Gathering information about a person is the easy part. Crafting an interesting biography is another thing altogether. The value in this information-collecting worksheet is that writers are asked to move beyond the usual basic questions.

Help learners discover more about their backgrounds. This family history activity includes links to sites about heraldry and family names. Begin by sharing your family history with the class and then allow students to do some internet...

After reading an article, "From an Alternate to a 'Miracle Kid' in a Flash," youngsters discuss the kind of commitment required for a teenager to become an Olympic athlete. A variety of activities is suggested, and the popular topic...

This nine-page packet, the first in the series of support materials for the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on journeys, contains enrichment activities for learners who have mastered the basic concepts of the lessons....

We are all immigrants to this country and the study of immigration can help students connect to history in a personal way. Students will listen to audio clips from the Ellis Island web site, discuss the treatment of immigrants in the...

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, considered by many to be a seminal piece of American literature, contains many complex literary themes that carry through United States history. Use a series of discussion questions and classroom...

Third graders interview seniors to see what Boise, Idaho was like in the past. In this Idaho lesson, 3rd graders come up with interview questions and they meet with a senior "historian." They write about what they learned from this...

Students explore features of the environment. They answer questions and discuss the local and global environment. Students write environmental questions for another school.

Students identify types of worms. In this organisms lesson, students are shown slides of the different types of worms and take notes on each worm. Students answer questions about each worm.

High schoolers conduct an interview with a family member to research their family history. They prepare a list of questions, conduct the interview, and determine which house to visit for an artifact search.

In this rainforest worksheet, students interview a partner who pretends to be Tammy the Tapir. In the interview, Tammy explains that she had a narrow escape from a deadly puma.

Voices from the past. Young scholars listen to a podcast interview with a historical re-enactor as they continue their research in the eleventh instructional activity of this unit on colonial trade. Applying their close reading skills,...

After reading the book Jack of All Tails, learners complete vocabulary activities, play charades, consider a list of questions, and complete a list of verbs. There are also several suggestions for how to connect this language...

Help your kids explore gender bias. Learners design and conduct a survey examining role responsibilities within families. They determine the percentage of responsibilities for males vs. females and graph the results. Then they analyze...

Youngsters work to build empathy, cultural understanding, and a sense of self as they uncover the story behind their own names. They read the book, The Name Jar, discuss immigration and how it feels to be in a new place. Then, they...

It is so important for learners with multiple disabilities to learn how to communicate for both social and functional reasons. Each child will choose a topic from the list and generate five questions related to that topic. They'll split...

Government spending on social programs in the US is a big topic. It is also the current event kids will read about as they delve into this issue of the New York Times. They'll read the article, then answer seven comprehension questions....

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher helps bring difficult, but important, topics such as suicide and bullying into the classroom. An educator's guide for the novel provides activities and discussion questions to help teens explore the...

Students create biographies on the people they know best-- their teachers! students use various skills to collect information, organize details, publish the biographies and present the information.

In this science worksheet, students read an "interview" with a bat who has been displaced from his home in the rainforest. Using a word bank, students fill in 20 missing words from the script. Students then answer 10 questions about...

Here is a quick activity that could help your kids with their reading comprehension. They practice a classic strategy that gets them to start asking questions about what they are reading, while they are reading it. They write out...

Second graders interact with the story of Alexander's horrible day by connecting it to their lives. They practice predicting, writing paragraphs, reading aloud, discussing his problems, making a card to cheer him up, and designing a pair...

Kids almost always want to share the things that make them special. They create and deliver an autobiographical multimedia presentation using step-by-step outlines to plan their content. This is a great "All About Me" lesson, perfect for...

Students read and analyze books about elders and develop a set of interview questions. They define respect and ways to show respect to elders and conduct an interview with elders. Finally, students write an oral history of a senior...