Seven pages offer scholars the opportunity to learn about North American mammals and boost their coloring skills. Animals include brown bears, beavers, jackrabbits, wolves, jaguar, and Dall sheep 

Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have...

Descriptive writing is a must for students to understand. Using adverbs and adjectives, they turn simple sentences into works of art. Each simple sentence gets a descriptive make-over. This instructional activity suggests using Laptops...

Learners compare the weight of the students's favorite soft toys directly and then indirectly using beads.

A variation of a standard graphic organizer for a five-paragraph essay, young writers may find this style of organization helpful while drafting their writing. Some key features of this particular organizer are sections for transition...

Young readers compare two stories/cultures, identifying how they are alike and different. They share their own version of a well-known story and adapt it to another culture. They explain their adaptations.

Students, after brainstorming possible problem solving activities, choose from one of the many and write what the problem is and a solution to solve it.

Seventh graders examine the role of the different types of music originating in Louisiana. Using the information they gathered, they create a PowerPoint presentation about an artist who plays Louisiana music. They compare and contrast...

Students examine the effect of temperature on how often crickets chirp. In groups, they complete the experiment and answer lab discussion questions. They create a graph of temperatures and the amount of chirps and discuss the results.

“Hope is a tissue, wiping away your problems and fears.” Use a Definition Poem Web worksheet to model for your class how to craft a free verse poem based on an emotion. After brainstorming topics, groups use the sheet to make comparisons...

Emerging writers create a response to their reading. They read Notes from the Trail and discuss whose perspective the journal entry is written from. Then, they write a response to the journal entry in first person perspective as if...

After reading an example of a Cultural Connection about a particular person, class members are asked to think about what this person might experience on a daily basis. They then craft a narrative from the subject’s point of view.

Planning a novel unit on Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel? If so, this comprehensive guided reading learning exercise might appeal to you. Steer readers through the entire novel with a routine of comprehension questions and...

Have your class learn about Native American tribes in California. They identify five regions where Native Americans lived, discuss the daily life of these people, and conduct research on a particular tribe. Afterward, they create a...

It's time to write! First, lead your emerging writers in a power writing activity. It takes six minutes and focuses on creative brainstorming. The class is given two words (duck and apple are suggested, but alter the words for different...

Read a tale for your class as they unravel patterns presented in the story using manipulatives. Pause to allow time for discussion and explanation of solutions throughout the story. They write equations or expressions with order of...

Students explore a variety of everyday objects and group them according to their textures. They create a clay portrait, learning how to manipulate the material and tools to create different textures.

Looking for a way to bring prewriting into your informative writing unit? Use this lesson to reinforce writing skills in your eighth grade language arts class. Young writers use a web graphic organizer as a prewriting tool for expository...

Learners watch slides of other countries to identify and discuss factors that make a country developed or developing. They create a product that shows their view of developed and undeveloped.

Learners gain an understanding of early jazz. They study Dixieland and the Roaring Twenties. They examine the American historical significance and cultural implications of early jazz.

Students explore the Jazz Era in America not only by answering questions but listening to music as well.

Pupils explore Bebop in America by listening to music and answering questions.

Fifth graders explore cool jazz and how it reflected American culture in the 1940's and 1950's.