Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...

You can't read Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without craving the rich treats described in Dahl's vivid prose. Young writers try their hands at sensory language with a lesson plan that prompts them to write about...

Fourth graders identify the main idea of a sentence using the topic sentence and details of the paragraph. In this main idea lesson plan, 4th graders read paragraphs in the passage Hawaii Quakes, Then Shakes.

Explore communication through media by analyzing different advertisements and artwork. Budding artists view videos, websites, plays, and other artistic endeavors while discussing the true meaning of the work with their classmates. They...

Learners create and publish a newspaper that reflects and explains pioneer and medieval societies. They become newspaper writers for a specific time period. They adopt a holistic approach to exploring community life in medieval and...

Pupils complete a series of activities to discover life in ancient Egypt. They create want ads for pyramid workers, design vocabulary flash cards and dictionaries, and research famous Egyptians. They also research the "Curse of the...

Explore the world of copyright law with a variety of activities to instill the importance of respecting creative property. Scholars watch an animated tale then take part in a grand conversation detailing the video's main idea, details,...

The third lesson in a unit that traces the history of African Americans serving in the US Congress examines the period from 1929 through 1970. After reading a contextual essay that details the few African Americans elected to Congress...

Coyotes in Chicago? Yip. Middle schoolers demonstrate their ability to identify details that support the idea that coyotes are adaptable creatures.

Acting as journalists on a team to determine the most influential city-state of Renaissance Italy, your young historians will research, discuss, and compare the rise of Venice, Florence, and Genoa, and their influence in shaping a...

What is the main difference between an engineer and a technician?  This is one of the driving questions in a plan that proves that analysis at every step of development is crucial to the engineering design process....

To demonstrate their ability to craft an analysis of informational text, class members read excerpts from James Madison's "The Federalist No. 10," from George Washington's Farewell Address, and from Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural...

Looking at literature through a critical lens helps readers connect the text to the larger world. An essay examining the theme "There is no ill in the world without a remedy" forms the main part of a sample comprehensive English...

As part of a study of women in Congress, class members read the contextual essay, "A Changing of the Guard; Traditionalist, Feminist, and the New Face of Women in Congress, 1955–1976." Groups then research a woman serving during this...

Scholars evaluate E.B. White's tone in his narrative. Lessons use turn-and-talk strategies to discuss details of a personal narrative essay, respond to guided questions, and work in pairs to analyze word choice. Learners demonstrate...

Learners identify the components of a political cartoon and formulate the main ideas.

Young scholars choose a paragraph from a book of their choice, identify the main idea, and draw an illustration of the main idea. They write original paragraphs, illustrate them, and trade with a partner, identifying the main idea of the...

Students observe and demonstrate a variety of summarization strategies. They silently read an article from National Geographic Kids, and as a class write a summary that includes the main idea and details and the five W's. Students then...

Learners discuss the importance of identifying the main idea in reading selections. After reading newspaper articles related to nutrition, students identify the main idea of the selection and three supporting details. A reading log...

Fourth graders locate information to describe what Indians gathered and how they sustained life. They use 5 resources, select a paragraph from each and state the main idea and supporting details.

Third graders read several nonfiction texts and practice finding the main idea for the text as well as learn about various habitats. In this main idea activity, 3rd graders read several nonfiction texts and make habitat cards. Students...

Third graders investigate nonviolent conflict resolution strategies. In this interpersonal communication lesson plan, 3rd graders explore conflict resolution. Students construct a newspaper/magazine article detailing nonviolent conflict...

In this graphic organizer worksheet, students record the main idea on one line and the details to support it on three additional lines. These additional lines on the graph make an E.

Pupils examine paragraph structure, the writing process, and then design a model for the process. In this writing skills lesson, students explore paragraphs using the SmartBoard. Pupils create a class T-chart about paragraph structure...