What do Bolsheviks, Leon Trotsky, Anastasia, Lenin, and Joseph Stalin have in common? The Russian Civil War, of course! Each of these individuals is defined by the part they played in what was to become a major shift in world politics....

What to wear? Help your special needs class make independent choices about what they should wear during various weather conditions. They'll discuss weather-appropriate clothing, dress dolls for the weather outside, and even put on a...

By using language like "half of the stamps," children are exposed to patterns in arithmetic that requires solving a two-step word problem. This type of language opens a new door for transitioning learners toward understanding fractions...

As part of a group of lessons, your class will return to the primary text for this unit, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Key vocabulary as well as close reading strategies continue to be the focus skills; however, this...

Lesson 6 of this extensive unit finally has your class begin to work their way through specific articles from the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Before examining the rights actually detailed in the...

A continuation of the previous lesson, which is part of a larger group of lessons on human rights (see additional materials). Here, in Lesson 7, your class will explore more articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After...

Although this is part of a series, lesson plan nine has your class take a break from their close study of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) text to read the firsthand account “Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and...

The last instructional activity in this unit about human rights consists of a final assessment. To demonstrate the skills your class has acquired throughout this unit, they will work with a new article entitled "From Kosovo to the United...

Give this skills-based assessment halfway through your unit on Esperanza Rising. After a brief review, class members take the test, which asks them to show that they know how to analyze the novel independently. They are asked to...

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...

As the final lesson plan in a larger beginning-of-the-year unit to establish routines and teach close reading skills, this plan is designed as an assessment piece. Using the story, The Librarian of Basra, learners independently...

Turn your junior high talkers into effective arguers. Introduce these budding lawyers to skills that show how to support a claim, decide what clear reason is, and how to use evidence to support an argument. Time is scheduled for class...

Use this well-developed class period to introduce your junior high learners as to how to provide effective feedback concerning their classmates' writing. The plan includes a warm-up, review, introduction, guided and independent practice,...

Common Core mathematical practices require that young mathematicians not only know how to add fractions with unlike denominators, but also to recognize when adding fractions are appropriate for the word problem. Fifth graders are given...

Support young mathematicians' interpretation of place value in order to multiply single-digit numbers by 10. The task builds upon and enhances a learners' understanding of place value, a second grade skill, while introducing...

A great toolbox of ideas for any teacher preparing to teach the novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, this resource includes a short biography of Natalie Babbitt, several discussion questions that could double as writing prompts,...

Japan's Taisho Period was a time when authors like Akutagawa and other Japanese modernists began to experiment with point of view and literary form, making the literature produced during this time period a natural choice for teaching...

Venn diagrams are helpful in understanding the idea of a set and using attributes to sort items. This basic plan is an introduction with an added bonus of an applet that can be used to demonstrate the activity. If a classroom of...

Encourage your young writers to thoughtfully plan and organize their work. First, model how this is done and vocalize your thought process as you work. Next, create a class list of strategies that they can use during independent writing...

Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...

Going out to lunch, reading a menu, making choices, and spending time socializing are all parts of growing up. Teens with visual impairments use several braille menus from local restaurants to practice ordering and appropriatelyeating...

Using everything they have learned about writing paragraphs over the past few lessons of the unit, class members compose an informative paragraph independently. This is an authentic assessment of their ability, since learners have...

Construct from a canvas of words, lyrical expressions that your budding poets can share and post.  Based on refrigerator magnet poetry, creative writers can develop their poetry independently, or from a given prompt from their...

This is a good Common Core question that relates inflation to operations with decimals and rounding. Young learners are asked to find out if an amount of money can purchase the same amount of movie tickets in 2012 as it did in 1987. They...