Stars exist from a few million years to over 10 billion years, depending on their mass. Scholars perform a play acting as stars to learn about their different life cycles. They develop an understanding of many of the fundamental concepts...

Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth instructional activity in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing...

Help your learners work with difficult or archaic words. A continuation of lesson two of this module, the plan here focuses on deciphering the Inventory of John Allen, in particular the unfamiliar words that make up much of the list. Add...

Begin the drafting phase of the writing process with a lesson plan focused on logically writing three body paragraphs. Then, revise the writing to make it more formal after a teacher-directed mini-lesson plan. Each paragraph highlights...

Math class is full of drama—there are so many problems to work out! Pupils work out factoring problems. They use quadratic methods of factoring higher degree polynomials, in addition to factoring the sum and difference of two...

The Sugar Changed the World chapter, "The Sound of Liberty," highlights how the differing attitudes toward the slave trade shifted the issue from an economic concern to a concern for human rights. The passage contrasts Thomas Jefferson's...

Your new Day One lesson has arrived! Impress young scholars with your scientific super powers through an engaging lesson geared toward scientific thinking. Through a display of theatrics, you will debunk the scientific method as...

One step at a time. Scholars complete the end of unit assessment by reading pages 70–75 of World without Fish and analyzing each paragraph one at a time. They highlight key words leading to author's point of view and complete a...

That's an interesting perspective. Scholars read chapter five of World without Fish and use an Author’s Point of View graphic organizer to determine the author's perspective. In triads, they highlight words that support the author's...

Choose your words carefully. Scholars continue looking at the creation of a newspaper article by examining word choice. They highlight key verbs, vocabulary, and descriptive words in the model article Sandy wreaks havoc...

Half and half. Split the class in half to gain a full understanding of sidebars. Pupils work in groups to discuss sidebars in text. Half of the groups read Seriously Sick, and the other half reads Killer Genes. They read using...

In conclusion ... this essay is the best! Scholars continue working on their painted essays by creating the conclusion. They work in groups to analyze the concluding paragraph in the model painted essay, The Electric Motor. After...

Using different types of water, earth science explorers set out to prove the ocean's ability to absorb greenhouse gases. They heat, shake, and freeze the water samples to examine the gas content. This lesson is useful in a unit on...

After discussing decimals and "going shopping" in the classroom, young mathematicians are given four practical word problems that require them to estimate their answers, given specific information. The highlight of the lesson is having...

What kind of troubles affect turtles? Learners create paper plate wheels to show four different hazards to sea turtles. Pupils color four segments of a picture to represent the overharvesting, changing beaches, pollution, and fishing...

Teens and pre-teens are a prime target for advertisers, so how are they doing it? An interactive lesson highlights the strategies used by advertisers, such as visual imagery and verbal clues. Then, a short writing assignment puts those...

Add to the narrative writing experience. Elementary or middle school writers listen to the teacher read a descriptive passage, then reread the same passage silently. They highlight sensory details and figurative language, then orally...

Learning the rules can make any task clear and achievable. Second graders have the task of segmenting two-syllable words. Lucky for them, they have a rule to guide them as they go along! They underline all the vowels in each word and...

Feeling bored and unimpressed with word choice in your class? If so, consider this activity, which focuses on using specific and precise language. Pupils use highlighters, brainstorm independently and in small groups, and create a poster...

Students read current event article with the purpose of highlighting possible questions and answers for the Jeopardy game. Each student picks a question and answer to use in the game.

Pupils are introduced to the experiences of various groups of Americans at home during WWII, highlighting race, gender, and ethnicity. They improve their ability to analyze and interpret historical documents and images.

How can you put a passage in your own words without changing the meaning of the original text? That is the question facing many young researchers. The advice modeled in this presentation is that writers read the passage carefully,...

Is Maryland in or out? Using primary source documents that examine the state's geopolitical location, learners discuss whether the Old Line State is Northern or Southern to its core. The resource includes numerous documents and...