Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...

What's it like to be a deep-sea explorer? Tap into the imaginations of your fifth and sixth graders with a vivid lesson, the second part of a six-part adventure. Learners close their eyes and submerge themselves in an expedition aboard...

Students read "The Green Truck Garden Giveaway" and explore the hobby of gardening. After observing illustrations in the book, students predict possible events in the story. They discuss gardening and write a story about a community...

Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable.  Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...

After reading and describing the characters, setting, and plot in The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, class members write original Island Adventure narrative pieces including detailed descriptions of people, places, and things. Afterward,...

Young readers practice getting information from both the text and the illustrations found in books they are reading. They see that quite often, authors use pictures to help them get their writing process started. Youngsters are invited...

Mary Lennox was a disagreeable little girl; do your scholars relate? An eBook version of The Secret Garden introduces readers to Mary Lennox and tells the story of how she grows to think beyond herself. The digital text includes the...

A butterfly? A dragon? A golden fairy? Young writers create a tale about a magic egg, its contents, and what happens next. No yoke.

Chris Van Allsburg's Two Bad Ants provides third graders with an opportunity to examine point of view and how the point of view of others may differ from their own.

How do you make a pet’s transition into your family a smooth one? Preparing for a pet and learning how to keep it safe is the focus of this research lesson. After searching the Internet for tips on animal care, pet owners and potential...

Beep beep! Zoom! Honk honk! Explore the world of transportation with a set of transportation picture word cards. Fifteen cards show trucks, planes, trains, boats, and many more types of transportation, complete with pictures and...

Chimney sweeps, street urchins, and Queen Victoria — very different characters living in the very same era. A collection of images enhances any lesson on Victorian England, making a great addition to classroom decoration, slideshows, or...

Students explore lodge construction as a representation of culture. In this cultural diversity and Native American history lesson, students listen to a narrative explaining the origin of Native American painted lodges. Students design...

“. . . the car looked as it had caught some terrible disease.” Pairs read and then illustrate a passage from either “The Year I Drove through the Car Wash” or “Riding Is an Exercise of the Mind” in preparation for a discussion of...

Imagine having the opportunity to create your own country. After responding to questions about chapter two, readers of George Orwell's dystopian classic are given a chance to design a utopia for one-million people, complete with...

Practice writing short letters with postcards. The resource includes two pages to make four postcards. The first page has space for drawing, and the second includes a place to write, address lines, and stamp spaces.

Fourth graders read "Starting a Business" and answer the question: "How could you design an ad to let the community know about the business described in the story?" Then, they illustrate a written ad that could be posted in the...

Students listen to the story A Is For America and make predictions before reading and recall details after reading. In this America lesson, students listen to this story and learn important facts about America.

Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...

Can we do it? Yes we can! Your class can become Common Core masters with a fine set of posters that state each of the kindergarten literacy standards in a friendly "we can" statement. Each of the posters contains two standards, a "we...

Fifth graders listen to a story that uses homonyms and figurative language throughout the text. They illustrate the literal and figurative meanings of some figures of speech.

Students listen to John Steptoe's story, "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" and create a story map.

Students listen as the teacher reads a story from their textbooks about a tradition in Thailand. They locate Thailand on a map and discuss that it is a tropical country. They discuss various cultural aspects included in the story and...

Third graders practice identifying characters and story elements by creating a character cluster in class.  For this story analysis lesson, 3rd graders discuss the story Snow White and identify the characteristics of the evil witch....