How can you foster a thoughtful learning community for your class? First, the class brainstorms a list of behaviors that will help make the classroom a great place to learn. Then learners group similar ideas together and come up with...

Students study state maps. In this map skills lesson, students identify the states' location and how to use a legend. Students complete photocopies of the state map.

Students examine how to use a globe. In this globe and map comparison lesson, students discuss how the globe and map are alike when looking at Africa and Antarctica. Students investigate shapes and sizes of globes versus maps.

Students use north, south, east, and west to identify relative locations and provide directions.

In order to read and respond to Toni Morrison's A Mercy in this figurative-language lesson, students discuss the differences between a literal and a figurative interpretation of a text.  They explore figures of speech using a...

Kids paraphrase an entry from The Elements of Style, and then revise a sentence. They use the Visual Thesaurus and find synonyms for the phrase very pretty, brainstorm a list of intensifiers (as alternatives to really and very),...

Students explore how to construct and interpret maps and globes and find information about people, places, regions, and environments.

Celebrate the geography of the Americas and develop map skills through a series of activities focused on the Western Hemisphere. Learners study everything from earthquakes and volcanoes of the Americas and the relationship...

Analyzing and interpreting satellite data takes knowledge and patience. Through a detailed lab investigation, young scholars learn the process of analyzing this data. They use technology to create color images and maps from real...

Show the class the world as they've never seen it before—from way above! Learners try to unravel the mysteries presented by rich satellite imagery, learn to interpret topographic maps, and study erosion by constructing their very...

Explore ocean habitats with a lesson that showcases the home of manatees and loggerhead turtles in Belize. Here, pupils compare and contrast the homes of ocean animals to those of humans, listen to an original short story about...

Functions help make the world make more sense. Individuals model real-world situations with functions. They match a variety of contexts to different function types to finish a helpful resource.

Double the fun of solving a linear equation with an activity that asks learners to first compete an assessment task graphing two linear equations to find the common solution. They then complete a card activity solving systems of...

Welcome to America ... only if you're on an approved list. The activity uses a map to explain how the Immigration Act of 1924 placed quotas on immigration from certain countries, such as India. Scholars analyze the map, complete a...

Drive or take the school bus? Class members determine the amount each student would have to pay in a carpool situation. They then evaluate  the cost in a set of provided examples. I think I'd rather take the school...

After the Holocaust, the world grappled with how to bring justice to the Nazis. But what to do with the thousands—if not millions—who allowed it to happen? Young historians consider the issues of guilt, collaboration, and responsibility...

It all starts with arithmetic. An educational resource provides four items to use in summative assessments. The items reflect the basic skill level required by the standards in the domain and are designed to have...

"Make new friends but keep the old" is a wise saying. However, True Son, a main character in The Light in the Forest, struggles doing just that. Once living among the white people, he was taken into an Indian tribe for several years....

Words matter. Words frame thought. Words are symbolic. Readers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale examine how the words In Gilead's "New Language" reinforce the power of the government and provided insight into the symbolic level...

Young environmentalists learn how to craft a persuasive essay about an environmental issue they consider important. After studying the components of a persuasive essay and examining a student model, writers brainstorm possible topics and...

Designing fun-size cans ... what fun! Class members use the provided questions to determine the dimensions of a can with a minimum surface area for a given volume. The task allows learners to use graphs or algebraic manipulation to...

To what degree do learners understand coordinates? Get them some practice in Yosemite National Park in a simple, fun interactive. Pupils explore a map and locate coordinates of popular sights within the park, then answer questions...

From play pumps that provide clean water to shoes made from trash, innovators change the world one invention at a time. After researching various inventions, young entrepreneurs develop their own. Extension opportunities include prompts...

To demonstrate their understanding of the steps Alabama took to become a state, groups create a poster that identifies what the United States Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance required of a territory to become a state.