Students examine the difference between nonfiction and fictional writing. They identify the characteristics of nonfiction literature and examine how a nonfiction textbook organizes information.

Did you ever create an awesome graphic organizer only to find that your class was completely baffled by how to use it? This resource not only provides you with a great graphic organizer for a standard five-paragraph essay, but also...

Suggestions for using Roberto Marzano's six-step approach to academic vocabulary instruction are detailed in a packet that includes graphic organizers, worksheets, and activities.

What a great project. Graphic arts students consider the social, political, and economic impact made by a chosen invention. They build an argument to substantiate their reasons for choosing said invention. They create an oral...

Second graders learn about how the food is broken down in our bodies and the job of each body part involved in our digestive system. The utilize the CD ROM game, "Body Works." This wonderful game takes pupils through the human body's...

Upper elementary and middle schoolers study the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird that was once-thought to be extinct. Learners explore the responsibility of people to preserve habitats, and take care of the animals who live in...

A well-designed lesson plan which covers the characteristics of the animals found in the six animal groups is here for your young biologists. In it, learners divide up into six groups; the amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, and...

Students identify several important events that led to U.S. involvement in World War I. They examine different explanations, form an opinion about the evidence for each rationale and then create a slideshow to present their findings.

Designed to use when teaching adults preparing for their high school equivalency exam, the resource integrates reading practice, writing, and analytical thinking in every lesson. The unit covers 23 topics, but it only includes three...

Talk about technology in the classroom. This plan has all the resources needed to create a non-linear or branching story. Included is a step-by-step tutorial that walks middle schoolers through the project description, a model of a...

Here is another in the interesting series of lessons that use the special State Quarters as a learning tool. This one uses the North Dakota State Quarter. During this lesson, your class learns about the different patterns of erosion, and...

Learners explore the plot of mystery books. In this genre study lesson, students read the book, Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy and listen to a read aloud of a chapter from the text. Learners fill in a graphic organizer that helps...

What's this all about? Scholars learn the importance of summarizing skills using a summary writing graphic organizer. They work with an elbow partner to discuss summaries and complete the organizer using Middle Ages Excerpt 1. Learners...

Fourth graders work independently or in a small group to (1) read a nonfiction selection, (2) identify the author's purpose, (3) distinguish informational text from narrative text, (4) skim and scan for facts, and (5) complete a graphic...

Fourth graders describe WWI influence in Indiana. In this guided reading activity students read about the participation of Indiana citizens during World War I. Students give examples of event that changed life in Indiana during the early...

Fifth graders explore the glossary. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders define unknown words in a text by using the glossary. Students read a text and use the glossary to find unknown words.

Support young scholars with studying new vocabulary using this foldable resource. By cutting and folding the included template, learners can record definitions, examples, and a sentence for four different words.

The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...

Fifth graders practice scanning skills to answer questions on the French and Indian War.

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

Class members create literary mandalas for two characters from Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s experiences with the Holocaust. After finding quotes that reveal three good traits and three bad traits of each...

Biographies can be a fun topic for any history project. Learners choose one famous person that lived between 1865 and 1930 to research. They gather information, work on reading comprehension, and use what they find to create slide shows...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Feel the freezing rush of an Alaskan sled dog race in this reading lesson plan. Using research about the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, seventh graders compare and contrast the depiction in the movie Iron Will. The lesson plan lasts for...