prompt about losing fifty years of your life, and a...

How did the television change people's lives? Learners consider the question as they complete their storyboards about the invention of the TV, adding visual elements along the way. Then, they participate in a peer review to offer and...

While the Spanish claimed to bring civilization to California indigenous peoples, in reality, they also brought violence and forced assimilation to European values. Primary sources, such as the reports of Catholic priests and Europeans...

Students gain an understanding of how systems and organs in the human body work. They create their own fictional account of a trip through the human body, and describe one response the body makes to stimuli.

Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials...

Students effectively research using the internet, encylopedias, magazines and newspapers. They desegregate into needed and un-needed information based on their research findings. Pupils recognize and appropriately site sources using a...

Count the frogs! This template is all you need to help your counters create adorable number books. Each of the six pages features 1-5 frogs with the number written out. Learners must not only write the number in numerical form, but also...

Students identify likes and dislikes at home and school. Then they identify the relationship between training and the world of work. Students also discover and evaluate patterns and relationships in information, ideas and structures....

Fifth graders investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions. Then they break into groups to complete the training and education for two careers selected from a listing in the lesson....

Scholars must react to the ecosystems of a river. They use inquiry-based learning along with maps and visuals to better understand the impact of rivers on everyday life. To finish, they create final written projects and presentations. 

Eighth graders discuss their plans for after high school and complete a portfolio. Individually, they use the information from their portfolio to create puzzle pieces of their past to help them plan their future. In groups, they put...

Who is Emmet Till? An important historical figure, your kids will be shocked by his story! Discover the details of his life and collaborate to write a crown of sonnets in the style of Marilyn Nelson.

Bingo! Combine the thrill of bingo with Lois Lowry's The Giver in a fun vocabulary lesson. Kids write selected vocabulary words from the novel onto a bingo chart, and then listen for the correct definitions in order to mark off...

The Oscar for the Best Adapted Screenplay acknowledges a writer's excellence in adapting material found in another source. What do your class members know about adapted resources? Find out with an assessment that asks readers to...

Students study the Mexican traditions for the Day of the Dead. In this Mexican traditions lesson plan, students study monarch butterflies and learn about the role that the mariposa plays in the Day of the Dead. Students learn about...

Active or passive? Young grammarians identify the voice in a series of sentences and then rewrite those in passive voice.

The beauty in this resource is the lengthy list of highly charged, controversial-issue research topics. Categories include issues of race, politics, law, environment, education, athletics, gender, and technology. After selecting a topic,...

How do muscles move bones? Find out using a built-in-class model. Pupils construct a hand model with paper and string, then follow a series of directions to explore the movement process. Discover additional information about the muscular...

Discover how the human body's digestive system works with a brain and stomach friendly activity. Scholars taste test a variety of foods to find out how they behave once in the mouth. Class members then play a game called Move That...