Primary students will use the five "W" questions for reading comprehension as they read silently to themselves so that they can understand and remember what they have read. They then read The Velveteen Rabbit aloud, discussing the five...

Your young charges practice identifying the /i/ sound in this lesson. The class looks at words on cards and identifies which word has the target sound. They continue their practice using Elkonin letterboxes to spell words with the /i/...

The book Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia, is read with quickness and fluency in this lesson. The teacher models slow, choppy oral reading, and then smooth, quick, and fluent oral reading. Then, young scholars read orally with a partner,...

Using the popular text Franklin Goes to the Hospital, youngsters make predictions by looking at the cover of the book. They draw their predictions, listen to the story, and compare their predictions to what actually happened in the...

Having read and discussed Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, third graders demonstrate their bullfrog expertise by writing informational paragraphs. Building on the note-taking and paragraph planning from the previous lesson plan,...

Why were laws created? Spark a group discussion on why we need laws to co-exist. Should the sale of some things be outlawed on Sundays? Read a case summary between Target and the state of Minnesota that debated this issue. Ask your...

Does it actually exist? Consider the sighting of a giant squid, much like the one that appears in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Middle and high schoolers read the article One Legend Found, Many Still to Go, and research other mysterious...

Practice responding to controversial information with the New York Times instructional activity provided here. Middle schoolers watch a video interview with the director of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. After reading a companion article,...

Young scientists investigate the scientific concepts and principles that help make common toys such as hula hoops, yo-yos, slinkies, and silly putty work. As a class, they read "Backyard Rocket Science, Served Wet" to get a look behind...

A cross-curricular lesson plan combines poetry and history for your middle and high schoolers. The class critically examines Kipling's poem, "White Man's Burden" as historical evidence of the Imperialist ideology popular during his time....

Young historians compare and contrast differences in the laws that regulated the activities of slaves and servants. They review and analyze a series of primary source documents to explain the social constructs related to slaves and...

Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...

A fun lesson that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is a...

What a pair! Older pupils interview younger ones and use what they learn to write a short, illustrated storybook that features the youngster as the main character. The youngster responds with a thank-you note in which they identify their...

What is family? Challenge your scholars to write an encompassing definition of what this word means to them. After reading "It May Be a Family Matter, But Just Try to Define Family," class members discuss the emotional issues surrounding...

Imagine a lesson that models for learners how to separate facts from opinions. How to detect bias. How to evaluate a source of information. How to identify propaganda. Although designed for middle schoolers, the activities in this packet...

Examine the historic election of Pope Benedict XVI and reflect on the challenges he faces as the new leader of the Catholic Church. This New York Times lesson investigates how other world leaders are chosen in different forms of...

Gulliver's Travels tells the story of a man who goes on voyages and encounters strange people. A unit plan introduces readers to the classic text, as well as excerpts from other examples of sarcasm and satire, such as "A Modest...

Youngsters are introduced to the concept of an emergency, develop plans and kits for addressing those emergencies, identify community helpers, and practice their phone number and address in this five-lesson mini-unit.

"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...

Here is a nice set of activities and discussion questions to accompany your class reading of No Pretty Pictures, a memoir of a young girl's experiences and struggle for survival during the Holocaust.

Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and A. Philip Randolph developed different views on how to advance civil rights for African Americans. Class members research these famous figures and their strategies before developing...

Elmer Imes was not only a brilliant physicist but also a civil rights activist. After an introductory lecture, groups read two articles about a traffic accident that killed one Fisk University student and injured several others. The...