Middle schoolers develop strategies for what to do when they come upon words in a text that they don't know. After a class discussion, pupils are given a selection of text that contains some very difficult words. They are instructed to...

Work it out — find the average time clients spend at a gym. Pupils use a table of random digits to collect a sample of times fitness buffs are working out. The scholars use their random sample to calculate an estimate of the mean of the...

Learners select the best word (from four choices) to complete eight sentences. They read a complete sentence and choose the best word to complete subsequent sentences using context as their guide. Theme of the sheet is making things,...

Rolle with the mean values and derivatives. Scholars complete the statements of Rolle's Theorem and the Mean Value Theorem. Using the interactive to illustrate scenarios, pupils respond to questions concerning the theorems in terms of...

Tenth graders acquire the knowledge, attitude, interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others. They participate in "Origins" as either group participants or judges. For each round, they give the common usage and...

Children who are three to five years old study two rank badges from the Qing dynasty to develop an understanding of social rank, language skills, and symbolism. The lesson is discussion-based and requires learners to compare and contrast...

First graders examine compound words and what they look like.  In this compound word lesson, 1st graders read the book, My Baseball Book, and compile a list of compound words from their reading. 

Ansible. Hegemony. Candor. Readers of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game create word squares for vocabulary words drawn from this award-winning science fiction novel.

Building on the previous activity in this series of lesson seeds, this plan focuses on the use of dialect in Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay. Class members examine specific lines of text, use their reading journals to respond to the...

Take a stand. Scholars consider what it means to take a stand in A Long Walk to Water. They complete an activity by taking a stand and moving to a labeled section of the room that matches their opinion. Readers then examine text...

The power of a word. Readers learn the importance of word choice in shaping a text by using a Powerful Language T-chart to separate strong words and phrases from those that are more bland. They then complete a third read and question set...

While reading the book Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls, the class ties together the core reading objectives, which are making predictions, comprehending new information, reading for author's purpose, independence in reading,...

Stella Louella’s Runaway Book launches a study of point of view and storytelling. After reading the tale, class members retell the story from the point of view of another character. The scripted plan, developed by a teacher candidate,...

Explore Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in this literature analysis lesson. Middle schoolers read and summarize the plot of the story. They then adapt passages for a contemporary audience and analyze the...

Have you ever listened to a song that had a deeper political meaning to it? Every examined a work of art with layers of meaning? Pupils analyze the drawings of Arthur Szyk. They research the deeper meaning of several artistic cartoons...

If you're looking for a detailed instructional activity on event sequencing from informational text, you've found it. There is an entire script for you to draw from as you explore order of events and sequence words. Scaffolding is key...

We hear a lot about the importance of the rule of law, but most people do not really know what those words mean. The lesson is a webpage that defines the rule of law, explains why it is important in a democratic society and provides...

What lengths will one go to for love? Louis, a swan in The Trumpet of The Swan, struggles to gain the attentions of a girl because he cannot trumpet. Thankfully, his father creates a plan that may work. Scholars discover Louis's attempts...

Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá" describes the speaker carrying two women on her back—she must be strong! Pupils read the second stanza using instructional activity 10 of 14 from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series....

How do incidents in A Mighty Long Way provoke the author, Carlotta Walls LaNier, to make certain decisions that shape her story? Scholars engage in a close reading of the memoir, analyzing events in US history and Carlotta's personal...

Biology learners should understand a few chemistry basics. Here is a instructional activity that introduces them to the concepts of chemical reactions, molecular bonding, and the unique combination of properties that make water vital to...

Third graders will research the Ring of Fire and be able to share their findings with their partner. They will also demonstrate volcanic eruptions using a baking soda and vinegar volcano model. Then they will discover how continental...

Learners examine the opposition of the US Senate to Woodrow Wilson's idea of a League of Nations. They discuss the central ideas involved in the debate over the League.

Why is personification such a popular literary device for many authors? Learners answer the question as they engage in activities from the novel study for the classic Of Mice and Men. They also scan the novel to find examples of the...