Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Teach children that just because something is old, doesn't mean you have to throw it away with a reading of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. Engaging children with an arts and crafts activity in which they patch the...

What are the job requirements for the office of president of the United States? What attributes should a candidate possess? Are the qualities needed to govern the same as those needed to win? What can an analysis of the...

An important concept for youngsters to learn is that there is a difference between facts and opinions. Use Kirsten Hall's Animal Touch to introduce the idea that an opinion is how one feels or thinks about something and that others are...

Kirsten Hall's animal books provide learners with an opportunity to practice forming statements of opinions and factual statements. Using sentence starters such as "I learned. . ." and "I think. . ." class members craft sentences cite a...

Fifth graders are introduced to the meaning of the word "goal". As a class, they identify examples of goals with their teacher's guidance. Individually, they complete a worksheet to identify their short and long term goals and complete a...

Fourth graders explore, analyze and discuss how to interact with others in ways that respect individual and group differences. They identify and practice the skills used to compromise in a variety of situations. Each students studies the...

Reading comprehension is the name of the game! After listening to the teacher model and share personal prior knowledge about small children and what they do with food, the class discusses how they too can use prior knowledge to...

A guided imagery exercise is a great way to get readers thinking about writing. As part of their study of Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse’s 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, class members listen to a reading of one of the poems...

Enhance a reading of the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book Joseph had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this collection of learning activities. Starting with general background information about the book and author,...

Is money the root of all evil, or the answer to everyone's dreams? Analyze the role of money in John Steinbeck's The Pearl with a writing prompt where kids imagine that they have won the lottery, and must think about the ways it will...

Soccer players will be running around practicing their dribbling skills without even thinking about what they are doing. As they are dribbling to their Hula-Hoop, they will be honing their ball-control skills to keep other players from...

After a class discussion that reviews the concept of antonyms, learners get into groups of four. Their first task is to come up with as many antonyms as they can. One person writes an antonym pair and passes the paper to the next...

Students investigate what boys and girls can do after participating in readings and class discussions. They examine how gender stereotypes and name-calling can influence what students think they can and cannot accomplish.

Help young learners practice drawing conclusions and using reasoning through this simple game idea. The teacher places a mystery object in a bag and  learners must ask yes/no questions until they guess what it is correctly. As...

Classic fairy tales are great! They have memorable characters, present interesting story lines, and lend themselves to art projects. Grab a copy of "Rumpelstiltskin" and get ready to participate in several early literacy activities. The...

Young readers explore informational texts as they read a text entitled Giant Pandas by Gail Gibbons. The teacher will begin by explaining that one characteristic of informational texts is that they teach the reader new information...

Spruce up a class reading of the children's book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this fun series of activities. Starting with a list of reading comprehension questions and key vocabulary to address during a teacher...

Introduce the major themes in Markus Zusak's award-winning novel, The Book Thief, with an anticipation guide that asks readers to agree or disagree with a series of statements.    

Sometimes a novel is the best way to tackle a tough topic. A helpful educator's guide for the novels of Gayle Forman discuss tough topics such as teenage suicide. Discussion questions and writing activities encourage readers to think...

Students explore world history by illustrating an image. In this Mexican culture lesson, students identify the history of the holiday Cinco De Mayo and discuss the challenges the Mexican army faced. Students illustrate a picture...

Here's a new twist in the egg drop competition. Using only six inches of tape, four straws, and 2 pieces of newspaper, teams build a structure that keeps an egg from breaking when dropped. What's different about this project is that the...

A Networking BINGO game asks participants to find scholars who share a variety of the same interests and characteristics. Categories include everything from shoe size, to biggest fear, to intended college major.

Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic...