There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts lesson presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The pictures...

Class members listen to the William Wise book Ten Sly Piranhas and act out the story with one child playing the piranha. They use goldfish crackers (eating them to show subtraction) to demonstrate and understand equations they see...

Students explore African American migration. In this black culture and history lesson, students use a map to identify northern and southern states in which African Americans lived in the 1900s. Students observe and describe objects and...

What obstacles did India face during their post-colonial formation after gaining independence? Topics discussed in the lesson include Pakistan's conflict over Kashmir, the Indian Constitution, economic development, and the...

Students make several models of the solar system to learn the positions of the planets in the solar system as well as relative distances and sizes. Creation of these models will help them identify the planets by size, shape, color,...

Introduce your class to fairy tales with this lesson. After reading the fractured fairy tale, "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig," third, fourth, and fifth graders write a personal narrative as a response to the fairy tale....

Everyone comes from somewhere. An interdisciplinary lesson on Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island includes discussion starter and writing prompts for the novel, as well as a graphic organizer to help learners begin their...

A neat art project is on the horizon. Your class can experience impasto, or textured painting with this expressive art activity. They design and then paint using the impasto technique. This is done by mixing toilet paper into the paint....

Challenge your young scholars with this lesson on American government! Learners discuss the three branches of government and its responsilbities, and then go on to more complex critical-thinking activities. Students interview members of...

Eliminate unnecessary nominalizations from your middle schoolers' writing! After reviewing a reference page for the -tion ending (and when it can be excessive in writing), learners rewrite eight sentences to change nominalizations to a...

Learners read Spelldown, by Becky Mushko and consider how it portrays the Appalachian community. They define and discuss vocabulary presented in the story and write a comparison/contrast paper analyzing two of the story's characters. The...

Students recognize the differences between fiction and nonfiction texts. For this genre study lesson, students discuss what nonfiction means and write the definition. Students listen to a read aloud and vote whether the text is fiction...

Fifth graders identify strategies to assist in choosing a book. In this book selection lesson, 5th graders discuss ways to determine if a book is the right reading level or on a topic of interest. Students preview several books and...

Students practice their writing techniques by creating a novelette.  For this creating writing lesson, students brainstorm and decide on a topic they would like to expand upon in order to create their own novelette.  Students...

Learners analyze the characters and events in fictional writing. In this literary elements lesson, students study the meaning of the words characterization and fiction. They listen to the story Pigsty by Mark Teague, or any other book...

Students practice listening to math problems in a foreign language.  In this number sentence lesson plan, students listen to the teacher ask them a question in a foreign language that has some type of number combination for an...

Students practice telling time using a foreign language.  In this time telling lesson, students listen to a teacher tell them the time in their target language as they translate it while writing.  Students utilize their new...

Students utilize a new language to tell someone they care for them. In this complimenting activity, students practice saying nice things to friends and strangers in their target language. Students react to the activity afterwards and...

Learners utilize a new language to discuss dates and birthdays.  For this foreign language lesson, students practice using vocabulary words from a target language to speak about birthdays and culture related to a specific student....

Students celebrate a fellow peer in class by having a party for him or her.  In this foreign language lesson, students celebrate a classmate's birth using their target language to host a party.  Students create a bulletin board...

Students explore the alphabet by participating in a word activity. In this vocabulary review lesson, students practice manipulating letters in the alphabet to create five words and write them in their vocab journal. Students complete a...

Students discover the anatomy of a fish by identifying its body parts.  In this oceanography lesson, students view a live fish in their classroom and draw a poster of the fish one body part at a time while identifying it....

Students research a specific animal. In this animal science lesson plan, students use a "Wildlife Fact Sheet" to take notes on their specific animal. Students use the Internet and reference books to gather information.

What information would you find in an almanac that you would not find in an atlas? What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus? Using a Cite Your Sites worksheet on which they record their observations, groups participate...