Fifth graders write a paragraph about what makes their school so special. They create collage seahorses and display their work on a bulletin board decorated in the style of illustrator Eric Carle.

Young scholars use the Golden Door as a theme to search for historical and aesthetic content. They create a paper collage containing relevant images, text and expressions.

Pupils create their own museum exhibit. In this museum creation lesson plan, students research their local history so they can decide on a theme for their exhibit and what objects they will use in order to design a museum exhibit. A...

Japan's Taisho Period was a time when authors like Akutagawa and other Japanese modernists began to experiment with point of view and literary form, making the literature produced during this time period a natural choice for teaching...

Students complete activities with the book Green Eggs and Ham. In this rhyming lesson, students read the book and focus on the rhyming words. They try teacher made green eggs and ham and write a rhyme describing where they would or would...

Sixth graders compare their lives to trees and make connections between the two, consider how trees are metaphors for people, and draw and label trees to represent themselves. Students then read brief stories, fables or nursery rhymes,...

Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...

After listening to a story about Martin Luther King Jr., first graders answer questions about the text. They discuss the importance of the illustrations, identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and complete a writing...

How do modern adaptations of Shakespearean plays relate to their original source material? Middle and high schoolers focus on Shakespeare's play Othello and its screen adaptation "O" to explore how modern film adaptations of Shakespeare...

Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain...

Inntroduce primary learners to essential critical reading strategies with an activity based on James Reeves' poem, "The Wind."  Learners listen as the poem is read, first as a riddle, and then re-read with the title visible. The...

Focus on complex characters with a lesson from a series that teaches individual skills from the Common Core. Specifically, this resource provides practice with standard RL.9-10.3. Get pupils thinking and talking about characters with the...

"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...

Students examine gravity, mass, and friction. In this speed and motion instructional activity, students investigate how straight line motion is impacted by gravity, mass, and fiction as they participate in a hands-on activity.

Who is the Donner Party? Find out why this group of pioneers lives in infamy. A lot of information is provided in this resource, but you will have to copy and paste the text to acquire the handouts. Learners will look at primary sources,...

Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version.  This instructional activity includes several...

Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...

Artists of all ages participate in a very basic bookbinding technique incorporating a dimensional object and simple fastening method. They create their own book to use as a sketchbook, writing surface or scrapbook. The results are...

Many classic tales, like "Cinderella," can be found worldwide. Bacis events are similar, but each retelling is molded by the culture in which it exists. Present your class with several version of tale (links provided) and have them...

M&M's are always a great manipulative to use when teaching math. In this graphing lesson plan, learners predict how many of each color of M & M's there are. They count up each color and plug the data into a graph using the...

Combine the elements of dance with the actions in a poem. Learners review basic grammar, write an action-packed cinquain poem, and then choreograph a dance based on their cinquains. After the dances are done, they'll discuss the elements...

What was the relationship like between George and Martha Washington? To protect their privacy, Martha Washington destroyed all her husband’s letters after his death so historians have little evidence of their lives together. Two letters...