Using a constructivist approach and a graphic organizer, small groups work together to begin a paper, comparing and contrasting the novella Night and the movie Life is Beautiful. Assuming that your learners have studied both of these...

Build understanding of theme with an activity designed for The Cay and the Common Core. Small groups or pairs use graphic organizers to determine themes, find and record related details from the text, and formulate theme statements. In...

Solidify understanding of the properties of crystals by crushing them to compare hardness. After some class discussion, a procedure is planned, and then small groups go about making observations as they crush five different crystal...

The next time you read a magazine or watch the news, make note of how many graphs you see because they are everywhere! Here, scholars collect, enter, and graph data using computers. The graphs are then analyzed to aid in discussion of...

Learners take a gallery walk around the classroom to view various images and quotes. As they walk, they write down what they notice and wonder about what they see. After discussing their notice and wonder notes, they read the...

Scholars build background knowledge about mining on Inuit lands. Working in small groups, they sort information about the Inuit onto a point of view chart to determine if mining is beneficial to Inuit communities. 

Youths aged 13 & 14 are most likely to notice and remember in-store tobacco promotions. Class members dissect tobacco advertising tactics and learn about relevant legislation by participating in guided discussion. Assessing...

Quotation marks are the focus of this resource. In it, youngsters discover how to correctly use punctuation marks. It is meant to be carried out over a three-day period. You could shorten it, but I wouldn't. The activities are...

Before your high schoolers reached your morning class to learn about persuasive writing, they probably saw dozens of examples of persuasive communication in the form of advertisements. A short, introductory lesson inspires class members...

Ninth graders practice how to format and enter data into an Excel spreadsheet, make a graph, and interpret graphed data. They recognize how the pollution in the Hudson River has changed over time, and explain the consequences of these...

Students participate in an interdisciplinary lesson to discuss improvements that would make them want to return to a previously poor neighborhood.  In this civics lesson, students work in a budget to make a plan to better their...

Fourth and fifth graders define the term media literacy, then come up with examples that they share with the class. The types of media studied are auditory, visual, and written. Learners get together in pairs and perform a media...

What a creative and engaging project to incorporate into your studies of the 1920s! Your young historians will work in groups to design a magazine discussing the political and cultural topics of the decade, each member writing one...

Analyze the constitutions of five different countries and see how they relate to each country's culture and traditions. Pupils read the preambles to the constitutions of India, Ireland, Russia, Suriname, and the United States. After...

When is it okay to go against authority and what can happen if you do? This is the leading question in this activity to accompany your classroom reading of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. After reading...

Discover how the periodic table tells the story of its elements. Learners begin by studying the makeup of several mixtures. Their analysis leads to a discussion of elements and the periodic table. As they dig deeper, they understand the...

Second graders identify the three phases of matter and demonstrate how a property can change states of matter. In this states of matter lesson plan, 2nd graders make an Ooze to discover how a solid changes into a liquid....

Placing a thermometer and a glass tube into a flask of cold water and sealing it, you can expose it to heat and very visually demonstrate thermal expansion to your earth science class. Follow it with a discussion about how the increasing...

Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...

Friendship, family, and violence are the subjects of an anticipation guide designed to accompany Rodman Philbrick's young adult novel, Freak the Mighty. Individuals complete the included guide, discuss their responses in groups, and then...

What information can be gleaned from a box and whiskers plot? Discuss the five summary values - minimum, maximum, upper and lower quartiles, and median - and what conclusions can be made from these values? Included here is a matching...

How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...

Give our ocean voyagers the "Hydrothermal Vent Challenge!" It is a worksheet that guides them through an exploration of hydrothermal vents and the chemical reactions that occur when lava meets seawater. Using a collection of websites,...

Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...