The two lessons in this resource serve as an introduction to the keyboard and typing. While seated at a computer, pupils view an overhead display of the board and are introduced to the functions of the various keys. Designed for language...

What does your class want to know about William Shakespeare's The Tempest? Host a discussion about the questions high schoolers have about the play with a KWHL activity in which they write down their inquiries, what they...

"How can a magazine reflect a particular time and culture?" Using this prompt, your class explores the Victorian Era as it relates to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. They can also play the "Victorian Women's Rights" game for the year 1840...

Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

What tools do archaeologists and anthropologist use to learned about what life was like in the past. After watching West of The West's documentary Once Upon a Time that details how scientists use artifacts to establish a...

After watching the documentary Dark Water about a traditional Chumash ceremony and reading a Chumash origin story, viewers are asked to create a coat of arms and to craft an essay that details a family tradition or their own origin story.

This packet, the second in the series of support materials for the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on voyagers, contains support and enrichment activities for ELD/ESL learners.

Compare and contrast various foreign perspectives on the George W. Bush administration's plans for military action. Middle schoolers read the article "Blair and Chirac Head to U.S. to Talks and a Show of Unity." Then, they analyze...

A cross-curricular instructional activity combines poetry and history for your middle and high schoolers. The class critically examines Kipling's poem, "White Man's Burden" as historical evidence of the Imperialist ideology popular...

Young historians compare and contrast differences in the laws that regulated the activities of slaves and servants. They review and analyze a series of primary source documents to explain the social constructs related to slaves and...

Young scholars discuss the topic of anger management. In this anger management instructional activity, students learn the acronym S.P.A.M. (Stop, Ponder, Appreciate, Moment) in order to help young scholars deal with anger. Students role...

After reading on the topic of their paper, high schoolers work in pairs to assess how to write powerful, precise thesis statements. The introduction contains three statements: a universal statement, a bridge statement, and a thesis...

What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this instructional activity, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their...

Bring environmental issues into your classroom! Practice writing and peer editing research reports on global warming and the greenhouse effect. Middle schoolers can work on their research skills, their writing skills, and how to...

Help young researchers find credible sources online. Modeling with a Google search for information about Shakespeare’s Macbeth, use a computer projector or Smart Board to show class members how weak the top three search results are....

Take a close look at a number of newspapers with collection of lessons and activities. Using a poster (which can be found under the materials tab), learners examine the hard copy of a local newspaper. This leads into an exploration of...

A biography writing instructional activity with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking...

What is a KWL chart? Here is a well thought-out lesson that has learners use KWL charts to gain historical perspective. Your class examines primary sources about historical events and identifies what they know, want to know, and,...

Reinforce persuasive and argumentative writing skills with this lesson, which utilizes SchoolNet News Network's website/SNN Monthly magazine. Young writers review journalism writing styles that help them explain that writing a persuasive...

Is your opinion significant? Help your class discover the influence their opinions hold and encourage them to make a positive change in their community. To start, they get in teams and brainstorm why their school should have more healthy...

Use a fill-in-the-blank lesson plan template to enhance your guided reading lesson plans with details surrounding decoding strategies, fluency and phrasing, vocabulary strategies, comprehension, and more! 

Do you want to hear a joke about nitrogen and oxygen? NO. We all know there is oxygen in the air and that plants produce oxygen, but how was it discovered? Scholars read a handout, answer questions, and analyze material in the...

Blogs provide the motivation for this richly detailed writing lesson. After viewing blogs on various websites, class members pick topics, create a blog, and post an entry. Your bloggers then evaluate their work using evaluation sheets....