Readers of Ordinary People employ a cubing strategy based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to analyze, from multiple perspectives, an excerpt from Chapter 10 of Judith Guest’s novel.  The excerpt, a rationale and complete directions for the...

If you have two bags with an unknown number of tiles, represented by x, and you add three tiles to get seven total, you can set up a linear equation to represent the problem. Use this example and a few others to demonstrate how to solve...

Get your junior high writers stimulated with the strategies and ideas available in this activity. Learners discuss and debate controversial subjects, and outline their reasons with an online graphic organizer (link included) that creates...

What are diverse media formats? Have your class figure this out on their own through small-group brainstorming. The resource includes two related activities about different kinds of data that will help your class get a grasp of media...

Sharpen your pencil and grab a ruler, it's time to draw some quadrilaterals! Given the definition of a parallelogram, rectangle, and rhombus, learners draw examples and nonexamples of each figure. The three definitions are...

Entertaining as well as educational, this math activity about decomposing numbers is bound to capture the engagement of young learners. Given a cup and five two-color counters, young mathematicians simply shake and spill the cup,...

For many young children it seems obvious that longer objects are heavier than shorter objects. This assumption is put to the test as the class investigates the relationship between length and weight in a whole-group activity. Using a...

Activate your pupils' thinking before reading chapter five of Ordinary People. Learners decide whether they agree or disagree with six statements and discuss their ideas in small groups. They then read chapter five and determine...

So many times the characteristics of triangles are presented as a vocabulary-type of lesson, but in this activity they are key to unraveling a proof. A unique attack on proving that an inscribed angle that subtends a diameter must be a...

Whether out of choice or necessity, people want to know what will happen on a typical day in court. A helpful lesson walks scholars in the field of criminology through the trial process from opening statements to the final verdict. 

Students study the basics of mapmaking, then make a tally walker, (geographic location device used in secret).

How do facts and opinions impact the news? After reading "How to Cover a War" from the New York Times, middle schoolers evaluate the claims in the article. They also consider the media's responsibilities in reporting during wartime....

How can the rhetorical structure of an editorial help to develop its argument? Use this New York Times editorial to emphasize the importance of structure in a piece of informational text. Adolescent writers then use the editorial as a...

Scholars realize the importance of reading and correct interpretation when engaging in mathematical problem solving. This begins with the understanding of vocabulary and the translation from numeric to algebraic and algebraic to numeric.

Artists imitate the symbols used by tribes of the Southwest or use their own word pictures that communicate something about themselves. This lesson is a perfect blend of visual art and social studies. Students create a beautiful piece of...

Elementary schoolers create a mosaic project. This simple art lesson produces big results! The tile mosaics are beautiful, and will be cherished by the young artists who create them, and their parents. These are the kind of projects that...

Secondary artists create a metal box made from copper tooling foil and solid oil paint sticks (Shiva Paintstiks). The exacting design develops organizational principles and the painted finish allows for individual expression of...

Upper graders make cast handmade paper. This is another beautifully-designed art lesson from this source which will produce fabulous results. The process behind the paper making is relatively simple. The challenge is securing all of the...

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...

The examples of art at the top of this page speak for themselves. Here is a fun and lovely project that gets kids outside to observe how snow falls on trees and how various trees are structured. They use crayons, tempera paint, and...

Youngsters use their large motor skills to build numbers to 20 in this outdoor, kinesthetic, collaborative activity. Amass cardboard boxes for groups to stack, sort, and bundle into 10s and 1s to show numbers and place value. They'll...

Sixth graders use Microsoft Publisher program to create a restaurant menu. Using that menu, other students will use estimation skills to decide on multiple combinations of meals they could make with the money they are given.

Use this twelve-day lesson plan to teach about the causes and courses of WWI. Each day scholars attend lectures, complete creative activities, and hold round table discussions on what they've learned. Web links and resources are...

Student scientists investigate triangle structures. In this building lesson plan, students explore how to design triangle braces in the construction of structures in order to build a stronger base.