Anybody can write a body paragraph! Pupils analyze the development of ideas in a body paragraph from a model essay. Next, using what they've learned, they draft the body paragraphs of their My Rule to Live By informative essay. 

Make a study of the First Amendment and its relationship to freedom. Pupils rewrite the amendment and discuss the central idea before focusing on a specific phrase. After discussing, class members write a journal entry about the included...

Take note! Scholars use sticky notes to record information as they gallery walk to look at classmates' visual representations they created for their end of unit assessment. Learners then choose one word that represents the work they...

The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...

The second module in a series for high school seniors focuses on tracking the central idea of a text across genres and from multiple author and character perspectives. Twelfth graders read a speech by Benazir Bhutto entitled "Ideas Live...

Gun, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond is a seminal work of historical nonfiction from the late 20th century. Use the author's claims and supporting evidence to guide your high school seniors through their research project, culminating...

Does identity come from within, or do external forces shape it? Explore the complex identity concept with a two-unit module for 12th-grade language arts. The first unit uses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and "A Daily Joy...

Bring a time machine into your classroom with this writing instructional activity, in which young writers project themselves back in time and have a variety of choices from that point forward. They either write a conversation with a...

Students engage in a lesson which addresses George Washington's leadership as President of the United States. They review a variety of letters written by Washington online, and prepare reports for the class.

Lesson 1 from a Refugees and Human Rights unit is based on the UNHCR video “Working with Refugees.” Pupils gain an understanding of the role the United Nations plays in protecting and assisting refugees worldwide and have an opportunity...

Talk about what you bought last weekend with plenty of activities centered around the theme of shopping. English language learners have the opportunity to listen, speak, write, and read over the course of these exercises. The resource...

As part of a unit study of Bud, Not Buddy, readers compare Buddy's list of rules to live by with those that Steve Jobs enumerates in his commencement address to Stanford's 2005 graduating class.

During the eighth lesson in a historical fiction unit, pupils practice thoughtfully transitioning their ideas sequentially. After the teacher models how to add these transitions using the Wheelwright draft created in a previous lesson,...

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...

A car crash, a murder, a hurricane. With such a plot, why is the title of Sheila Turnage's novel Three Times Lucky? After making a prediction about the plot, scholars use the novel study to research and record facts...

Why is reading a text closely a helpful skill? Using the 13th of 20 lessons from the Grade 8 ELA Module 1, Unit 2 series, scholars continue reading the informational text "Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison." They work with...

Which of Michael Pollan's four food chains from his book The Omnivore's Dilemma would best feed everyone in the United States? Using a thought-provoking resource, scholars learn how to create a Cascading Consequences chart to answer the...

Class members become reporters, photographers, and movie producers to interview each other as they become "Famous First Graders." Learners work as a team to interview the famous person and then produce a short movie. They create...

Geometers learn how to measure the area in square units. They use the floor in the classroom as a visual to measure a square foot area. They use classmates to fill the space and expand the measured area square foot by square foot until...

Explore the origin of political parties in the United States. Learners work in groups to read and analyze copies of the "Report on Manufactures" written by Alexander Hamilton. Then, they complete a worksheet comparing the Federalists to...

Scholars complete the unit by finishing their end of the unit assessments. They arrange sentences for an introductory paragraph in the correct order, provide evidence for their thinking, and write a conclusion paragraph. They then...

Study opposing viewpoints with this instructional activity, which examines President Bush's September 2004 address at the United Nations. Middle schoolers study the text of the address, and then stage formal debates arguing for or...

How do you create parallel structure? Here, the first section details parallelism, providing many examples. The next two sections provide your class with practice opportunities. The first one requires learners to identify the sentences...

Learners take on the roles of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government in the United States and work to develop public policy issues and ideas into laws in this engaging and well-designed online interactive.