"You are pigs." With those three simple words, the lives of the Piggott family were changed forever. Read aloud the children's story Piggybook by Anthony Browne and teach your class the importance of personal responsibility,...

Build on high schoolers' awareness of what's wrong with society. Here they examine Jimmy Carter's extensive involvement in volunteer action in the local, national, and global arenas. Define and explore concepts -- philanthropy, citizen,...

Print out this handy reference page double sided and distribute it to your class. Individuals can use the page to aid them as they work on their topic sentences, transitions, conclusions, and paragraph structure. There is plenty of...

Developing a topic sentence can be a real challenge for young writers. Make the process a whole lot easier with a poster that can be displayed in the classroom. The visual first describes the two parts of the topic sentence, the occasion...

Designed for teachers who plan on using Markus Zusak's  The Book Thief, this packet includes background information about the author, themes addressed in and issues raised by the novel, a list of research and project ideas, and...

How skilled are your class members at summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting from a text? Find out with this assessment that asks readers to identify the thesis statement, the summary, the paraphrases, and the quoted material in an...

What media literacy skills do people need to evaluate a news source? Scholars listen to and discuss an NPR story about how fake headlines often dupe young people and adults alike. Next, they study news stories, using a fact-checking...

Accept or except? Advice or advise? Eminent or imminent? Which is which witch? In order to select the correct word to complete 20 sentences, learners get out their dictionaries and check the meaning and usage of the commonly confused pairs.

Primary readers predict and check for understanding by using comprehension strategies. Prepare readers the first day by frontloading vocabulary and using pictures to visualize the words. On the second day, read the story The Old Woman...

After reading on the topic of their paper, high schoolers work in pairs to assess how to write powerful, precise thesis statements. The introduction contains three statements: a universal statement, a bridge statement, and a thesis...

Stressed? Stressed students? Check out a lesson that includes a checklist of causes of stress, suggestions for ways to deal with stress, and a role-play activity. Definitely worth a look.

Examine the characteristics of an effective persuasive paper. In a group, eighth graders discuss the analogy of a debate being like a persuasive paper. After brainstorming topics, they write an argument and then debate it. Secretly, the...

Investigate the life of Mahatma Gandhi by researching non-violent lifestyles. Learners define the word ahimsa and discuss the personal characteristics that made Gandhi a peaceful warrior. They also create a poster about the story "The...

Middle schoolers will paraphrase a resource without plagiarizing. Then rewrite after reading text. They then evaluate the site or reference they are using for accuracy. In the end, they complete a note-taking organizer.

Kindergarteners are presented with three types of materials: real straw, sticks, and a real brick and make prior knowledge connections as it relates to the story of The Three Little Pigs. They listen to the story and work together to...

Practice basic map skills with the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. After listening to the story, class members create a map that indicates the starting line, the path the animals took, where they stopped to rest, and the finish line....

Provide your essay writers with a sample essay outline. Richly detailed, this two-page handout not only describes the necessary parts of an outline, but also explains the purpose of each section. A model outline is also included.

Need a creative idea for an elementary book report? Use a cereal box project to engage your readers beyond plot, setting, and characters. The lesson includes templates for the project and examples from Charlie and the Chocolate...

The beauty in this resource is the lengthy list of highly charged, controversial-issue research topics. Categories include issues of race, politics, law, environment, education, athletics, gender, and technology. After selecting a topic,...

What do you think sheep might be able to barter when they don't have quite enough to buy a gift? Your pupils can find out this and much more during this instructional activity about Sheep in a Shop, spending, saving, and bartering.

Challenge learners who have mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on animal adventures with the activities and exercises suggested in this packet packed with ideas.

Scratching your head when it comes to engaging writing prompts? Check out a list of prompts designed for middle school classes, which includes topics for persuasive writing, expository writing, how-to essays, personal narratives, and...

Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" provides high schoolers an opportunity to engage more complex text. After a close reading of the essay and an analysis of Carnegie's argument that the rich are superior because they earn money,...

Students write a story. In this writing lesson plan, students are given a series of prompts to promote them in writing a story. The prompts include writing a free write, writing about characters, writing about a setting, writing about...