Celebrate the arrival of winter with a reading of Jack Ezra Keats' book The Snowy Day. Engaging children by asking them about their own experiences in the snow, the teacher goes on to read the story...

Some books are perfect for drawing connections between multiple subjects. The book Hill of Fire becomes the hub for three very different, yet related activity ideas. First the class hones their oral language skills by creating an...

In the eyes of children the world is a simple place, objects are either big or small. This simple activity aims to expand the comparison language of young mathematicians as they use the words taller and shorter to compare their...

This mini-lesson about informal letter writing is packed with a lot of information about writing a friendly letter. Class members begin by working in pairs to answer questions after reviewing letter models. Then, take part in a grand...

As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the...

Explore what it takes to service the Hubble telescope. In the set of three activities, groups investigate several aspects of the Hubble telescope, including robotic arms used during repairs, spacesuits, and extravehicular activity (EVA)...

Chris McCandless's life, adventures, and untimely death is the subject of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction work, Into the Wild. A thorough crossword puzzle includes quotes, characters, and key details from the book as clues.

Kathryn Stockett's The Help opened up a rich, vivid world of strong female characters and stark societal injustices. As high schoolers read the novel, they complete a crossword puzzle that includes clues from all chapters of the book.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a strange tale indeed, but a crossword puzzle based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic story is pretty straightforward. Help learners review key facts and quotes from the book in a quick...

A thorough set of activities, articles, and reference material can enlighten your class about the history of whaling in New England. Kids travel back to a time when whale products were valuable and hunting whales was a way to help the...

Kids learn best when asking questions about what they have read. Encourage active reading with a comprehension activity based on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, in which kids read passages from the beginning of the book and identify...

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai is an inspirational tale of heroism through adversity. Focus on the key details of the book with a quick review...

Does learning to write leave your kindergartners in tears? Use these easy and memorable strategies to guide their pencils in the right direction. With cute illustrations and simple instructions, your learners will be writing paragraphs...

Who is taller? And who is the tallest? Help your Spanish language learners express comparison by teaching them about comparatives and superlatives. The first part of the webpage includes in-depth explanations with examples of...

A great way to connect social studies with language arts, a resource on Mary Henry's historical diary reinforces the concepts of primary and secondary sources. It comes with an easy-to-understand lesson plan, as well as the reference...

Young mathematicians fold and flick their way to a deeper understanding of statistics with a fun, hands-on math unit. Over the course of four lessons, students use paper footballs to generate data as they learn how to create line...

Researching facts about owls can be a hoot for your class. Let them wisely collaborate on this writing project. The resource is the second part of three parts. It is best to use all three lessons in order. 

Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and...

How has our relationship to energy changed over time? An engaging exploration challenges learners to create a timeline showing human energy needs and uses over time. Scholars review what timelines are, choose a 50-year period in history...

As the story unfolds, readers discover Matilda has a superpower. Take part in an activity that has learners talking about what superpower they would have, how they would use it, and how it could help others. Then, after reading the...

Looking for a lesson that teaches class members how to analyze nonfiction? Use Joseph McCarthy's famous "Enemies from Within" speech as a instructional text. Worksheet questions direct readers' attention to the many historical...

What do a pair of stinky socks and a toy hamster have in common? The third lesson plan in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl uses silly objects to teach about figurative language. Zany pranks and role play...

Present the facts. Scholars create presentations of their research on DDT using their Cascading Consequences chart and a Stakeholders Impacts chart as visuals. They discuss the term stakeholders and create a Stakeholders Impacts chart...

Kids compare what printed text looks like with the naked eye and under magnification. They discuss the extremely small scale that must be used to measure the size. They learn about the micrometer unit, then draw scale models of a variety...