Just as no man is an island, no country is totally independent of other countries. To understand the impact of individual consumer decisions on the global natural environment, class groups consider how the stuff they...

Line up the temperature conversions. Pupils create the linear function between Celsius and Fahrenheit on a graph by plotting the freezing and boiling points of water. The scholars determine how the relationship changes based upon...

Blast off! An engaging hands-on activity has pupils create rockets powered by Alka-Seltzer. They learn about the physics behind these rockets throughout the process.

Make connections between Esperanza Rising and human rights with the activities outlined here. The instructional activity starts out with a brief quiz and review of the novel. After that, pupils circulate and share quote strips that you...

Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....

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...

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...

A storm is brewing in the sea. Scholars complete multiple reads of How Does a Hurricane Form to determine gist, cause-and-effect relationships, and deepen vocabulary understanding.  To finish, they complete graphic organizers...

It's all about perspective. Scholars view a note from the author in Eight Days. They determine the gist and discuss what they can learn about the author's background based on the note. They then complete a fishbowl activity in...

Young scholars are focused on the big question: What makes a population grow and how could that growth stop? They use these concepts to help answer the big question: carry capacity, density dependent v. density, independent factors,...

Experiment with mass and density as scholars figure out what makes things float or sink. First, they watch a podcast introducing these concepts. Be sure to use the comprehension question to test their understanding. Young scientists...

The first step in managing your money is making money! Learn about ways to find and interview for a job with a thorough lesson plan on personal finances. Kids learn about the ways to earn a paycheck and then manage the funds they receive.

It's tempting to stay away from credit cards entirely, and it can also be tempting to charge large purchases on credit cards with the intention to pay them off later. But as a three-part lesson on credit and debt shows your high...

The seventh segment in an eight-part unit promotes the idea of concentrating the sun to increase the power of a photovoltaic panel. Pupils learn about devices used such as reflectors or lenses.

Intrigue the class by completing a lesson on meiosis, filled with challenging and insightful activities to spark the interest of every person in the room. Each member of the class learns about genetic disorders due to faulty meiosis, and...

Teach your class the symbols of various holidays. Use the 36 colored cards to help individuals recognize the symbols and signs associated with Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Valentine's Day.

How does sound travel through different mediums? Scholars explore this question by creating and observing sound waves as they learn the difference between transverse and longitudinal wave motion. Using their new knowledge, class members...

The news often refers to a team of experts handling situations and outbreaks of illnesses. Young scientists learn about such a team as they train to prevent infectious disease outbreaks  Scholars meet three experts, learn about...

Do human rights apply to children? Scholars learn of three children asking for help to determine their rights and how to handle specific situations. Class members must research any laws pertaining to the requested right and how the...

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...

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...

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...