Fifth graders discuss how a positive self-image can improve their school community. In groups, they are given a set of card in which they examine the role of each. After being given the presenter card, they create a collage about their...

Put your common writing errors to rest with this resource, which prompts high schoolers to create eulogies and tombstones for overused and incorrect words. They work on correcting common errors in spelling and usage mistakes in their own...

Pupils experience Hurricane Georges. In this Peace Corps lesson, students examine the devastation of Hurricane Georges by acting as a Dominican Republic citizen being interviewed by an international television network. Pupils demonstrate...

Young scholars compare and contrast statements made by people in "Man on the Streets." They are interviewing them on the current war in Iraq and how they felt on Sept. 11th. These interviews are tape recorded. To see what kinds of...

Over the course of a week, class groups interview one another, search for similarities and differences within the group, and then prepare a PowerPoint introduction of their group for the entire class. An interesting way to incorporate...

Over the course of three days, middle schoolers explore the concept of connotation. They differentiate between the connotative and denotative meanings of sports team names, develop their own team names, logos, and text, and revise a news...

First graders recognize words associated with recycling. In this environmental lesson, 1st graders go through the alphabet and think of words associated with recycling that start with a letter. Students create a recycling ABC book.

Students explore the attributes of penguins. In this penguins lesson, students participate in a penguin scavenger hunt and take notes on the information they encounter. Students prepare reports about their findings and share them with...

First graders take a look at schools of the past and present, and try to conjure an idea of what schools of the future will look like. After taking a walk around their own school and taking note of the buildings and the things that are...

Who is a champion to your class? Elementary and middle schoolers think of a role-model from their lives. Then, in their journals, they write evidence of that person's perseverance. They identify the character trait of perseverance with...

Pupils, after reading Chapter One in the book, "The American Colonies' Sense of Who They Were," analyze the actions of the colonists as well as compare the similarities between the protests of the colonists and protests of today. They...

Students use an object to tell an interesting story from their lives. They write and present a short story about an interesting episode from their life and gather objects in a story bag, which illustrates their story to the class.

What do families around the world have in common? Explore this theme through the popular animated film My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki. Over the course of two days, pupils view the film, pausing to discuss their own families and the...

Learners explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.

Middle schoolers, through modeling and independent practice, are introduced to the different methods of brainstorming. They explore and engage in these different approaches individually, in pairs, and as a group.

Second graders listen to the tale, "The Tortoise and the Hare" and discuss the moral of the story. Afterward, they brainstorm words that encouraged the Tortoise to accomplish his goal. Students then review the concept of goal setting and...

Students practice subject predicate agreement through the activities of this instructional activity. Selecting the correct verb to agree with the subject of the sentence is used in the preparation of documents, resumes, memos, letters,...

High schoolers watch westerns and analyze them. They identify the plot, characters and the sounds in the film. They research icons of the American west and prepare a presentation. They share their presentation with the class.

This lesson was designed in response to a class struggling with Le Petit Prince. The author starts the day by having the class describe (in French) the little prince and his planet. Then, they discuss the use of a dictionary and a list...

Students practice sound and recognition of letters in alphabetical sequence. They gain an understanding of letter sounds and order. They create a slide show with graphics and text. They present their slide show to the class.

Fifth graders brainstorm a list of characteristics people have when they are happy with their career. In groups, they review their material from the previous lesson and share their information with the class in the form of presentations....

Have your class explore the short /a/ sound. They will pronounce isolated consonant and short /a/ sounds and then blend the sounds to make a word.  An assessment sheet is provided.

Practice makes perfect, and this lesson provides a rubric to prove it! To improve their ability to read with fluency and expression, readers listen to a series of online stories in order to hear how a well-read story should sound. They...

Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...