Your future is what you make it! Eighth graders launch their career searches in the first of six career and college readiness lessons. Scholars research to discover their extracurricular options both in and out of school, then locate...

How do scholars prepare to take their next big step? The second in a series of six career and college readiness activities focuses on making a smooth transition from middle to high school. Groups research the resources available at their...

From minimum wage to minimizing injuries, young workers need to know their rights! The sixth and final lesson in a series of college and career readiness activities gets eighth graders thinking about safety and labor laws. 

Want to safeguard your students against peer pressure? Teach them all about rhetorical appeals, common attack methods, and various argument tones with a reference sheet on persuasive techniques.

It is more important than ever that 21st-century learners develop the skills they need to become savvy consumers of media. Young learners locate and identify reliable sources of information with a helpful media instructional activity.

Amazing efforts of African American leaders are celebrated in a lesson on civil participation. The engaging resource focuses on primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of African American leaders such as Ella Fitzgerald....

In many places in the world, people go to great lengths to get books to read. This beginning-of-the-year activity uses pictures of people reading in extraordinary situations to stimulate effective listening and speaking using the...

Introduce young readers to informational texts with a well-designed, ready-to-use, and Common Core-aligned unit. Young readers learn a variety of skills while studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As the first...

How far would your pupils go to be able to have access to books? Revisit Heather Henson and David Small's That Book Woman and challenge class members to take on the role of Cal or the Book Woman. By putting themselves in someone else's...

Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...

What kind of text features help children build a strong vocabulary? Class members use text features such as headers to unpack new vocabulary words. They create vocabulary journals in which they will write what they think the definition...

Pay attention to details! After completing text-dependent questions about paragraphs 10-12 of "Water is Life," scholars view the video "Why Care about Water. "They view the video three times and use a Main Idea and Details note-catcher...

Can scholars predict the future? They try as they first watch the video The Future of Water to capture details and trace the argument. Next, individuals complete the Tracing an Argument note catcher to guide their thoughts. To...

One, two, three, go! Scholars gather in triads and number themselves one to three. Each number is responsible for sharing a section of the map homework completed the night before as learners discuss domain-specific vocabulary terms using...

Outlines are a great asset to essay planning. Scholars read and analyze a model essay about the importance of daily reading and consider how it would look in an outline format. Next, they outline their own informative essays about rules...

A powerful introduction and conclusion can really pack a punch. Using the resource, scholars first read and discuss a model essay. Then, as part of the end of unit assessment, they draft the introductory and concluding paragraphs of...

Pick a corner. Scholars receive a quote about the Middle Ages and then participate in a four corners activity by choosing a corner pertaining to their quotes. They then work in groups of three to discuss the bold words in their quotes....

Picture that! Pupils view photographs of the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, discussing what they know and wonder about each image. Then, scholars watch a short video about the historic event and complete a KWL...

Character analysis isn't always earth-shattering. Using a graphic organizer, pupils analyze Moon Shadow's point of view following the earthquake in Laurence Yep's Dragonwings. Also, scholars co-create an anchor chart showing the...

Shh! No talking during the discussion! Using the resource, scholars engage in a silent discussion called a Chalk Talk activity to analyze the purpose of a newspaper article. Additionally, they read a model newspaper article and try to...

Speak your mind. Scholars present their claims in groups of three. They use a presentation checklist as each member takes a turn. At the end of the lesson plan, pupils complete an End of Unit 2 Assessment: Presenting a Claim and Findings...

Present the facts. Scholars create presentations of their research on DDT using their Cascading Consequences chart and a Stakeholders Impacts chart as visuals. They discuss the term stakeholders and create a Stakeholders Impacts chart...

Is it relevant? Scholars choose a resource from their folders and search for relevant information about the harmful and beneficial consequences of DDT. They mark benefits in one color and harmful effects with another color. They then add...

Shoo fly. Scholars read DDT Spray Scares Mosquitoes Away, Study Finds and You Think You Have It Tough? to complete a mid-unit assessment. The learners compare and contrast author presentation and conduct a credibility check on each...