Visible Thinking Routines are designed to help learners deepen their understanding of what they are learning and enable them to communicate their understanding of concepts to others. Individuals adopt one of these routines to use to...

"First Appearance," Mark Twain's tale about overcoming stage fright, serves as a model of a personal narrative and gets young writers thinking about milestones in their own lives. After examining student models and considering the...

While the Spanish claimed to bring civilization to California indigenous peoples, in reality, they also brought violence and forced assimilation to European values. Primary sources, such as the reports of Catholic priests and Europeans...

Introduce magic and imagination into your classroom with a poetry activity. Learners read the poem "Tiny" by Mandy Coe and use their magic tickets to visit any place they can think of! The final result is a poem describing where they...

Ease into informational text with the lesson suggested here. Part of a unit series, the lesson draws from previous lessons and acts as a natural moment to add in informational text. Class members read one section of My Librarian is a...

Everyone has a different point of view, even when it comes to the enormity of the universe. Two separate text passages explain the scope of a galaxy, prompting young readers to write an essay about each author's argument and how the...

But this is math—we don't need to know how to write! The article makes a point that class members in AP® Statistics should be comfortable writing as the exams require it. Individuals quickly realize that quality writing is crucial...

How did the discovery of the Americas change the world? A US history textbook covers topics such as the Americas, changes in European society, and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Young academics also complete the assessment included in...

Third graders pair up with a partner via an online classroom. They analyze half of the story "Enemy Pie" and communicate with their online peer to predict the outcome of the story.

Though only one slide long, this presentation has some great information that could be expanded into a larger slideshow. Covering the "Virtuous Republic" and the ideals therein, the slide includes key terms and concepts that your...

Students research details about ancient trade routes such as the silk, amber, tin, and incense routes. They make a map showing the trade routes and add details to maps, such as keys and samples of products traded. They compare ancient...

Pupils review the main points of note-taking to summarize the content of a formal or informal spoken presentation. They hear a guest speaker talk about a pre-arranged topic and take notes during the presentation. Next, they write a...

High schoolers visualize examples of sentence structure by creating patterns with Lego blocks. They apply terms of voice and syntax by critiquing others' writings as well as revising their own writing pieces. Revision is the key within...

Combine your friendly letter lesson, grammar lesson, and technology lesson with this fun activity! Young writers compose letters to friends, and then convert the text to Webdings font. Their friends then decode the letter based on a key....

Explore the concept of scientific classification and the similarities and differences between plant and animal species. Your class will participate in hands-on activities by investigating dichotomous keys and classifying their shoes. To...

Students gain a detailed comprehension of the layers of Earth's atmosphere. They represent their knowledge visually in a standing exhibit. Students compose a key to explain their visual display. They research the effect of global warming...

Observations are a key step in the scientific method. In a fun activity, kids learn more about a mammal that they know, such as their own cat, a class hamster, or a friend's dog, through making detailed observations. In addition, they...

Twenty sentences contain an underlined phrase or pronoun that needs correction. This is fine-detail work and is most appropriate to advanced level grammarians who would benefit from, or be stimulated by, what others might consider...

Help your kindergarteners discover new number-sense concepts and to compose and decompose numbers. Though the resource contains no procedural details, the assessment tool (which you can find in the "printer friendly version") has...

March your students off to war with this presentation, which provides details to the American Revolution such as important figures (Jefferson, Franklin, Henry), facts about the Declaration of Independence, and definitions of key terms. A...

A quick overview of the last five years of the 18th century in France, this presentation provides students with key concepts and details about the major changes taking place amidst the Revolution. Though brief at nine slides, a teacher...

A good outline to a larger project, these slides pose questions about Abraham Lincoln's views, motives, and politics surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation. The discussion questions and key points are helpful in the context of a...

After a concise explanation of verb inconsistency, learners study detailed examples and then rewrite a series of sentences to eliminate tense inconsistencies. An answer key is provided. The worksheet could be used as part of a mini...

Crafty sentence builders go beyond the plan old subject and verb construction and add details that make their sentences more exciting. This worksheet models how to add directional prepositions like beyond and toward to enliven writing. A...