Put young grammarians to the test with an activity about adverbs. A five-paragraph passage prompts kids to find the adverbs and circle them, noting their purpose in context.

“Anyone who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.” Mary Alice, the fifteen-year-old narrator of A Year Down Yonder, is forced to leave Chicago and spend a year with her Grandma Dowdel in a small rural...

Art, music, poetry, and the beauty of the seasons is what you'll find in this very nice unit idea. You can use any of the suggested books and activities to engage your second graders in an exploration of the changes that take place...

Finding and/or designing a menu of equally weighted synthesizing projects to end a unit can be a challenge. Simplify the task with this menu of individual and group projects meant to accompany a study of The Crucible. Presentations,...

After reading a short passage about self reflection, individuals are asked to restate the main ideas in the article in their own words.

Designed as a resource for teachers who use Man's Search for Meaning, this seven-page packet includes a list of related informational texts, research issues and project ideas, central questions, background information on World...

Don't give your classes the third degree. Use radians instead! While working with degrees, learners find that they are not efficient and explore radians as an alternative. They convert between the two measures and use radians with the...

Can investigative journalism become too sensationalistic and accusatory, or is it vital for the survival of a democracy? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents from early 20th-century newspapers as well as Theodore...

As part of a study of the American Civil Rights movement, class members search the Internet to find important facts, people, events, and pictures that they use to create a timeline of events between 1955 and 1970. 

Students analyze photographs of Maine's history. They discuss the character of Maine and read a photograph. They analyze photos in pairs and complete an analysis sheet for each one. They evaluate their photos and rank them for qualities...

Students read "Be A Perfect Person in Just three days," and participate in a host of activities. Connected to technology, they use online sources to create word searches and puzzles from vocabulary words. In addition, students create...

In this synthesis worksheet, students read two or three articles on the same subject and summarize the main idea of each.  Students then find at least three common points in the articles and write a paragraph synthesizing what they...

Consider using this activity as a group work exercise early in a novel study unit. Learners must identify the meaning of words associated with narrative literature. An answer key is provided.

Although the ideas on how to implement the skill RI.9-10.2 are lacking, the assessment would work well for challenging learners to summarize, and identify the main ideas of presidential speeches that are of similar topics. One could use...

Save time by downloading a template for peer editing. Included, you will find a one-form-per-page format and a four-forms-per-page format.

Get your pupils' attention with this lesson on similes and metaphors, which features two poems by Tupac Shakur. A SMART board presentation guides them through the lesson, which includes a BrainPop activity (linked). After they have...

In this literacy worksheet, 5th graders practice putting the sentences into the proper grammar structure, using the correct punctuation, and finding the definitions in the dictionary.

How did the world react to Austria's declaration of war? This activity, guided by the McDougall Littell text, World History, has historians examining the beginnings of WWI through cause and effect analysis. Groups reference the text as...

Young scholars observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. As a class, they silently read an article about panda bears from "Ranger Rick" magazine and answer comprehension questions. They answer the five "W" questions, and...

Fourth graders generate written summaries from non-fiction articles.  In this writing lesson plan, 4th graders determine what must be included in writing a good summary and then work in small groups to construct summaries after...

Twelfth graders examine how to evaluate reading material by using direct quotations. They read a Newsweek magazine article, answer questions, underline the passage that supports their written response, and write a letter to a senator...

Students read and demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process via the novel "Finding Buck Henry." They recognize complex elements of plot. Students analyze devices used to develop characters in...

Students read about colds and influenza while practicing reading techniques.

Blend art and family into one lesson with an activity involving oil pastels and watercolors. After viewing a few famous portraits of families, learners create masterpieces that represent their own families.