Grab a debatable (or controversial) moment from your current reading, and use this task to progress the persuasive writing skills of your high school scholars. Divide your learners into four small groups and let them collaborate, debate,...

Identifying an author’s choice, especially choices that concern craft and literary devices, is a difficult skill to teach. Here's an activity that will make your job easier. The resource breaks down how to teach the skill to novice,...

Even the littlest learners can become art historians if they have the right training. For the lesson, your preschoolers discuss the piece Long Jakes as they point out all the details they notice. They discuss what mountains and mountain...

Use folk tales as inspiration for learning about and using personification in creative writing. Learners brainstorm together in order to practice personification before writing their own poems or paragraphs about a household object.

Circles are the foundation of many geometric concepts and extensions - a point that is thoroughly driven home in this extensive unit. Fundamental properties of circles are investigated (including sector area, angle measure, and...

When is using someone else's copyrighted material appropriate? Learn about copyright and fair use with a lesson plan from PBS.org. Scholars read through a reference sheet about authors' rights and users' rights, and then create...

America was built on the ingenuity, work ethic, and foresight of our ancestors. Sixth graders learn about the complex Gilded Age in American history, including the prominent inventors and captains of industry, and how they all connect...

For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...

As part of a study of the history of the Chumash on California's Channel Island chain, class members view the documentary Once Upon a Time, respond to discussion questions, and create a timeline for the different waves of migration.

Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...

A picture's worth a thousand words—and even more inspiration! A visual activity uses photographs to inspire writers. The process teaches aspects of narrative writing, such as point of view and characterization.

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

Use essential elements cards to help lesson plan! Each card contains an informational text common core standard for grade levels six through eight and suggestions for activities and supports. Cards address skills such as citing textual...

A study of Alfred Noyes's poem "The Highwayman" opens a lesson about narrative poetry. Scholars read the poem and compare it to the animated video version using a worksheet. Learners look at models and use a template to craft an "I Am"...

In this ecosystems learning exercise, students use illustrations and descriptions of four ponds to determine the order of succession. Students complete 8 fill in the blank questions and 5 short answer questions.

Your learners combine their knowledge of real and imaginary numbers and matrices in an activity containing thirty lessons, two assessments (mid-module and end module), and their corresponding rubrics. Centered on complex numbers and...

Fourth graders analyze the use of transitions in text. In this transitions instructional activity, 4th graders determine how and why a transition is used at a specific time in a piece of writing. They show transitions by using movements...

Students read "If you give a pig a pancake" then write the letter P with pancake batter on a griddle tablet for a yummy treat to eat!

Students investigate writing scenarios that can be performed. They examine the parts and levels of scenarios that can actually be performed.

Students read and discuss The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart. In this poetry lesson, students construct a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two pieces of literature.

Students navigate Doodle Splash to create a painting.  In this doodle splash instructional activity, students explain their splash painting relationship to a piece of literature.

After reading several types of informational and narrative text involving Nursery Rhymes, have your young readers create a dramatic reading of their selected tale to perform for the class.

A perfect nonfiction writing activity for the beginning of the year, the Life Line helps you get to know your pupils better and helps the children get to know one another. Later in the year the Star of the Week writing activity...

Second graders compare and contrast gymnastics in 1859, 1900 and today. Students contrast differences in gymnastics for boys and girls today. Students pretend that they are interviewing a famous gymnast and write up their interview....