Learners listen to data on African American women in Texas before the Civil War. For this Civil War lesson, students compare and contrast the lives of slave and free women, and discuss case studies, locating areas on a map. Learners...

Are you looking for a way to teach sequence of events in your narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your middle school class, as it prompts young writers to create a narrative sequence map of events that have happened at school...

Starting with a quote by Charles Dickens from A Tale of Two Cities, the slides featured in this presentation go into thorough detail about the French Revolution. It includes portraits of key historical figures, maps, and demographic...

Each one of our quarters is embellished with a famous face or image representing the state it came from. This activity uses South Dakota's state quarter to get kids thinking about monetary value, what the president of the United States...

What can a quarter possibly teach young learners about desert ecosystems? More than you might think. After displaying and discussing the included picture of the Arizona state quarter, the class participates in a series of...

A complete activity! The class reads the provided text, then answers the 7 critical-thinking questions. Topics covered are interpreting informational text, reading comprehension, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and US Policy. 

How did we grow into such a large nation? Follow the events, wars, and treaties that led to the acquisition of major states as we expanded into the West. The slides provide maps, dates, and simplistic information to help learners...

Investigate the growth and development of New York City with the final lesson in this four-part series on skyscrapers. Learners first explore the concept of urban growth by looking closely at a series of three paintings made of Wall...

Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...

A fish that lives in the desert? You and your class can meet the desert pupfish as they examine its habitat, the role humans play in diminishing water supplies, and how climate change might impact this fishy friend. There are four short...

Reading is fantastic, especially when it's reading about bullfrogs. Kids get cozy with predator/prey relationships as they hone their information-reading skills. They start out as they read a portion of the text aloud, then they...

Get started with The Cay. First, provide some background information and images that relate to the novel. Then pupils can create double-entry journals. Once that is complete, read the first two chapters, encouraging individuals to record...

Invite your young historians to demonstrate how the American Revolution truly was one crazy ride after another as they design a theme park! This unique and engaging project prompts learners to consider major events leading up to and...

Explore the concepts of community and point of view with these activities complementing the children's book Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Following a class reading of the story, ask students to either draw a map of the...

This 97-slide PowerPoint uses Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember, to illustrate the elements of a story. Setting, plot, characterization...

Skills, talents, and personal qualities are the focus of the fourth session in a 23-lesson series of life skills exercises. Participants build a mind map of all the skills and talents in the class, and then groups work together to...

Show young readers how to use evidence from the text in an activity about making predictions. After reading five short passages, kids note what they think will happen next based on what they have read, and include the evidence that...

Thinking of assigning a research paper? Get writers off on the right foot with a instructional activity that introduces the BEAM research model. Writers brainstorm the background of their topic, explicate the aspects of their topic,...

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...

Strive to think outside of the quadrilateral parallelogram. Worksheet includes two problems applying prior knowledge of area and perimeter to parallelograms and trapezoids. The focus is on finding and utilizing the proper formula and...

Researchers think they have evidence of a new planet deep in our solar system that is the size of Neptune and orbits the sun far beyond Pluto. The orbit simulator shows the orbits of our well-known planets, as well as Pluto and the comet...

Use a performance task to assess third graders' ability to read informational text. After they plan a lemonade stand business, young entrepreneurs implement that plan through informational writing. The task assumes learners can...

What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination? Between collaborators and bystanders? Guilt and responsibility? Prompt learners to think critically about a very complex and textured topic with an innovative packet...

If you think you can do better, feel free to give it a try. Pupils learn about the work on Temple Grandin and consider ways to improve animal handling facilities. They work in groups to build models to showcase their ideas.