Fifth graders explore historical fiction. In this genre study lesson, 5th graders go on a text feature scavenger hunt to identify the parts of a historical fiction text. Additionally, students read the book, My Secret War and discuss...

Help young learners understand friendship and empathy with two reading comprehension lessons. Each lesson focuses on a story about a child with autism, and encourages readers to compare and contrast the characters to each other and to...

Is Luke Skywalker the archetype of a literary hero? Follow the path of the Hero's Journey with an engaging instructional activity that details the plot structure, applies it to Star Wars: A New Hope, and invites class members to...

True! Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" makes readers nervous. But how? Young scholars create a drawing while listening to a reading of Poe's eerie tale to understand how writers create the mood of their stories and what their writing style...

Here is part one of a two-part lesson in which scholars investigate the changing states of water—liquid, solid, and gas. With grand conversation and up to three demonstrations, learners make predictions about what they think will happen...

It's never too early to talk to your young grade schoolers about the dangers of marijuana. Here's a short lesson to discuss some basic information about what happens to the body and the brain when someone smokes marijuana. After the...

The plot thickens to get a functional understanding. After a short review of plotting points on the coordinate plane, class members learn the difference between functions and relations in the second lesson plan in a series of nine....

What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this lesson, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that a...

Young artists view pieces of artwork by Robert Harris, then have class discussions, write collaborative stories, make a painting or drawing, and analyze and create their own advertisements. This series of lessons should lead to some...

Students participate in a discussion about the different types of timepieces and the energy sources necessary to run them. They observe the numbers on a clock and review the hands and what they mean and make individual clocks using a...

What does social security reveal about the political and social culture of the 1930s? After beginning with a brief introductory video on the impact of the Great Depression and how various Americans, such as Huey Long and Francis...

Fourth graders explore vocabulary by reading a contemporary story in class. In this English literature lesson, 4th graders read the story A Cricket in Times Square and practice using the vocabulary words from the story. Students...

Learners analyze the meaning and process of categorizing items, people and events as 'the best.' students then defend pieces of literature, images, and sounds that they feel most represent 'the best of the 20th century.'

Practice using feelings as a way to reflect on past experiences. The poem The End and the text Tell Me a Story Mama are used to identify feeling words. As an extension, pupils participate in a service learning project and...

Students discover how visual images communicate meaning. They create costumes that tell personal stories and perform dances wearing the costumes.

Discuss scientific notation with this mathematics lesson. Middle schoolers predict which problem is bigger of two numbers. They analyze the problems by observing the powers of 10 in order to decide which is bigger. This appears to be an...

Spark some lively conversation about American holiday traditions and debunk accepted notions about the first Thanksgiving at the same time. After reviewing the mainstream version of the Thanksgiving story with your class, offer some...

Students discover what the latitude and longitude of their location is. They start walking and measure their shadow. They fill in a chart to discover the approximate time.

Explore language arts by reading two similar stories in order to compare and contrast them in class. Young readers read two Aunt Isabel books, by Kate Duke, and discuss the main characters, plot, and setting. They complete a graphic...

Learners examine causes and effects of Great Depression and its significance on twentieth-century life, analyze value of various types of historical information, specifically primary sources, and relate events, issues, problems, and...

What's the difference between the present perfect and simple past? Have your class practice identifying and using both of these verb tenses through pair activities, whole-class discussion, and a worksheet.

First graders use a clock to practice telling time and using fractions. They review the different parts of the clock and play a game using time. They help each other with telling time.

Students explore the concept of time. Through discussion and artistic projects, they define time in their own words and tell how it is used to represent the seasons. Students draw a picture to portray time as it elapses during the...

Students read and discuss The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart. In this poetry lesson, students construct a Venn diagram to compare and contrast two pieces of literature.