Take your class to the theater! First graders will examine characters that actors play such a villians and heroes. Then participate in creating plays and performing in them. They will also research what it takes to create scenery, props...

Students use Internet links to plan a 3-day tour of France. They role-play a typical encounter that may be experienced during their trip.

An open discussion starts this instructional activity off. The class takes a critical look at five works of art that demonstrate the impact and purpose of identity through collections or archives. They then write a list or draw 10-15...

What is real or imagined? The lines of beauty reality, and imagination are blurred in Elizabeth Peyton's portraits of her community. Learners analyze her use of artistic technique in conveying real and imagined communities. They then use...

Rays and angles and Star Wars? It sounds strange, but it's actually a fun game to help fourth graders get good at measuring and identifying angles and rays with a protractor. Each pair of children chooses which Star Wars character they'd...

After brainstorming the various aspects of cultural identity, class members interview each other, examine video clips, and read stories to discover how these aspects reveal one's cultural identity. Individuals then craft a quilt square...

Fifth graders explore quilting in pioneer families. In this quilting lesson, 5th graders review the history of quilts, the role of women, and quilting patterns. They create their own pattern and quilt square.  

Students, after reading the novel, Brave New World, research in depth topics like the production and consumption of Henry Ford, Pavlov's and Skinner's behavioral science work, as well as the existence of Utopian and dystopian societies....

This lesson, focused on profile writing and its unique characteristics, considers the profiles developed in the film The Soul of a Man while also asking students to consider other profiles they are familiar with and to write some of...

African American history during the Jim Crow era includes encounters with poverty, racism, disrespect, and protest. Harper Lee develops all four of these themes in her famous 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To help students understand...

Eighth graders discover the relationship between speed, distance, and time. They calculate speed and represent their data graphically. They, in groups, design a ramp for their matchbox car. The goal is to see who's ramp produces the...

Third graders read and discuss "The Hangman" by Maurice Ogden and answer questions about the poem. They list things they can do to combat prejudice using each of the letters in the word and create a small poster with a slogan against...

Learners complete a unit of lessons on the events of the Holocaust during WWII. They write daily journal entries, create a collage, view and discuss videos, read and analyze novels and poetry, and complete a novel project.

Students write a persuasive essay based on cleaning up the coast and other philanthropic values. In this writing lesson plan, students determine what is needed in order to keep the planet clean, and offer solutions to the International...

The major Romantic poets cannot be understood, historically, without an awareness of the extent to which their distinctive concepts, plots, forms, and imagery were shaped first by the promise, then by the tragedy, of the French...

This lesson provides background for an English Renaissance unit; it compares the English Renaissance with the Italian Renaissance. It features Queen Elizabeth I's influence and provides a poem written by the queen, "When I Was Fair and...

Movie days in the classroom are infrequent and far between, but what if teachers used television as a means of teaching? Shelby Ostergaard discusses whether or not television can be considered a form of literature and the benefits and...

A form used by an English teacher to help students understand and analyze nonfiction literature. Very helpful ways to classify information. It can be modified for different grade levels.

Teaching approach that examines the writings of European New World explorers from the late 1400s through the 1600s. Includes Christopher Columbus, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Fray...