Third graders practice identifying the main idea and supporting details when reading informational text. They read text related to waterfalls and practice note taking skills to identify critical details. Students use their notes to...

Students use vocabulary related to Kwanzaa. They identify main ideas and details related to the celebration of Kwanzaa and summarize information about Kwanzaa. They make picture books appropriate for first and second graders.

Students, while using the strategy of identifying the main idea and supporting details, explore the three nonfiction selections of the lost worlds of Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains, Great Zimbabwe, and Anasazi. In addition,...

Fifth graders read the novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." They discuss the various characters in the book, and the different types of conflict that take place within the book. They also research owls and rats to make comparisons...

Art classes, like any lab class, require extensive preplanning and set-up time. Use this planning template in the quiet before the storm to identify the equipment and materials that will be needed, the procedures and processes...

Students sort out important information and create a visual framework for reviewing in the future. They organize a large quantity of information thus helping with learning and remembering details, cause and effect, comparison and...

Seventh graders examine the setting in pieces of fiction.  In this story analysis lesson, 7th graders investigate the setting in fictional stories and the importance it has.  Students discover new vocabulary terms applying to...

Twelfth graders examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. For this transcendentalism lesson, 12th graders determine what this type of writing entails before reading a passage from, Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine. They cite three...

Seventh graders investigate the impact of the Populist Party. In this Kansas history lesson, 7th graders examine historical documents that enable them to find out what the Populist Party stood for and how Governor Lewelling dealt with...

Students answer the question,"To go West or not to go West?". In this nonfiction instructional activity students read a piece of nonfiction about going West during the 18th century. Students use a graphic organizer to compare and...

Fifth graders give presentations on colonial research. The others take notes on the presentations. They play a card game which helps them review content. They take a summative assessment and present their research notebooks.

In this Sedona learning exercise, students complete multiple choice questions about the area of Sedona, Arizona. Students complete 9 questions total.

“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Readers not only identify aphorisms in Emerson's "Self Reliance," but also find evidence of transcendental elements contained in the essay. They also demonstrate consistency...

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

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy is read aloud to young readers, and the story is discussed. Then, the lesson goes into how to build up one's reading stamina. The class brainstorms ways that they can build up their stamina such as: staying...

Improve class understanding of colonial times by reading an informational text and filling out the accompanying graphic organizer. Class members work with a partner to read, take notes, make inferences, and synthesize information.The...

Set up your writers for writing strong introductions with a formula for putting together supported thesis statements. This reference page breaks the process down and provides an example of how to compose a thesis statement, develop a...

Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.

Your class continues to explore the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In addition to learning about the background of this text, learners work on the skill of identifying and understanding key academic vocabulary....

Just because a story is on the news doesn't mean it's being presented fairly. Analyze news broadcasts with a lesson focused on evaluating television journalism. At home, kids watch a news show and note the stories presented, including...

Continue working through Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, by looking into language choices and discussing text-dependent questions. Pupils converse in small groups and as a class about plot, setting, and figurative language. Using...

Next time you assign your young historians to write a persuasive essay, use this document as a starting point and support them with a rubric, tips for writing a successful persuasive piece, and a general essay outline.

Is a college education necessary for success in today's world? The class investigates the question, along with others at the end of the sixth workshop in a 15-part series. The lesson has four parts with multiple activities and...

Read and repeat. Scholars repeat the strategies for digging deeper into text from lesson two. This time they focus on Middle Ages Excerpt 2. Learners write unfamiliar words in the word catcher and use details from the text to add to the...