Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...

Help youngsters get to know their states and capitals, explore their own country, and study American symbolism. They take a "trip" across America collecting symbols, images, and information about each state as they go (through text and...

Everyone can be an MVP! Young learners create their own baseball cards about themselves in this autobiographical lesson. They use information about their lives to create a baseball trading card. They make flash cards using baseball...

To practice pre-writing techniques your class will re-read the book George vs. George and complete a T-chart along with brainstorming ideas on how to organize their essay.

Need a sentence completion learning exercise to give your pupils practice developing their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills?  Whether used as an in-class exercise or take-home practice, the provided answer and...

America has always been seen as a melting pot to the world. Scholars research the concept of blending cultures in the United States and how it is changing over time. The final instructional activity of a four-part series analyzes the...

Creating an environment where learners feel both educated and empowered challenges any teacher when discussing a sometimes bleak topic. A respectful resource provides them with the details and permits them to make a plan of action....

Imagine living in the hold of a sailing ship for 63 days, enduring rough seas and autumn storms. As part of a study of the voyage of the Mayflower, class members examine an online resource that details life about the ship, watch a slide...

Young scholars investigate Thomas Jefferson's intentions for the Declaration of Independence. In discussion, they consider what parts of the document are most useful today and to what purposes does it address the most. Finally,...

Students identify the characteristics of living things and examine objects to see if they are living. They identify the needs of living things, in particular of animals and animal babies. They discuss how to care for pets.

First graders identify basic geographical facts about the world they live in and distinguish between land and water on a globe. They research the continents and information associated with each one focusing on building their map skills.

First graders identify the digraph /sh/ in written and spoken language. After a brief discussion the independent and combined sounds of the phonemes /s/ and /h/ students practice identifying initial and final placement of the new digraph...

Learners compare resolving contrasting values between cultures. They probe the deeper meanings of a story by a peace Corp worker and the questions it raises. They study the Maimafu villagers who accompanied the Peace Corps Volunteers...

In this African independence activity, students read a Jr. Scholastic article and respond to 21 short answer questions. The article is not included.

Students explore the life cycle of a butterfly. In this butterfly lesson, students visit Internet websites, observe a live butterfly culture, and examine pictures of the stages of the butterfly life cycle in order to independently...

In this language skills learning exercise, learners read an article on World Press Freedom Day. Students respond to 6 matching questions, 29 fill in the blank questions, 30 multiple choice questions, 12 word scramble questions, 30 short...

Students investigate the Dawes Act and understand its effects on the Paiute Indians. In this Paiute lesson, students recognize that many Native Americans lost their land and money after the Dawes Act. Students dissect a worksheet for...

Students examine four separate environmental health issues using fish-bowl technique, and discuss roles of both government and citizens in maintaining a pollution-free environment.

Fascinating content about current medical research on brain-controlled prosthetics comes in cloze activity form with a link to the original article. Useful for listening and reading comprehension skills development, and for any science...

Pupils study and become familiar with parts of a plant by using multi-media resources. They publish a story about plants using a word processing program and include new plant vocabulary that they have learned.

Students identify the routes involved in the Gold Rush on a map. In this map skills lesson, students use a United States map to locate the routes used to travel to California during the Gold Rush. Students demonstrate how to use the map...

Young scholars compose a descriptive letter to their families. In this descriptive writing lesson students write a letter as if they have left their family for a new country and will try to convince their families to join...

To be Puerto Rican, in the words of one politician, is to be "foreign in a domestic sense." Young historians consider the American role in colonialism and its impacts on Hispanic Americans through the first part of the twentieth century...

Eleventh graders read the story of Deborah Sampson, who helped bring freedom to the newly organized colonies in their fight for independence from England.