Satires may be designed to expose a bias to ridicule but if misunderstood can they reinforce that bias? Langston Hughes poem, “Minstrel Man” opens a discussion of racist stereotypes, the minstrel tradition, and the musical, “The...

Write and work with authors on the Scholastic Website to promote the recognition of various genres.  Young writers will participate in activities based on the type of writing such as biography, descriptive, folktales, mystery, news,...

Middle schoolers gather important information about a historical figure. They write a short biography, including illustrations. Students collect songs from the time period when the person lived. They create a play list in iTunes. Middle...

Shapes are so fun! Little ones explore, identify, and create shapes using tangrams or pattern blocks. The activity is intended to stimulate critical thinking while engaging learners through play and shape identification. Each child will...

Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in text....

Conduct research focused on improving a current technology by having students work in groups to investigate improvements that could be made to a particular piece of technology. They list the current problems and attempt to develop...

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

"Love it or leave it." "You're either for us or against us." Rhetoric and it's polarizing effects are the focus of a lesson plan that uses John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry as an exemplar. Groups examine primary source documents,...

Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Young scholars write and send postcards to and from famous historical figures.

Students research historical figures and create presentations for their research using technology tools. In this historical figures lesson, students use the provided links to research historical figures in America. Students then use...

Students are challenged to design and construct a jointed figure that moves in a motion something like jumping jacks when a string is pulled.

Students discover the cultural history of Egypt by illustrating Egyptian figures.  In this art history lesson, students analyze the Egyptian styles of figure drawings and emulate that by creating their own illustrations using an...

Students complete self projects such as a collage, an acrostic poem, a mural, and more, to show their similarities and differences. In this similarities and differences lesson plan, students can do these projects individually or in groups.

Students read a variety of literature from India, including folktales and fables. They then select a scene or story to script, work together to design and craft shadow puppets of characters and scenery, narrate a story, manipulate the...

Students recognize the importance of justice, tolerance, equality, and historical figures. In this philanthropic actions lesson, students study the philanthropic actions of historical figures, and learn about the concepts of fairness,...

Tenth graders explain political and social thought during the Greek 6th and 5th centuries B.C. They research five to eight fables, figuring out the moral for each and writing an essay on how Aesop influenced the morals and ideals of...

Students examine the genealogy of King Arthur. They create a poster of his family tree and shares with the class. They also place other key figures of the time period on the poster to put his life in perspective.

Eighth graders investigate how Language Arts and Social Studies can be integrated in the curriculum. They conduct research about a famous person in history. Then students use the information to write a report for the class. Then students...

Students study the concepts of autobiography, biography, and fiction as literary genres. They read, study, and analyze Maya Angelou's autobiographical writings in terms of what she intended to accomplish by her writings. They develop and...

Students study selected poetry to gain an understanding of influences on values and personal identity. They explore language terms such as personification, imagery metaphors and allusion. After reading a poem and discussing it,...

Students explore a portion of the Chinese Zodiac with projects centered around the year of the rabbit. Students research types of rabbits, actual and fictional. Working in groups, they create a written or multimedia presentation.

Young scholars are given an opportunity to role play a particular period of American History. They engage in a field trip that is then reflected upon and further research is done in the class. Their final project is to act out a play...