This isn't your traditional Robin Hood tale! Explore a Middle English ballad with your young historians, and examine the underlying structure and purpose of historical texts.

Modern readers apply classic themes to Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Miserables. After they discuss tricky vocabulary and plot elements from the novel, class members compare Hugo's written work to a stage or film adaptation of the...

Many children dream about being a champion. The dream could be reality for Danny in Danny the Champion of the World. Danny's championship is a sure thing if he and his father gain victory against a nasty landowner with a bad...

Go with your gut! Scholars read excerpts from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and record their initial feeling from the reading as strong positive, positive, neutral, negative, or strong negative. They then discuss how their responses...

Introduce your eager readers to WWII through the eyes of a real girl. Presented here is a basic overview of the life of Anne Frank and her contribution to world literature with the publication of her diary. A perfect introduction to the...

Which is more likely: 130 children followed a magical piper out of Hamelin and disappeared forever, or that they died of the plague? Or could they have escaped from Hamelin via a secret tunnel to Transylvania? Learners investigate...

It's hard to imagine that life on Alcatraz could be dull. A series of intriguing lessons take readers through the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts. Pre-reading questions introduce the text and a range of suggestions, from comic strips to...

Accompany a reading of Madeleine L'Engle's classic tale, A Wrinkle in Time, with a detailed guide equipped with 15 informative and useful chapters. Scholars discover who the author is, why she wrote the book, and crucial story elements...

War is one of the most profound human experiences in history, and is often best depicted in works of art and literature. Introduce class members to the poetry of World War I with this resource that uses John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields"...

Students investigate the Underground Railroad. In this African-American history lesson plan, students listen to the book Clara and the Freedom Quilt and use map skills to identify the various locations in the book. Students create a...

Fifth graders explore U.S. history by reading an award winning book about World War II. In this Japanese internment camp lesson, 5th graders read the book Under the Blood-Red Sun and discuss the entrapment of Japanese-Americans on our...

Japan's Taisho Period was a time when authors like Akutagawa and other Japanese modernists began to experiment with point of view and literary form, making the literature produced during this time period a natural choice for teaching...

Students, utilizing video clips and Web sites, compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, analyzing similarities and differences between them. They adapt literature into a...

Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...

Using examples from Socrates to Johnny Carson, this slideshow presents your students with the history and definition of dramatic irony, satire, situational irony, and tragic irony. This presentation would be useful in a language arts...

Upper elementary historians research a legendary person who had an impact in the the history of the United States. Learners research the life of their person of choice, and construct a legendary timeline using computer software which...

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...

Carl Sandburg composed poetry that conveyed a time and place in American Literature and history. Learners identify the literary techniques he uses to describe the historical and cultural context of living in Chicago. They define the...

Visit 19th century Grand Isle, Cheniere Caminada, and New Orleans! Meet the inhabitants, learn about their history and culture, and view landmarks and industries! After reading Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, class groups research the...

Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...

Explore ancient warfare through a dramatic reading of select portions of The Iliad with your class. They will identify the major characters in The Iliad and explain the strategies, external forces, and alliances of the Trojan War

Identify common prefixes and suffixes used in the English language and categorize the different kinds of information provided in a dictionary entry. Learners will write at least five pieces of information that they learn about a word...

Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...