Two activities help high schoolers learn about HIV and AIDS. First, groups read and discuss articles that provide information about sexually transmitted diseases and conduct further research to gather current information. They then...

Are you thinking about incorporating a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel in a study of The Great Gatsby? Check out a guide loaded with suggestions for how to supplement a reading of the novel with scenes from three film...

Not all southern newspapers covered the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Young journalists investigate how The Lexington (Ky. Herald-Leader and The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun re-examined their coverage of the movement. After...

Physicists Herman Branson and Tannie Stovall provide young scholars with two very different perceptions of the status of African American physicists in the 1960s. After reading and comparing the bios of these two men, class members read...

It's a wise teacher who knows their pupils well enough to tackle using The Merchant of Venice as a whole-class reading. This 40-page teaching guide may not glitter but is filled with nuggets that will prove invaluable to those new to...

Here's a lesson that adds some zip to a study of parts of speech. Class members read two versions of the same article, one loaded with evocative nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, while the other is missing this sensory language....

To what extent can the surrounding environment influence one's behavior? Temple Grandin explores her connection to animals and her unique ability to understand their behavior with a lesson plan focusing on her book, Animals in...

Autism isn't an illness or a disability. In the first chapter of Animals in Translation, we learn about Temple Grandin's unique ability to understand animals through her experience with autism. Having read pages four through eight for...

As the first in a two-part, end-of-unit assessment that encourages readers to synthesize the unit's main ideas, class members review their notes for each of the three texts they read and develop three open-ended discussion questions...

What is a dynamic character? Using an interesting resource, scholars set out to answer the question. They create graphic organizers to collect details about character development as they read the novel Inside Out & Back Again. They...

Writers have 30 minutes to add the final touches to their end-of-unit assessments for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Those finishing early review their work. After the 30 minutes, learners use the time to review their...

After reading a series of informative articles about healthy and abusive relationships, class members demonstrate what they have learned as they take on the role of RESPECT hotline counselors and offer advice to fictional victims of...

Angela Shelf Medearis' Poppa's New Pants provides third graders with an opportunity to stitch together their own narrative filled with sensory details. After reading the story and noting the sensory and concrete details in the tale...

Why use 50 words when 15 gets the same point across? Use an online interactive webpage to fine tune the writing skills of your middle schoolers. As they read 10 sentences, they eliminate as many words as possible...

Combine measurement, following directions, physics, and art with one fun activity. Learners read a set of instruction to create three different kinds of paper airplanes. They measure, fold, and fly the planes, and record data and answer...

Migratory animals follow the same path every year. Learners research the path of an assigned species and create a map highlighting key landmarks along the way. As a group, they come up with a presentation to share with their class.

Encourage critical thinking with a grammar exercise that focuses on adverbs and adverbial phrases. Kids read the first parts of 16 sentences, then decide which question to answer (how, how much, where, or when) based on the context, and...

Use nursery rhymes to help teach pronouns. Learners read the familiar sentences and replace the repeated words with the proper pronouns. Prior knowledge of these phrases helps to scaffold the exercise.

Widespread video gaming makes this content relevant and high interest. Developing youth awareness about the impact of violence in games is important to promote literacy, critical thinking, health, and consumer awareness. After reading...

Hidden within these sentences are prepositions; think your students can find them? After first reading a brief explanation of this part of speech, young grammarians are asked to examine eight sentences,...

Wow! Yes! Great! Practice identifying interjections! After reading through a definition and example of interjection, class members underline the interjections in each sentence.

Some things remain the same, such as the world being on the brink of war, or college attendees writing home requesting money. As part of their research into events that led up to President Wilson's declaration of war on...

While reading Arthur Miller's The Crucible, start or end each day with a journal activity. The project includes a list of prompts for each act of the play. Pupils choose a prompt every time they write and connect their own experiences to...

After breaking into groups according to major principles of government (i.e., popular sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, etc.) in the United States, your class members will produce public service announcements...