Students participate in a layered curriculum unit in order to give them opportunities to master objectives. Students pick the activities and this allows a differentiated instructional activity to occur with many opportunities for...

Second graders are introduced to the differences between goods and services. In groups, they discover whether a given occupation offers a good, service or both. To end the lesson, they pick one occupation that interest them, draws a...

Students create what they feel is American Culture using a video camera and capturing 5 frames. They are animating parts of a poem in small groups. They decide the set up, create movable figures, and have a music section. Each person...

Fifth graders create poems and other forms of writing.Then working in groups they share writing with each other. The opinions would be gathered and students would revise writing according to the comments.

Students are introduced to Trompe l'oeil art by a docent. Using that information, they compare and contast it with other forms of art they are familiar with and discuss their opinions with the class. They write a poem about their...

Young scholars complete a picture to show things found in their homes.  In this habitat instructional activity, students discuss and make a class picture of an animal habitat and its four basic needs.  Young scholars sing a...

Fifth graders examine the contributions of the different groups that built the American Nation. They identify the successive waves of new immigration, explain their attraction to America, and study the importance of Ellis Island.

Third graders develop and illustrate an original Haiku poem.

First graders read several selections of poems and stories. They focus on a selection of fairy tales including Jack and The Beanstalk, Thumbelina and Issun Boshi. They complete several comprehension activities and compare the different...

Students research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. They present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front...

Students engage in a study of apples using children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Student list facts about apples and compare them while answering some guided questions. They plant some apple seeds and...

Students develop their own social studies textbook. Students gain knowledge of American immigration and Ellis Island. Students discover the process of becoming a naturalized citizen and what it means to be a citizen

First graders research information about Japanese people and culture. They read a Japanese story listening for rhyme schemes. They create their own rhyme schemes. They discuss Japanese food and sample rice cakes. They read Haiku and then...

Students read and compare excerpts from The Odyssey and The Adventures of Telemachus to create their own story based on a secondary character. In this literary analysis   lesson, students read and compare the excerpts from the...

Pupils create double-exposed photographs, poetry, and multimedia presentations to celebrate their Open Court "City Wildlife" unit.

Seventh graders research an assigned poet's life and times and read examples of their poetry. They prepare a word-processed paper analyzing the poems by their poet, and answering the essential question then they give an oral...

Students improve their creative writing skills. In this writing skills lesson, students learn about picture captions, story writing, critiques, poems, reports, letter writing, creative writing, and a rap poem.

Learners study song-poems from 1865 to the present. They explore the works of Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers (including Pete Seeger).

Learners figure out and discuss the irony of this coin-centric poem. They also practice persuasive letter writing, and identify and count coin/money values.

Third graders listen to a Mak Kam's, "My Chinatown: One Year in Poems," before locating China on a map. They discuss the Chinese language and culture, comparing it to the American culture. They determine which animal sign they were born...

Students explore the concepts of fantasy writing through this nine lessons unit. The unit presents semantic mapping, discussions, comparisons of various works of fantasy, and the opportunity to create their own fantasies.

Students listen to the poem, "De Cunjah Man" and discover how and why this language came into existence. They are introduced to the idea that songs are a way of expressing human feelings and name a song that makes them feel happy or sad.

Students summarize and make predictions about the novel, "Huckleberry Finn". They discuss their opinions with the class. They give a one-minute novel evaluation about another novel and choose a novel based on their classmate's...

Students examine the story, "Charlotte's Web" in the nine lessons of this unit. As the students progress through the book, they will explore the story plot, setting, character, and the value of friendship.