Use the power of the pen to persuade others to get involved in community issues! Individuals reflect on personal service learning activities and the writing process. They compose essays regarding service to others. While designed for...

With The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry as the hook learners discuss the rainforest, the animals that live there, and conservation efforts. Then, students write a letter to the man in the story asking him not to cut down the Kapok...

Students interview adults, ages 71-75. They ask them questions concerning events of 60 years ago and create a media presentation based upon background information and interview responses.

Fourth graders read various stories in their literature books about families. Individually, they make a timeline showing the most important events in their lives. They bring in one artifact from their lives and write a paper about it...

Students are read the book, GOOD BREAD: A BOOK OF THANKS and discuss the main events in the story. They make self to text connections and discuss as a group. They then draw a picture of a type of bread that is important in their lives.

Middle schoolers produce an ongoing journal in which they relate their personal response to literature. They examine the theme of the rights of the individual versus the whole. They explore conflict in Panther in the Basement.

Students practice read aloud comprehension strategies. In this literacy comprehension lesson, students listen to Tomas and the Library Lady, stopping to discuss with a partner aspects of the story suggested by the teacher. Students make...

High schoolers select a theme-related essay topic from Night, by Elie Wiesel, or The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, and develop an essay that relates the theme to modern-day personal experiences. The essay follows a preset rubric...

Third graders explore the importance of art in Haitian culture by analyzing the cause and effect within the story, "Allie's Basketball Dream." They examine all the aspects of the story and characters including their goals, dreams,...

Students participate in a service project about improving air quality. In this air quality lesson, students understand the problems and solutions for improvement of air quality issues. Students discuss and choose an air quality service...

Students examine sources of spirituality. In this religion lesson, students investigate ties between the spiritual and natural worlds. Students design community and personal projects that feature relationships to the natural world.

Second graders investigate self- and teacher-selected literature (e.g., picture books, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, poems, legends) from a variety of cultures. They re-enact and retell stories, songs, poems, plays, and other literary...

Students complete a unit about career choices. They conduct research on a selected career that interests them, conduct an interview, explore various websites, create a five-page HyperStudio stack, and write ten checks that relate to...

Second graders explore the oral language of the Chinese, retell folk tales, and eat with chopsticks. They view a slide show of China to examine what life is like in China. They memorize three Chineses phrases and note three differences...

Students answer questions to consider before they read A River Runs Through It.  In this anticipation guide lesson, students complete a worksheet responding to declarative statements and then discuss their responses in...

Like the characters in Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, class members write frequently with a series of journal topics that form the basis of the final writing assignment about their personal “heavy boots.” Alas, no list of topics is...

Learners read "Be A Perfect Person in Just three days," and participate in a host of activities. Connected to technology, they use online sources to create word searches and puzzles from vocabulary words. In addition, students create...

Students research and write a report about a French-speaking country and present their research to classmates. They create a persuasive advertising brochure promoting one specific country as the best tourist destination.

Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main...

Tenth graders prepare to read Bless Me, Ultima as they study the Southwestern region of the United States. They examine the characters, setting, and culture by using context clues, and participate in a jigsaw activity.

Students take a "field trip" with the teacher through the school then draw a diagram of what they saw. They bring the maps to the computer lab where they create electronic maps using the software program Neighborhood Map Machine.

Fourth graders read "The Runaway" by Robert Frost and analyze it for its literal and symbolic meanings. They compare their personal experiences with the poet's suggestions about youthful attitudes and behaviors. Some nice worksheets are...

Students explore the relationship between an author's life and their work. Students research the historical and personal events surrounding a Nobel Prize winning author and how they are reflected in the author's writing. They create a...

Students make discoveries about the child laborer through a selection of readings. They make connections between the website readings of the child laborers' personal stories and the images that they saw in the previous lesson.