What is considered news vs. propaganda? Learners will discuss objectivity and press responsibility while exploring these two concepts. They work in small groups to explore the article in-depth, guided by reading comprehension and...

“Who’s This Guy Dylan Who’s Borrowing Lines From Henry Timrod?” The basic question in this lesson from the New York Time’s Learning Network is whether artists and authors who use the words of others are stealing from that artist or...

Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...

Experience how a story can drastically change when the point of view is altered. Young scholars first read a review of Disney's film Tarzan, focusing on how the point of view in the classic story is important. They then select...

How would it make you feel if...youngsters learn a valuable life skill in considering how their actions affect other people. They evaluate different scenarios and draw pictures of things they could do to make someone feel better.

The class explores and debates, from multiple perspectives, a petition to allow Hopi Indians to take golden eagle hatchlings from a federal wildlife sanctuary for use in a religious ceremony. Pupils defend their personal views on the...

Imagine dumping out a milk can and finding letters from one of the darkest moments in history! Scholars use Holocaust Reading Passages and research to discover how people recorded and hid history during the events of World War II. They...

A visual literary lesson provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy with a...

Welcome to America, the land of liberty and freedom. Examine the ways in which the terms liberty and freedom have been used in the United States. After researching and analyzing quotations from the past and present, students create an...

Investigate the ins and outs of cell division with this comprehensive set of activities. Detailed instructions for six different activities and your choice of eight different creative assessments can be found within this resource. By...

Make your scholars more aware of stereotypical portrayals in film and television. Discuss the definition of "stereotypes" and how they are used to present a story. High schoolers look at specific television shows and complete a chart...

Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...

Students explore conflict. In this contemporary history lesson, students participate in 4 weekly activities that require them to research current conflicts and create time-travel cartoons that illustrate how the conflcits could...

High schoolers read primary source documents and identify several kinds of service projects conducted by Peace Corps Volunteers; young scholars identify criteria used by the Peace Corps for conducting service projects for the common good.

Students create a monthly budget. In this finances lesson plan, students learn the terms budget, income and expenses. Students create a monthly spending plan and keep track of what they make and spend for the next 30 days. When...

Young scholars discover service learning and how it can help them build character.  In this community lesson plan, students brainstorm ways they can assist their classmates with problems, and write about it in their journal....

Learners research the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and complete experiments to study the effects of oil spills. In this oil spill lesson, students read the NY Times feature on the gulf oil spill. Learners visit various links to research the...

Students read a book and have a class discussion about the air around them. In this air lesson plan, students learn about properties of air, and discuss other gases they have observed.

Students learn the importance of communication especially when it comes to animals. Students are shown video clips of a dog displaying unwanted behavior. Students participate in a class brainstorm where they list ideas of how people...

Students become experts on various topics, researching their topics and creating presentations to teach to the rest of the class. They are grouped into expert groups, or discovery groups, then compare/contrast the information presented.

Sixth graders are introduced to artifacts and explore an online archaeological site to  connect clues about how people once lived. In this deductive reasoning lesson, 6th graders participate in the stratigraphy game on Kids Dig...

Second graders play a board about predator-prey relationships. They play with raptor and prey puppets and create stories about their relationships. They share their stories with the class.

Fifth graders analyze a landscape depicting Yosemite during the time of the Wild West. They compare their perceptions of the West from film and television to this representation. They observe the use of scale and color to depict size and...

Students study and write about the fire station and fire safety. They take photographs to create a page for a class book after visiting a fire station.