How authors address issues of their societies is addressed in this very detailed lesson. After researching Toni Morrison and her work, groups create a dramatization based on a scene from one of Morrison’s novels and act it out. Class...

Do “memories need to be shared?" Are “memories…forever?" Would you give up memory to live in a perfect world? Introduce a unit centered on Lois Lowry’s utopian/dystopian novel The Giver with a series of activities that has groups...

Which comes first? The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, or Future? What clues can readers use to establish the chronology of A Christmas Carol? The tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Marley, and Tiny Tim provides the text for an activity that...

Students research school room from the past. They create a design for a school desk that is tailored to the specific needs of today's students. They evaluate group work and create a presentation.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's swing rendition of Robert and Richard Sherman's "I Wanna Be Like You" offers young grammarians an opportunity to examine verb tenses, noun clauses, gerunds, and prepositions.

Free speech, privacy, and cyberbullying are the focus of a series of activities that prompt class members to engage in discussions about these interrelated topics. They view a segment from PBS’s series on bullying, read...

Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...

It's one thing to prevent yourself from becoming a bully, but how do you convince others to follow suit? Take the first step in creating a better world with a public speaking lesson that prompts learners to write and present persuasive...

Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin! Upper graders and middle schoolers read the story The Three Little Pigs and other tales related to the story from various points of view. They use the Internet to find more stories...

Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...

Help middle schoolers conduct Internet research and develop a working definition for the discipline of social studies. From a list of websites, they develop classification skills and differentiate between primary and secondary sources....

Shadow puppetry has an ancient past, it is also a great way to build oral expression and reading fluency. Young thespians research folk tales, compare and contrast reality and fantasy, then create and perform a shadow puppet play based...

Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...

Get a glimpse of Anne Frank's years in hiding with this activity, which introduces The Diary of Anne Frank. Readers complete a journal entry about how they would keep themselves occupied if they were forced into hiding (without personal...

Are your advanced learners reading authentic Latin this year? Whether you're teaching Caesar, Cicero or Virgil, use some of these strategies to map out your unit. What do you focus on? Consider taking small passages and making that the...

After looking at pictures of trees, discussing tree growth, and identifying the parts of a tree, lead your class on a nature walk and have them collect samples and record their observations. They then work in pairs to polish the...

Learn about the animals of Australia with a language arts lesson about an Australian folktale called, Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail. After reading the story as a class, kids discuss events and characters from the book, retell the...

Build on high schoolers' awareness of what's wrong with society. Here they examine Jimmy Carter's extensive involvement in volunteer action in the local, national, and global arenas. Define and explore concepts -- philanthropy, citizen,...

Act out the African folktale Abiyoyo. Kindergartners listen to the tale and discuss the characters, dressing as their favorite characters in order to retell and perform Abiyoyo using props. They will gain an understanding of...

Whether you are viewing a landscape painting of a farm, examining a still-life portrait of a bowl of fruit, or reading a descriptive poem about cultivating food, you can't deny that agriculture plays a major role in visual and language...

Middle and high schoolers examine the uses of propaganda during the Nazi era. Using examples of propaganda used by Hitler, they discuss how it changed the thinking and ideas of people exposed to it. In groups, they identify how and why...

Students examine the contributions of African American soldiers during the Civil War. In pairs, they complete Civil War timeline worksheets. They use character cards to assume the identities of African Americans and determine whether or...

Distinguish between fact and opinions in this nonfiction reading lesson. Middle schoolers read 'The Diary of an Early American Boy' and work in groups to analyze the text. They record the facts and opinions for the text.

A scavenger hunt introduces class groups to the different sections of newspapers and the different types of articles found in each section.