Students estimate the circumference of a pumpkin. They measure the pumpkin and other school objects, and record the measurements on worksheets.

Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version.  This lesson includes several culminating project...

Students solve pentomino puzzles.  In this problem solving lesson, students discuss how pentomino puzzles play into the plot of Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett and practice solving a pentomino puzzle on their own....

Engaged learners discover how an owl beak works and how animals adapt to their environment. This task is part one of a three-part series. 

Scholars take part in a grand conversation after they examine facts and stories about the Women's Suffrage Movement. Eight discussion questions bring light to influential women, the importance of voting, citizenship, and voting rights.

Running an election campaign takes money. Class groups must effectively budget money in order to design and purchase sufficient advertising aimed at procuring classmates' votes. After completing an online tutorial, they also write and...

Students race to keep these balls rolling. In this early childhood physical education lesson, students experiment with cause and effect as they work with different heights of cardboard tubes.

Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...

Using a variety of objects, learners conduct buoyancy experiments. They make predictions on which object will sink or float and test their predictions. They use a graphic organizer to record their findings.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, young writers focus on the role letter writing has played in the development of poets. They begin by journaling three to five associations to a writing prompt that requires them to identify their...

Students compare and contrast a classic fairy tale with a fractured one. They write an advertisement that would entice a witch and a resume for a frog prince who is hiring. They publish their completed work.

Students read and discuss the "fractured" fairy tale "The Stinky Cheese Man". They imagine that they are in the fairy tale and write a letter of complaint concerning the Cheese Man and how he stinks up the town.

Students design and illustrate a pop-up book of their original writing after studying the book, The Jolly Postman: Or Other People's Letter's. They present their book and complete a self-assessment rubric.

Take your class on a nature walk around the school and have children assume the role of "Plant Hunter" as they go. The goal is to explore the different parts of a plant. They return to the classroom to discuss the parts that they saw and...

Students read and dramatize the stories "The Tiny Seed" and "The Carrot Seed" as an introduction to seeds and what they become. They work in small groups to plant their own seeds and over the span of a week (+ or -)students keep track of...

After listening to the story, The Best Part of Me, learners will identify a positive physical feature of themselves, and create a descriptive poem about their favorite feature. Photographs are taken, and a nice final draft of the poem is...

Feeling conflicted? Work out those issues with a language arts lesson on internal and external conflict. Using "The Interlopers" by Saki, class members identify the conflicts between the characters before writing their own short...

Class members become reporters, photographers, and movie producers to interview each other as they become "Famous First Graders." Learners work as a team to interview the famous person and then produce a short movie. They create...

What is a Socratic Seminar? Discover this type of discussion and it functions. Split the class into two groups with Group A sitting in an inner circle and Group B in an outer circle. Each person in Group B is assigned to a person in...

Is Pluto still a planet? Using this popular question, kids are introduced to graphic organizers as a writing tool. As a class, they watch a demonstration on how to use them and work together with a partner to research whether Pluto is a...

Introduce your language arts class to connotation, denotation, and diction. Middle schoolers identify and differentiate between the connotative and denotative  meanings of words by analyzing the fictitious sports team names....

Young authors write books about themselves using one of the identified types of literature and the writing process. They identify the common characteristics among the books in each group, edit, and gift their books to a younger student.

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.

Students discuss their favorite book. In this book discussion lesson, students name the title and tell what makes the book special. Students also review the setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Students make a book that tells all of...