Scholars get to know famous Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, as an artist as well as a person. After reading personal letters and analyzing paintings, participants paint two self-portraits that represent their personality. Then, write a...

Teenagers get the real information about marijuana use based on the history of tobacco legislation and research. As they read an educational passage about marijuana laws, science, and changing attitudes, they address their preconceptions...

As a journalist, would you publish everything you heard or saw? Discuss the ethics of journalism with a instructional activity from PBS. Young reporters imagine themselves to be the editor of their school's newspaper, and as they read...

Is there value in preserving indigenous languages that are almost extinct? That's the question posed to viewers of a short film about the attempt of one Native American woman who is creating a dictionary for Wakchumni, the language of...

In this storytelling lesson, children practice re-telling the story of "How Bear Lost His Tale", review and write out the story sequence, and learn about homophones like tail/tale, sail/sale, etc. Extension activities for various content...

Learners write interrogative and declarative sentences in a short message. After seeing many examples of these types of sentences, learners write sentences of their ownl.

Research the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks. Set up different centers and have learners rotate through the activities aimed at researching Rosa Parks. They read The Bus Ride that Changed History: The Story of Rosa Parks, write a...

Tenth graders analyze different types of photographs. In this Digital Records lesson, 10th graders create a digital history of a specific topic in World History. Students present their story boards to the class. 

How can you interest your reader? Here is a great instructional activity on reading and discussing the characteristics of a narrative. Elementary schoolers explore writing techniques to hook the reader. They identify their hook and share...

Kids create leaf people out of sticks, glue, and leaves. They use their imagination to construct leaf people and then glue them onto construction paper. Tip: Extend this craft by incorporating writing. Have learners write a short story...

Sometimes short lesson outlines are enough to give you a great idea. Young writers draw any object inside an image of a jar, that doesn't belong in a jar. They can draw a tree, truck, or dinosaur. Tip: Have kids write a short story...

Students choose a favorite animal and identify its prominent characteristics. They draw their favorite animal adding their own heads to animal bodies. Then they write a creative, detailed short story about themselves as a nonsense creature.

Seventh graders read and discuss a short story. They complete an outline of the story. They pair and share to evaluate each other's outlines.

Students listen to a broadcast with two stories on a radio that deals with Viking legends: The Building of the Wall and a creation story similar to Genesis. They discuss each story, write a short scene from one of the stories and then...

Students explore cryptids.  In this story writing and technology lesson, students define "cryptid," write a short script, and draw an illustration for an imaginary animal character. Students read their script aloud into a microphone...

In this problem solving worksheet students read short statements and translate them into algebraic inequalities. They read short stories, write algebraic equations, and solve them. There are 16 problems on this two-page worksheet.

For this system of equations worksheet, students solve problems involving systems of equations. They read short stories, write equations relating to the information, and solve the systems of equations using the substitution or...

In this quadratic worksheet, students read short stories, write quadratic equations and use their problem solving skills to solve the equation. Students use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of a diagonal, dimensions of a...

Students write short stories. In this defining words lesson, students look up the meanings of responsible and irresponsible and write their own definitions for the two words. Students write two short stories about a responsible pet...

Students examine a short story and add possible adjectives. They re-read the story and add adverbs. They also add other information to make the story interesting.

Students edit and improve their short stories by examining character description, dialogue, and plot elements. In peer editing groups they correct gramatical and spelling errors. they read aloud their new story drafts.

Students read and analyze Truman Capote's autobiographical short story, "A Christmas Memory." They discuss writing styles, conduct Internet research on Truman Capote, write a book review, and write a short story based on one of Truman...

Young scholars read and analyze the short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor. They write a one-page response, explore various websites, take an online interactive journey, and write a final assessment paper.

Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.