Is falling in love easy or hard? Challenge your class to consider seven statements about love and relationships before reading Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Then, as you work your way through the play, revisit the sheet to record...

Students compare and contrast various versions of the fairytale Cinderella. In this folktale lesson, students read The Korean Cinderella and The Egyptian Cinderella and analyze the differences between the two stories. Students identify...

Learners explore language arts by correcting grammatical errors. In this proofreading lesson, students identify the importance of editing their own writing and demonstrate their proofreading abilities by correcting several incorrect...

Students explore nonfiction texts. In this language arts lesson, students read a nonfiction text and make predictions. Students identify facts and opinions in the text and draw conclusions as they read.

Students make predictions. In this language arts lesson, students read nonfiction texts and make predictions about what they are going to read. Students confirm and revise their predictions as they read the text.

Words can hurt. Words may not break bones but they can break a heart. An activity focused on the meaning of and the history of some often heard words and phrases is designed to raise awareness of the importance of choosing words...

How is Louisiana connected to the Holocaust? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders complete a research report about a survivor of the Holocaust who currently resides in Louisiana. Though the idea is a good way to...

Learners write and illustrate their own graphic novels. In this George Washington lesson, students collaborate to research Washington's life as surveyor, his involvement in the French and Indian War as well as the American Revolution,...

Young designers examine famous monarch portraits and costume books, create a design for the emperor, examine fabric samples and choose a type and color for their costume. They sketch the costume and present it in a class fashion show.

Students develop their expository writing skills while integrating various other subjects. In this writing skills lesson, students complete 4 multiple activity lessons to improve their expository writing skills.

Students organize the vocabulary roots and Latin phrases from the Core Knowledge Sequence. In this word study lesson, students complete a 57 page packet of activities to increase the vocabulary base of Latin phrases.

Students improve their reading and writing skills using Step Up to Writing and Six Traits of Writing techniques. Students complete a Robinson Crusoe vocabulary crossword, a Treasure Island character analysis web, reading comprehension...

Students analyze the writing process through the ten lessons of this unit. The expository lessons address topic and detail sentences, paragraph organization and development, note taking, reports and letter writing.

Young scholars discover how sound is produced by objects and picked up and heard by humans. Using musical instruments, they identify how the quality can affect the loudness, pitch and tone of the sound. They develop their own instrument...

Fifth graders read "My Side of the Mountain." They create a pantomime using vocabulary words from the story. Students create three questions about the reading. They discuss the passage they read and act out words to help them better...

Discuss movies and movie enjoyment with your middle school language arts class. They interpret movie review information, determine appropriate movies, and then write film reviews to share with the class. Focus on using context clues to...

Exploring the baroque era can be exciting and fun when it's done thorugh the arts. Middle schoolers examine the music and art history of the baroque era through research. They use their findings and class notes to create an expository...

Use Aaron Copland's symphonic piece, "Lincoln Portrait" to engage learners in a cross-curricular experience. They'll listen to the piece, watch a video, read the Gettysburg Address, and write a series of fact or opinion sentences. An...

After brainstorming, middle schoolers write an expository essay for a writing project. They focus on supporting points, organization, and writing conventions to develop a well-integrated paper. In addition, they revise, proofread and...

Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...

Designed to be spread across multiple days, this mini-unit gives learners an opportunity to develop family related vocabulary. Start by reading selected pages from "Family Pictures-Cuadros de familia" by Carmen Lomas Garza, and then...

Students engage in producing responses to "what" questions and their written responses will be recorded in a Travel Journal. They produce their respones using a word processor. This lesson is very detailed and a rubic is included.

Heroic Trading Cards? Using a suggested list, class members use the Internet to find information about a memorable leader, select and transfer images, and craft a trading card celebrating their leader’s qualities and accomplishments. A...