There is more than one way to approach a problem. Explore the habits of mind as they relate to the methods of approaching learning, and to how young writers can develop success once they learn to foster each skill.

Dora, Buzz Lightyear, Mufasa. Swiper, Dr. Porkchop, Scar. The six lessons in this unit packet focus on how good and evil, and violence, are portrayed in children's animation. The lessons encourage kids to consider how violence is...

Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass provides the text for a study of how writers bring characters to life. Using the provided character mapping worksheets, readers respond to questions and then write a short character sketch.

Looking for some tools to help you incorporate social and emotional learning into your curriculum? Then check out this 79-page kit packed with ideas for developing social-emotional learning competencies. The first section provides...

The American Revolution is the theme of a five-week unit that focuses on reading, grammar, morphology, and writing. Scholars read and respond to texts, practice spelling and word work, and write paragraphs. Assessments gauge comprehension.

Have you used the directed reading thinking activity in your classroom? Doubling as either a prereading strategy, or a during reading strategy, it helps readers connect the historical background of the text to the text itself. As the...

Any age of elementary student can demonstrate their understanding of the connections of elements of art and music by creating their own slit song. You will investigate and study the Melanesian Slit Song with Kindergartners through Junior...

“Be glad that all things sort so well.” To make text-to-self connections to Shakespeare’s play, class members engage in a guided imagery exercise prior to reading Act IV, scene i of Much Ado About Nothing (the wedding of Claudio and...

Poems by O. Henry, Marion Dane Bauer, Monty Roberts, and Langston Hughes provide the text for a study of symbolism, hyperbole, and imagery. Employing the “think-pair-share” strategy learners generate definitions of these terms and locate...

Investigate ways to persuade by introducing learners to the three rhetorical appeals (Pathos, Logos, Ethos). Pupils receive a worksheet for their definition development of the terms and coinciding vocabulary words. The activity continues...

Use psychodynamic theory as a part of analyzing a career cluster.The class defines vocabulary words, brainstorms a list of career traits, and completes an online career analysis inventory. They analyze 5 concepts of psychodynamic...

More of a worksheet than a complete lesson plan, this resource includes several pre-reading and post-reading discussion prompts for The Bernstein Bears and Too Much Teasing. The prompts on this worksheet are designed to help...

As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh instructional activity in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites...

Students create movements that illustrate opposites.  In this opposites lesson, students discuss what opposites do for writing and relate to dance.  Students make movements based on their opposites.

Every golf hole is different. Some seem so easy, while others are full of twists, turns, hills, and hazards. Learning to navigate or manage the hole is a skill worth having. This lesson on course management and shot selection is part of...

A Middle school special ed class uses the acronym SPAM to learn the 4 parts of writing. They employ 4 different colors to help them visually distinguish each part of writing in a given prompt. This lesson is vague and uses a strong...

Prior to reading Fever 1793, class members are introduced to vocabulary drawn from the text of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel with a bingo-style activity. The vocabulary list, a teacher copy with definitions, and the bingo template are...

Prior to reading Night, class members engage in a guided imagery activity that helps them make text-to-self connections to Elie Wiesel’s account of his experiences with his father in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Complete directions, as well...

Young scholars explore "main idea." For this main idea and details reading comprehension lesson, students view a Brain POP video about main idea and then identify sentences displayed on the SMART Board that would be included in a...

Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...

Show a Powerpoint presentation about descriptive writing. Fourth graders brainstorm a list of writing topics and place them in graphic organizers. Then they write their own paragraphs describing topics of their choice and create...

Pupils identify and define various mathematical properties, such as the commutative properties of addition and multiplication, and the associative property of addition. They also reason and communicate mathematically by making...

First, second, and third graders explore elapsed time through estimation and prediction. They work with a partner to estimate how long it will take to perform various tasks. One person uses a stop watch to time his or her partner...

Explore the U.S.S. Nevada. Researchers use primary sources, secondary sources, children's books and websites to study the naval ship. Their study commences with a class alphabet book on the ship. Intended to be part of a lesson on...