Challenge your class to reevaluate preconceived notions about government with this political cartoon analysis. An image presents a clear example of irony, in which a disgruntled American complains about his government, yet fails to see...

Seven major abstract art movements are analyzed by learners in groups. Each group analyzes various works by determining which work belongs to which movement. They then read Flatland, engage in an art and literary analysis discussion,...

How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...

Fourth graders study women's involvement in Texas politics. In this US history instructional activity, 4th graders discuss woman suffrage, examine three Texas female pioneer legislators by reading biographies, and explore women's issues...

First graders practice visualization. In this reading and listening comprehension strategy visualization lesson, 1st graders close their eyes and listen to the teacher describe a familiar place, then draw what they visualized in their...

One way to help your pupils more fully understand an idea from the text they are reading is to require them to draw or sketch the concept. This page provides some space to plan the details your students want to include in their...

Use drama to study and practice dialogue. Creative minds discuss what dialogue tells about a character, and how it can be used to advance the plot. They read a play, think about what they gleaned from dialogue, and record their...

Fourth graders listen to The Bear's Toothache and illustrate the story in their minds.  In this visualization lesson plan, 4th graders draw pictures of what they hear in a read aloud.  Students discuss their pictures and...

In this visual thinking worksheet, 1st graders read and analyze a road map in order to circle the 5 multiple choice answers to 5 questions relating to the road map.

High schoolers examine the grid in terms of a method of organization in our society as well as graphic design. In this "Making and Breaking the Grid" instructional activity, students design solutions to common problems and draw...

Third graders read and create cartoons about endangered and threatened species of plants. Pupils are split up into groups. They each consider a conservation cartoon and attempt to decipher its meaning. They must decide if they agree or...

Kick off the school year with some math fun! New classmates share information about themselves by using graphs and interpreting data. The goal is to use a general graph shape, such as linear or exponential, and create labels for the axes...

Declaring war is not as easy as some may think. High schoolers learn about Congress's limits regarding war by reading important clauses in the US Constitution. Various independent and collaborative activities reinforce learning, making...

Learners read a short excerpt from a speech by Sam Houston and answer corresponding questions as well as engage in additional activities, including writing a persuasive essay and discussing topics in small groups. The resource helps lay...

Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...

Students practice visualizing what they read and hear in a text. They listen to selected passages from a text read by the instructor. Students discuss the visual pictures they see when listening to the text. After listening to a...

During this lesson, which is all about making connections, learners watch a documentary about the teenage brain and connect it to Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, their own lives, and the world.

Teach kids about the beginnings of the Braille writing system with a lesson about Louis Braille. A series of discussion questions guide young readers though A Picture Book of Louis Braille by David A. Adler, and once they finish the...

Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...

"African Phoenix" is a poem with strong imagery and voice. The class will read two poems then draw an image of what they feel the poems mean. This is a good way to spark critical analysis.

Shed light on what antonyms, synonyms, and homophones are. In this lesson, upper elementary schoolers create pairs using an antonym, a homophone, and/or a synonym. Then they play an antonym matching game.

Creative kids read, discuss, play-act, and sketch to examine the cultural significance of Old Man Coyote. They listen to several stories involving Coyote, analyze the Harry Fonseca painting Shuffle Off to Buffalo, and write Coyote...

Class members create literary mandalas for two characters from Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s experiences with the Holocaust. After finding quotes that reveal three good traits and three bad traits of each...

Here is a great learning task that focuses on the development of areas in computational fluency including strategies in mental math. Young learners are guided through a list of addition expressions that help them visually understand the...