Words. Words. Words. Class members create micrography self-portraits combining a high contrast portrait photo with words that express themselves. Complete directions for the project, student samples, along with links to professional...

Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass provides the text for a study of how writers bring characters to life. Using the provided character mapping worksheets, readers respond to questions and then write a short character sketch.

"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;. . ." Why is this guarantee of free speech and a free press the First Amendment to the US Constitution? Why are these rights so essential to a...

Science, engineering, and United States history? Pupils research collections of artifacts from the Smithsonian to learn about historical scientific innovations. At the end of the lesson, they write an essay to discuss technology's...

Students make connections to the story When the Relatives Came by answering questions during the reading. For this reading lesson plan, students use the think - pair - share activity to voice their thoughts.

The Cay has been criticized by groups such as the Council on Interracial Books for Children because of the way race is portrayed. Explore the argument against the book while taking the author's perspective into account. Class members...

In this story web learning exercise, students answer multiple choice questions about how to make and use a story web. Students complete 10 questions total.

Students research the 1960s to prepare for reading the book, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis. They watch a documentary, create a timeline, and listen to music from the 1960s.

To prepare for a Quickwrite on the question, "How do different points of view create cultural conflicts?" class groups draw examples of religious, cultural, and political conflicts from Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible to use...

Students explore the elements of film to analyze character, action, and the themes in the movie, "Quiz Show." The lesson encourages students to make personal connections and real life applications as they view the movie, critically.

In this outlines worksheet, students answer multiple choice questions about the function of an outline in a text. Students complete 10 questions.

Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...

Asking questions about what you're reading is an effective way to connect with the text. After kids read passages from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, they identify questions about the passages as Right There, Think and...

Help your pupils discover the power of context clues by teaching the this vocabulary strategy. Designed to go with words from Willa Cather's My Antonia, this exercise focuses on having individuals use their own words to define new...

Set the stage for Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, by asking readers to indicate whether they agree or disagree with several statements that are connected to issues...

Students study the act of charity in Judaism. In this charity lesson plan, students read about the act of giving in the Jewish culture called tzedakah, and give gifts to others.

Help young readers align character relationships in an activity for Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter. After kids discuss the characters and how they relate to each other, they use index cards and a graphic organizer to outline the...

Would a baggie filled with water have the same shape sitting on a table as it would in a bucket of water? Why not? Allow learners to find out first-hand the effects of gravity acting alone on the baggie, as well as when gravity is...

Does Amir have an obligation to find Sohrab and take him to the orphanage? That is the question class members debate as part of their reading of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. 

Students determine how animals and people adapt to the desert environment. For this desert lesson, students review vocabulary about the desert and how humans have to make changes to accommodate their environments. They listen to and...

Students learn how to answer questions correctly.  In this writing lesson plan, students learn the acronym RASP and view model responses for each part of the writing strategy.  Students practice using the RASP model to answer...

Eighth grades can master the ELA Common Core standards! Show your learners the connection between classroom activities and assignments and the standards with this set of "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been rewritten as an...

“Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die/Passing through nature to eternity.” Grief, and the response to grief and loss, is the focus of a series of activities that uses Hamlet as a launchpad. Groups examine Act I, scene ii to...

Emanuel Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln. What do these works of art tell us about the character of these American Presidents? After examining the techniques the...