Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...

In the tenth instructional activity of this unit, young scholars learn to categorize information as they continue researching their colonial trade. During guided practice, the teacher models how to read informational text slowly while...

Should schools be permitted to punish young scholars for off-campus cyberbullying? After reading a passage that details statistics about cyberbullying and Supreme Court rulings about schools' ability to limit student speech,...

What's the best way to evaluate a source's accuracy and credibility? Pupils discuss the question with a partner and then share their ideas with the class. They also conduct Internet research, looking for an article that answers a chosen...

Youngsters visit the classroom library to complete various reading activities, pushing their motivation to read! They will discuss different library books and read two specific books that use "Building Block" reading skills. They also...

Scholars share ideas about health topics relevant to teens. They read posts on Well, the Times health blog, and produce their own health blog featuring teen health issues. In addition, they read and discuss the article "Well: A Times...

Young journalists select a news story, editorial, or opinion piece that they disagree with or one that leaves them with questions. They then create their report in response and share it with the class.

Life is not always fair. Who's heard that before? This same concept moves to a larger scale using prejudice and bias. Pupils discuss where prejudice attitudes derive and how they develop throughout life. Reading comprehension...

Is your city's history a mystery to your class? Ever wonder if your county contains a bounty of folklore? Young computer scientists incorporate technology with time-honored tales during a project with both individual and group...

Why is reading important? As part of the mid-unit assessment, scholars read, summarize, and analyze an article about the importance of reading. Additionally, they continue their discussion about whether their rules to live by should be a...

Safety in a cyber world is complex but important. Scholars review ways to stay safe online by first writing words given by the teacher. Learners analyze the words to guess the topic of the activity. They then read an online safety poster...

The stuff I share goes where? Social media scholars discover how sites collect and use metadata during a lesson plan about privacy and reputation. The activity demonstrates smart privacy settings and promotes good digital citizenship.

Fair, balanced, and reputable information? There's an acronym for that! Scholars learn the E.S.C.A.P.E. method for evaluating news sources. Then, pupils work in small groups to read and analyze a news story and discuss the activity to...

It's possible to promote inclusion and empathy on the Internet—it just takes effort! Scholars read and discuss a short story about being a friend online. Then, pupils role-play appropriate ways to respond to hate within a digital...

Times are changing. One change is the way people get and share the news. Class members pair up and interview one another to find out how their peers get news. After compiling their findings, young reporters interview an adult, compile...

Word builders. Scholars participate in a mini activity about affixes. They then complete a research vocabulary organizer and share their definitions of the words with the class. They gather more evidence for their research from the...

Students discuss, define, and give themselves character traits. In this character traits lesson, students create a list of ten character traits that describe themselves. Students create a data table and poll their classmates about the...

Concept muraling helps learners improve their comprehension of a text by giving them a way to organize their understanding of the key concepts in that text. Introduce readers to this process with a carefully scaffolded lesson that models...

How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read...

Students create a story using Power Point. In this writing and creativity instructional activity, students use Power Point to create a reading adventure. Students use hyperlinks so the adventure can take various twists and turns...

In the first lesson plan of this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders gain background knowledge of different jobs performed by early colonists. The class begins with a slide show presentation that includes a variety of great...

Pupils are introduced to using computers as a means of developing communication skills within an authentic context. Students communicate with each other and share ideas via e-mail or other types of computer appllications.

Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...

How do discerning readers determine bias and credibility? Ask small groups to figure it out! First, each group is provided with either articles or videos that contain bias. They examine the resources, respond to included questions, and...