Learners examine cyberbullying. In this lesson on democracy, students discuss the different ways to deal with cyberbullying. They then take a position on the question of whether a democracy should allow schools to take action against off...

Reinforce the use of the Pythagorean theorem with this problem solving lesson. Middle schoolers use the Pythagorean theorem to solve word problems. They work in pairs to find the answers to the problems, and then explain how they got...

Students consider the affects of space travel on the human body. In this human physiology lesson plan, students compare how the 5 different body systems work on Earth and in Space. Students then design a product that an astronaut could...

High schoolers analyze photographs as a development activity for their literacy skills. They will review the 6 Q's feature for analyzing photographs and analyze a variety of photographs and then write comments in the space around the...

Explore informative and explanatory writing with this instructional activity. Using a cube labeled with directives to describe, analyze, compare, associate, apply, and argue the topic, middle schoolers work individually or in groups to...

Motivate your class with this instructional activity on apartheid. After responding to several pre-reading questions, learners read and mark 2 articles: 1 about the Soweto Uprising and 1 about Nelson Mandela. They then respond to 4 short...

The first two pages provide a chart to complete with results of a lab test using different solutions and indicators. The data analysis questions will help your students understand the concentrations of the solutions and how they affect...

What items would you need to survive if you were stranded in a remote place? Using chapter 10 of Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, middle-schoolers work through a Six Trait writing activity to create a story about their own survival in a similar...

Comparing and evaluating various media types is a great way to build critical analysis skills. Learners read about the Vietnam era presidency, specifically the foreign policy established by Johnson and Nixon. Then they compare several...

Here is another in the interesting series of lessons that uses money as a learning tool. This one is especially clever! During the lesson, pupils pretend they are eating at "George's Place" diner. Small groups are given one bag of play...

Element groups are located in the periodic table by blinking on and off. A slide is then dedicated to each of the groups, explaining which elements are included and what common chemical properties they share. This topic is presented in...

Expand your students' literary likings with this quick PowerPoint about parodies. A detailed definition of a parody on the second slide precedes different examples of parodies in pop culture. Tip: Show videos of famous parodies your...

Examine how living and non-living things work together in a reading passage about ecosystems. Class members read the text and then respond to five response questions that relate specifically to the content of the passage.

Go fishing for initial sounds with this engaging phoneme game! Similar to the card game Go Fish, pairs use picture cards and try to match initial sounds. They set aside any pictures that are a match and ask their partner for specific...

Upper graders explore the new industrial revolution and how the tech boom in recent years is similar and different to the Industrial Revolution of the past. They watch a video, explore web sites, and discuss what they see. They work...

Help keep your writers from using the same words in their writing: introduce them to synonym. Learners read a brief explanation of synonyms with examples. Then, they fill in a chart by writing synonyms for six adjectives. Consider having...

Compare different types of leaves in a science exploration. First, third graders identify common characteristics of various plants, such as daisies, fir needles, and cypress leaves. They then determine if the plants in each group are...

Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...

Here’s a clever way to combine language arts and social studies. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is believed to have been inspired by the wreck of the Sea Venture on Bermuda in 1609. The class views a brief scene from Castaway in which Tom...

How are Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama similar? How are they different? Look at two visual representations of them; what kind of first impression does they give you? After comparing the presidents, learners complete a proverb matching...

Although the activity is designed for Gary Paulsen’s Canyons, these procedures could be used with any novel or vocabulary study. Readers select an unfamiliar word, record the sentence and chapter where the term is found, write two...

How do you grow a goal from a dream to reality? You make a plan! After reading chapters two and three of Where the Red Fern Grows, learners map how Billy earns his dogs by completing an organizer in pairs and then discussing answers in...

Class members study the size of classmates' feet and perform a statistical analysis of their data. They solve for central tendencies, quartiles, and spread for the entire group as well as subgroups. They then write a conclusion based on...

Take a peep into optics. Pupils watch a video about a large Polaroid camera before building pinhole viewers. The scholars then create different types of viewers and compare them to determine which provides the best image.