To underscore the importance of practicing good listening skills class members engage in a series of activities that model poor listening skills. In pairs and then as a whole group, class members enact different, more positive techniques...

Learners practice mirroring human moves by performing a dance in class.  In this physical education lesson, students utilize different spaces around them to perform a dance expressing their full motion.  Learners cooperate in...

Students explore elements by analyzing everyday objects and materials in class. In this carbon lesson, students define several vocabulary terms such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbon, and carbonate. Students view a group of items,...

Groups of older elementary learners begin their study of figurative language by visiting a website and completing the exercises detailed there. They then apply what they have learned by finding examples in several poems. Finally, they...

What are characteristics of a planet? With this plan, learners investigate the characteristics of the planets in our solar system. They gather research of the nine planets by using the Internet and other research tools. Then they create...

Take your class through a moment in modern history in this presentation, which details the rise of Saddam Hussein and the dynamics between Iraq and its neighbors during the Persian Gulf War and the current Iraq war. Though slightly...

Interested in a special folktale to read with your class? Then this lesson might be for you. Readers will build an understanding of the food chain while creating a storyboard that includes the characters, setting, and plot of the story....

Using Google SketchUp, learners draw a model of their bedroom. They begin by measuring the dimensions of their bedroom, inputting this information into the software program, and calculating perimeter and area. This is an interesting and...

Film is a wonderful way to communicate any concept or idea. Fifth graders will use IMovie and GarageBand software to create a IMovie about one of eight European explorers. They will chose an explorer, research his travels and life, then...

Practice the use of present and past tense verbs in sentences. Learners identify the correct verb for use in each of the provided examples. They have to decide which word, such as read or reads, would correctly finish the sentence. It is...

After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...

Kids answer 11 who, what, when, where, and why questions after reading a New York Times article about the Grammy Awards. Boosting reading comprehension by reading about a topical event keeps pupils informed and interested. A related blog...

So exciting, art from the ancient mediterranean! Get ready to divulge interesting facts about the art and culture of the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Aegeans, and Cycladians. Each slide provides a map, images of art, and the cultural...

Although designed as an assessment, consider using this resource as the basis for a lesson on reading comprehension strategies or as a practice exercise. The five multiple choice questions, based on a short passage about stock market...

Part of a series of exercises, this sentence completion worksheet could be used as an assessment, as extra practice, as the basis of small group discussion, or as homework. The extensive answer key explains how to approach problems of...

An interesting instructional activity on hypothesizing about the diameter of a drop of blood that is splattered. To test their theories, learners work in groups to make blood droplets splatter from different heights. They use graphed...

Readers must go beyond the surface level of Guy de Maupassant's story, "The False Gems," to answer the questions on this worksheet. They must draw inferences, evaluate character's actions, and analyze how irony and symbolism give depth...

Prepare your readers for Briar Rose with an Anticipation Guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect issues raised by Jane Yolen’s narrative about a young girl’s research into her grandmother’s...

Using three different graphic organizers, learners create a road map describing how they'll meet their future career goals. They research the career they are interested in, then use their findings to construct a time line, road map, and...

How did the Great Depression affect children? Sometimes studying the Great Depression means only studying about how it affected adults, however, relating the experiences of children and peers their age to themselves may make the...

What role did yellow journalism play in bringing the United States into war with Spain? As part of their study of the Spanish-American War, class groups examine newspapers of the times and other texts and then produce their own...

Learners must investigate the validity of a claim made in a running magazine. They must identify and look up unprovided information, make appropriate estimations, and be able to convert units. Might be best used as a group or whole-class...

Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...

Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a thing with feathers” is the focus of a series of activities that model for learners how close reading can lead to understanding. The whole class plays with the metaphor, groups talk about the author’s...