What's the best way to study? Well, it depends. . . Session two of a 23-lesson life skills series focuses on a variety of study skills strategies and suggests when/why to choose one over another.

Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...

Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...

Class members review expectations for successful discussions before reading chapter one of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They engage in a think-pair-share to discuss the gist of the text and add their thoughts to their Readers'...

Students turn cardboard boxes into outdoor dramatic play. In this early childhood visual arts activity, students explore cooperative and dramatic play outdoors by challenging children to create a train from cardboard boxes.

Class members compare the final 30 minutes of Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with Act V of Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope and consider how the choice of media influences viewers' impression...

Improve readers' comprehension with a pair of visualization opportunities. First they listen, eyes closed, as you read a description from Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, and discuss ideas about what they "see." After you read...

To better understand the cultural achievements of the Harlem Renaissance and become familiar with its major figures, class members examine a painting by Aaron Douglas and a poem by Langston Hughes and compare how the artists develop...

Although this vocabulary-in-context activity could be used with any text, it's a piece of cake if you're reading Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. What new words will pupils learn here? Find comprehension questions for...

Learners focus on plot and sequence as they read the story Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes. The entire class will follow along with the teacher as she reads and models her thinking about the plot of the story. When instruction...

Here are four familiar pictures and words for emerging readers: dog, mouse, cat, and hen. After examining the image and spelling, they draw something that rhymes with each in the space provided. Encourage pre-readers to sound...

Here is a great little reading and vocabulary development lesson created just for learners with special needs. The lesson is constructed with both core content and necessary adaptations in mind. The group will use PECS, pointing/gesture,...

Students use visualization techniques when reading poetry.  In this visualization and poetry lesson plan, students work in groups to present a tableau that depicts a word from the poem as classmates guess the word.  Students...

Fake news. Alternative facts. Internet trolls. In an age of Newspeak, it's increasingly important to equip 21st century learners with the skills needed to determine the legitimacy of claims put forth on social media, in print, and in...

What do you see? Young reader tap into the visualization process as they listen to or read a fiction story and fill out a graphic organizer. Model this first with a think-aloud, showing scholars how you visualize a familiar story. For...

A lesson in personal finance can be the most valuable part of a high school education. Connect the basics of banking with informational reading skills in a lesson that prompts teenagers to answer a series of questions based on...

What led to the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and how might historians approach this question differently? This rich series of lessons includes a short introductory video clip, analysis of six primary source documents, and...

Upper elementary artists create works which demonstrate an understanding of the many elements of theater and the visual arts. This four-day plan combines many wonderful aspects of visual, musical, and theatrical arts into one very...

Here is a reading strategies lesson in which learners use post it notes to create a bulletin board. They post their new questions on the bulletin board and look back at questions they have already learned the answer to. A great idea,...

Photographs from the freedom movement in Selma, Alabama serve as the basis of two Socratic Seminars. Class members prepare for the seminars by closely observing the images, form a hypothesis, and use evidence from photo to support a...

First, next, and last, the elements of chronological order. In every story or text one can find a series of events that occur one after the other. To help learners with visual impairments conceptualize chronological order, this...

Budding authors research a US President and persuade the National Park Service to add him to Mt. Rushmore. In addition to the persuasive essay, individuals are required to develop a visual presentation using a web-based software that...

To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...

Use the pictures from Knuffle Bunny to determine setting with your class. Model your visualization and thinking process, asking questions to help your listeners determine time and place. After reading this story, go through other...