Get things cooking with the first lesson in this series on the science of food. Working in small groups, young scientists make and record observations about different mystery foods. These descriptions are then shared with the class and...

Young historians examine Lyndon Johnson's vision for a rich, powerful, and upward society as detailed in this excerpt from his famous "Great Society" speech presented at the University of Michigan in 1964.

The theory of keystone species in an ecosystem was first established in 1969 by Robert T. Paine. Pupils open the final lesson in a five-part series with a game guessing which member of the alpine ecosystem they are based on clues. After...

Have women always had the same educational opportunities as their male counterparts? Young historians read an 1819 essay by Emma Willard on the state of female education in the 19th century before discussing their views regarding women's...

There are a number of social, emotional, and physiological reasons why teenagers start smoking, and why they continue smoking into adulthood. Help class members understand why smoking begins in youth—and how to protect themselves from...

Many consider Les Miserables to be one of the greatest novels ever written. An eBook version of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo contains the entire text, translated from the original French. Each section is organized into books...

Why is it important to make connections across texts? Scholars discover the answer with instructional activity 12 of 14 from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series. Pupils analyze the development of ideas in three nonfiction texts,...

Young scholars read a story about "Gummywolf," stopping periodically to answer questions about the progression of the story. Next, they create a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast "Gummywolf" to "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."...

"Students read "The Island of the Skog." Prior to reading, students observe the book cover, predict the events of the story, and discuss what a skog may look like. Students make footprints in play dough and observe the differences...

“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...

Build familiarity with alphabet letters to ensure your pre-readers are set up for reading success. They examine six lowercase letters on leaves, drawing lines to connect them to trees with the same letter. They will develop awareness of...

Learners brainstorm a list of things they already know about the history of Fairfax County, Virginia. After reading a primary source document, they discuss the similarities and differences between their prior knowledge and what they...

I or me? Are your middle school grammarians struggling with pronoun case? Try this trick. Instruct your learners to look right before or right after the pronoun choice for the words and, or, nor. Have them cover the conjunction and the...

To better understand the conflict between Amir and Hassan, two characters in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, readers assume the voice of one of the boys and craft a letter to the other that explains his feelings and concerns.

Students are given the United States Constitution, students generate a list on the board of Grandpa's constitutional rights that might help him keep his home and property. Students become "experts," by reading and group discussion, on...

Readers identify main ideas and supporting details using informational texts. In this literacy instructional activity, they make predictions and read the text to find the main ideas. They use a table diagram to define the main idea and...

Students practice plotting functions on the Cartesian coordinate plane while participating in a discussion about the Possible Or Not worksheet/activity. Students also use the Impossible Graphs worksheet to practice reading a graph,...

Introduce some nonfiction reading into your classroom! This resource contains seven comprehension questions pertaining to an article from The New York Times website about the first middle schoolers to ever win the United States Chess...

Imagine each one of your learners on task and interested in scientific material. Learners investigate science related art by creating a small museum! Using digital cameras, pupils photograph different scientific actions that look...

Engage theologians through online text resources during this comparative religions activity. Designed to interact with the online Glencoe text World History, there are many free tools on this site that stand alone. Scholars read the...

Introduce your class to drama! You cast each pupil as a different character from a story you have read. They are given a general outline of the scene, act out the scene multiple times, then discuss the weak and strong aspects of each...

Connect social studies and language arts using this resource. After studying root words, have learners locate five words from their social studies book that have a prefix, suffix, or root word. This puts a new twist on practicing basic...

Fifth graders explore the purpose for reading a piece of literature. In this reading lesson, 5th graders view the cover of a book and then predict the order of details from the book.  Students listen to the piece of literature and...

Pupils examine their position within their school and discuss qualities they need to be productive citizens outside of school. they culminate the unit by writing an autobiography that includes the concepts of responsibility, choice, and...