Develop historical analysis and interpretation with your older students. They will study and analyze three given interpretations of Christopher Columbus' life, which includes significant events, his character, and the impact he made on...

Seventh graders write a few sentences explaining the most important events of their lives during the past year. As a class, they discuss why they chose the elements they did for their sentences. To end the lesson plan, they read a...

Polish organization skills in your youngsters. With this lesson, they are introduced to the trait of organization and participate in activities that reinforce organization. They cut apart a familiar story, receive different...

Looking for a good presentation which addresses persuasive writing? Then, this one's for you! Learners are given all sorts of good tips on how to construct a well-written persuasive essay, or an essay where they are stating an opinion on...

Provide parents with the tools they need to bridge the summer learning gap with this collection of fun activities. Whether it's creating an alphabet poster with illustrations for each letter, playing a game of sight word concentration,...

To accomplish great things, and to produce great essays, writers plan. Introduce your young writers to the prewriting stage of the writing process with a template that asks them to brainstorm and list as many ideas as possible....

Use this worksheet to research a future or past olympian. There's a space for researchers to brainstorm things they'd like to know, a space for them to record notes, and a KWL chart. There's also an open space to write a cumulative...

Developing a topic sentence can be a real challenge for young writers. Make the process a whole lot easier with a poster that can be displayed in the classroom. The visual first describes the two parts of the topic sentence, the occasion...

Strong persuasive essays are the result of careful planning. Give your writers a leg up on the planning process with a graphic organizer that models the format and asks them to provide their thesis, main points, evidence they will use,...

Do some of your writers need an extra lesson on correcting run-ons and comma splices? This worksheet clearly defines the terms, provides models of run-on sentences, comma splice errors, and how to correct them. The second page of the...

Turn your passive readers into active readers with an engaging lesson on reading informational text. Focused on compare and contrast structured essays, the activity prompts elementary learners to jot down questions and think-aloud...

Learners create a standard outline, using a word processing tool, while they are learning about the basic writing device of the 5 paragraph essay.

In this paragraph writing game, young scholars will take turns trying to make a match between topic sentences and the correct body sentences. This game is played like Concentration/Memory.

In this essay outline worksheet, students apply a quotation from Julius Caesar to their own lives and formulate an outline for a well developed five paragraph essay. The outline includes quotes and examples to fully support the author's...

Twelfth graders explore Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this reading and writing lesson, 12th graders read the book and think of five books to save from the fire. Students write an essay explaining why they'd save them. The essay...

Young scholars explore Civil Rights. In this Civil Rights instructional activity, students read about Ruby Bridges and define the words segregation and supremacy. Young scholars make a timeline of important events in Civil Rights and...

Third graders complete a unit of lessons on the process of six trait writing. They identify good writing traits, read and evaluate poems, literature, and myths, utilize a rubric to evaluate their own writing, and evaluate classmates...

Fourth graders demonstrate and evaluate the six traits of writing. They read and identify good writing and bad writing, utilize a rubric to self-evaluate their own writing, participate in a Reader's Theater, and publish a class book.

Students explore the Bill of Rights. In this philanthropy and citizenship lesson, students identify and explain how each of the first ten amendments protects the rights of citizens. Students select one amendment to illustrate, and write...

Learners participate in role-play activities to explain that emotional and social effects of prejudice discussed in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Students examine the need for a national library. In this Library of Congress lesson, students analyze primary sources to investigate the persuasive techniques that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter meant to show his...

Stuck for a journal topic? Download CAHSEE’s 21 “Expository Journal Prompts” as a pdf handout for yourself or class. A great resource for your writing program, print it up and add it your curriculum library.

How does a society influence and shape individuals? Class members ponder this essential question as they read Lord of the Flies, as well as primary source materials about the historical background of the novel. As a...

In the hustle and bustle of life in the classroom, it's easy for teachers to lose track of the standards they have taught, and those that still need to be addressed. This Common Core checklist provides educators with an easy-to-use...