Before you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, introduce the themes of the play with a lesson based on the biblical story of Joseph. Taking your high schoolers through selected text from Genesis 17-44,...

The tale of "Lon Po Po" is a Chinese story, very similar to the European tale of "Little Red Riding Hood." Learners make cross cultural comparisons between the two tales, focusing on themes common to both. They review story elements such...

Skeeters are used to model linear and exponential population growth in a wonderfully organized lesson plan including teachers' and students' notes, an assignment, graphs, tables, and equations. Filled with constant deep-reaching...

Learn about how the seeing eye dog program began with a reading instructional activity about Eva Moore's chapter book, Buddy, The First Seeing Eye Dog. With vocabulary words, discussion questions, and extension resources, the...

Let's partition rectangles into equal parts. Assess learners on their ability to divide shapes into equal parts, and their ability to explain their thinking.

Here is an activity that blends genetic technology, literacy skills, and critical thinking. Pupils review background information about cell lines and CRISPR by video and teacher-led discussion. Scholars collaborate to analyze two...

Take this simulated archaeological dig one layer at a time with your young pupils to encourage observation, critical thinking, and careful attention. Using a transparent box full of layers of sand and artifacts, pupils examine the...

Primary source documents provide a realistic context for pupils to explore. Included are 5 experts relating European ideals and methods for colonizing and controlling the African continent. Middle schoolers answer 4 critical-thinking...

Learners take a critical look at the ways in which the president interacts with Congress in order to make political and economic decisions. They use a series of well-constructed discussion questions to guide their thinking as they...

Cartoons for the classroom has put out another great worksheet intended to get upper graders thinking. They analyze a political cartoon regarding economic recovery and President Obama. Three great discussion questions and a web link make...

Get that thinking cap on and engage your special ed or autistic learners in a fun sorting activity. This resource includes instructions and all printable materials needed to start sorting. They will sort colors blue and red, numbers 1,...

Develop the techniques needed to analyze and synthesize literature well. No matter what students read, they need to be able to think critically about the material. Give thinkers these tools to effectively ponder and consider the world...

Help your class understand and organize concepts, facts, ideas, and events with a set of graphic organizers and flow charts. Included in this packet is a bridge map, multi-flow map, flow map, double bubble map, bubble map, circle map and...

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, can seem strangely prophetic when compared to modern news events and politics. Readers of Orwell's dystopian classic sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in...

Set the Thanksgiving Day holiday table with a learning game that challenges participants to think critically about family members' likes and dislikes. Players scroll over a character to reveal what the requirements are for their...

Group members take on roles to create a positive classroom community. Learners perform their role—leader, recorder, presenter, timekeeper, encourager, and collector—in preparation for a formal presentation of their positive thinking...

Teach teens how to protect themselves from hackers, scammers, and online predators. First, class members examine their own digital footprints think critically about their online profile. Groups then generate lists of "do" and "don't do"...

How much screen time is too much screen time? Even before COVID, tweens were spending hours watching TV, playing video games, and connecting with their friends by smartphone and computers. Two activities from Kids Health get young...

Recognize risky behaviors and avoid them! That's the big idea behind two activities designed to teach middle schoolers to think critically about online safety. After reading background articles about protecting online identity,...

E. E. Cummings' "Spring is like a perhaps hand" offers young scholars an opportunity to try their hands at analyzing a simile. After a warm-up activity and a close reading of the poem, class members discuss what they think the poem is...

Six small groups perform skits that showcase positive sporting behavior. Actors highlight how players try their best, encourage others, win gracefully, think positively, show respect, and resolve conflict. A class discussion and an Exit...

Great Expectations can prove to be a challenge for instructors who choose to use Dickens's novel as required reading. Here's a curriculum guide that includes lessons that address some of these challenges. The first lesson in critical...

As a part of a study of the First Amendment, high schoolers research a current news story that seems to involve one of the freedoms granted by the First Amendment. Investigators decide whether they think the action presented in the story...

Encourage scholars to complement themselves. An activity challenges pupils to think of their strengths and complete a positive statement.