Students identify long and short term goals. In this perseverance instructional activity, students discuss the difference between short term and long term goals. Students categorize their personal goals as short or long term. Students...

Learners compare and contrast modern life art in the works of Hilaire-Germain Edgar Degas and Paul Cezanne. In this art analysis lesson, students compare and contrast the two paintings. Learners complete image based discussion. Students...

Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of persuasion and how it is used in a writing context. They create persuasive letters addressed to the president of the United States. Students brainstorm to find facts to...

Fourth graders discuss prior knowledge of the terms simile, hyperbole, metaphor, and personification. They then listen to the definitions of each and write a hyperbole, personification, simile, and metaphor to describe a Mr. Potato Head...

What's your favorite fairy tale? Seventh graders rewrite their favorite fairy tale from another character's perspective rather than the one in which it is written. This instructional activity helps readers become familiar with the...

Students practice finding matching pairs of words to review their vocabulary terms. They complete a worksheet and then cut it up into twenty four pieces to shuffle and then separate into matching pairs with a partner given to them by the...

Young scholars discover how to write a research paper without directly copying written material. They read a passage, then record on the board any words that are new for them. They define these words, then organize their facts to create...

Students define "Hispanic" and "Latino," analyze where these terms come from, and develop an awareness of racial labels.

Middle schoolers review magazine ads and take a look at some of the most common advertising techniques. From analyzing these ads, youngsters begin to become aware of how advertisers target specific age groups, gender groups, and how they...

Japanese architecture is rich in symbolism and culture. Critical thinkers engage in three activities intended to expose them to the beauty of Japan. They read through the book, Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki and watch the...

The creation of state home pages is the focus of this lesson. Learners research one of15 states for which special State Quarters have been released, and create a home page for that state. They also perform Internet research and utilize...

Review the narrative writing process with your emerging story writers. They read a sample narrative and identify five vague verbs that could be replaced with a more exact, exciting verb. Then they write a personal narrative making sure...

At the beginning of this Halloween instructional activity, learners generate a list of spooky characters and words that they will use when creating their original stories. Teams of 3-4 members create the stories together. The...

The New York Times article “Lessons in Internet Plagiarism,” launches a look at how the Internet has increased the prevalence of plagiarism. The richly detailed instructional activity includes warm-up and wrap-up activities, discussion...

If your class loves movies, this lesson is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go see a film. The...

It's time to get crafty with shapes! Your future farmers demonstrate their geometric ability by building a farm using triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares. But first, scholars take part in a brainstorm session inspired by their...

Understanding plagiarism is the goal of this instructional activity. After reading the two definitions of plagiarism listed on the sheet, class members decide whether the eight listed scenarios constitute plagiarism. Their responses are...

Est-ce que ton animal grand ou petit? Pair up your beginning French speakers for a game of Pet Guess Who! Using pet advertisements from newspapers or the Internet, pairs try to guess what kind of animal their partner has. Also, use the...

After looking at the back of a quarter featuring Oregon terrain, learners distinguish between fiction and non-fiction and identify the beginning, middle and end of a story. First, they listen to legends that describe the creation of...

The book Fortunately provides an excellent opportunity to discuss prefixes and suffixes as they appear in context. The class goes over a list of prefixes and suffixes with the teacher. They then write two sentences; the first...

Is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) good for America? The informative website is a one-stop shop for ACLU debate resources. Scholars read about the topics surrounding the issue, including free speech, national security, and...

Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...

For this cooking project worksheet, learners work in small groups to make a pizza. Clear directions are given, but some terms are more familiar to children in the U.K. There is a confusing heading on the paper with a date and time...

Fourth graders brainstorm a list of the kinds of information found in newspapers, present examples, and state how reading a newspaper is useful to them and people they know.