What on earth is that jar for? It was an ancient incense burner used by the Maya, that was inspired by the myth of the sun god. Young analysts hear the story of the Mayan sun god, analyze the story through the artistry in the jar, and...

Some art can be difficult to interpret. Critical thinkers analyze the forms, techniques, purpose, and meaning found in the abstract piece, Blue Water. They engage in small group discussions in order to form a hypothesis as to the nature...

Who doesn't need a sidekick or protective spell? Kids examine a clay vessel from ancient Colombia as they discuss the idea of sidekicks or protective magic. They then illustrate a comic strip that represents the concept of protection in...

Art can be found anywhere, even in the class recycle bin. El Anatsui is an artist that uses found materials to create two and three-dimensional art. Kids examine his techniques, discuss the differences between found art forms, and then...

Help your scholars create a class story. They will write a page of the story and illustrate that page. Then they use a variety of digital technologies to make the story come alive. A variety of digital resources are recommended for the...

Students analyze the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In this U.S. government lesson, students examine books, movies, and music that influence them today and then investigate writings that influenced the framers of the...

Eighty-eight years after women earned the right to vote, a women ran for president. Young analysts consider the role women play in politics, how they are portrayed, the standards they are held to, and if they are still treated unfairly...

Teach kids how to watch television, specifically the news, with this creative idea for learners of all ages from the Media Awareness Network. The elementary school plan focuses on presenting news as a story and uses Jon Scieszka's story...

How do your pupils feel about reading? Hand out this survey to find of if your students read often, enjoy reading, talk about what they read, and more.

Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...

What better way to study the structures of organisms than by creating a new being? After considering different types of skeletal supports (exoskeleton and endoskeleton), budding biogeneticists work together to create their own animals -...

Encourage your pupils to think critically about media and the messages media portrays. Starting off with a quick-write about pop culture, this assignment launches into a hands-on, collaborative collage project. After creating collages,...

Chapter II of John Milton's Paradise Lost provides the text for a series of comprehension questions crafted using Bloom's Taxonomy.

Readers respond to a series of questions focused onJuliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, and crafted to reflect the levels in Bloom's Taxonomy.

Not all linear functions are linear transformations — show your class the difference. The first lesson in a unit on linear transformations and complex numbers that spans 32 segments introduces the concept of linear transformations and...

Instead of the typical function application problems, learners think a little deeper through these ten problems. Multiple types of functions are represented and the questions add a variety of thinking to practice their skills. 

Share your thoughts. Scholars use Think-Pair-Share to answer questions related to Louie in Unbroken. The class completes the Becoming Visible Again anchor chart to understand the text's theme better. They write an example of Louie...

After reading about how engineering has made adaptive devices possible for people with disabilities, pupils work in groups to discuss different devices to determine whether or not they are adaptive. They also disassemble a pair of...

Identify the author's organizational pattern for expressing ideas. After reading an article on the California Gold Rush, middle schoolers determine the author's purpose for writing a passage of informational text. A full list of...

Students work in groups to create a storyboard about their video. They shoot a video designed to teach others to connect the computer and camcorder and how to capture video in Adobe Premiere Elements editing program.

Learners discuss Sol LeWitt and conceptual art, then analyze the differences in expressing a concept through model-based inquiry and aesthetic art criticism. They develop a geometric, scientific, or mathematical concept, then create an...

This lesson is intended for a music class but would be a great way to teach compare and contrast to any class. Kindergarteners dance the Hokey Pokey to four different styles of music and examine two paintings of Humpty Dumpty, then...

Kids compare and contrast knowledge of the Vietnam War. They consider what they know and how their knowledge has changed after listening to oral histories from the war. They compare the understanding of the war from the perspective of...

This lesson is preparation-intensive, but well worth the investment. You will construct five or six portable testing stations with which lab groups will gather data on the best position for collecting sunlight with a solar panel. This is...