Here is a literature circle worksheet for students to plan an effective group meeting. Instructions are given to answer 10 questions. This form may be used for every book the group reads.

Students explore the Underground Railroad.  In this U.S. history and technology lesson, students research an assigned topic related to the Underground Railroad, such as "abolitionist," "conductor," or "station houses." ...

Fourth graders are introduced to a list of vocabulary words as it relates to the story Eleanor and Amelia Go for a Ride and a use graphic organizer to clarify the meaning of the text. In this "Eleanor and Amelia Go for a Ride"...

Suggested literature and classic books are part of this literature idea book. Ideas about how to interact with books and activities are given along with instructions for art and more. Note: This is not a typical lesson plan, but more of...

How can something be true even if it didn't happen? Invite your classes to investigate the truths found in the world of magical realism as they analyze short stories, poems, informational texts, video, and art from this genre.

Upper graders represent multiplication of a two-digit number by a two-digit number as the area of a rectangle with dimensions of the two factors. They find patterns for the number of different base ten blocks in a rectangle representing...

Introduce the concept of myths to your class. Using the link to "Myths Around the World," read a story aloud and have learners list characteristics of a myth. Readers then choose their own myths from the site and work in groups to answer...

The options are vast with this Ancient Greece and Olympics research project! Using Scholastic online resources, historians have interactive and educational supports to guide them through researching and writing about the 2004 Olympics in...

To gain a better understanding of Hispanic heritage and culture, as well as to build informational comprehension skill, learners explore facets of Hispanic American History. They engage in a class discussion, research three facts, and...

How can we estimate time? Have your young mathematicians make a clock. Then they compare and contrast types of clocks. They practice writing times in two different ways and make a book about telling time.

Help develop an awareness of the natural and manufactured environment and relate the subject matter to young learners' lives. The interpretation of the meaning of art is reinforced and its application to self and other audiences is...

A solid description of one way to teach narrative writing, this resource outlines the writing process from concept to completion. Class members create concept maps of moments in their lives and follow the writing process to publish their...

A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...

Sixth graders discover how to turn book titles into questions in order to locate the information during their reading. Using t-charts, they list titles and subtitles with the questions they suggest. Gradually, 6th graders progress from...

Students are able to evaluate their peers' essays to determine clarity, completeness, and persuasiveness. They are able to revise their own essays for greater clarity and fluency, adding explanation where needed and cutting extraneous...

Eighth graders examine some of the basics of the writing process in order to improve long-term writing goals. They apply the concepts of using speech, prefixes, and suffixes. Students use and describe the different steps of the writing...

Sixth graders discover the importance of lead sentences and practice writing them. After reading lead sentences in books, they determine the qualities that attract and hold readers' attention. Finally, once they have identified the...

Third graders select characters from books they have read to create character maps. After drawing the maps, they add the characteristics around a sketch of their chosen character. In groups, 3rd graders who have read the same book,...

Students create a computer slide show of pictures representing directional words. After listening to several books with examples, they pair words such as inside and outside, below and above, or high and low. With older students or...

Add many seconds of beauty to your class with a short film and related project. The resource centers around a competition based on one-second segments of film, and the final compilation that came from the contest. Pupils identify...

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-instructional activity on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then...

Prepare your pupils for making excellent presentations. Class members discuss elements of a successful presentation, work in groups to come up with their own scripts for the featured video, compare their work to the original...

Explore the murder mystery genre through film, discussion, and writing. The plan features several activities centered around a two-minute video that include collaboration, writing, and prediction. After the instructional activity,...

Consider the theme of beauty with discussion about what makes person beautiful and the well-known short film put together by Dove skin care. Class members examine some of the images from the film and discuss the message of the...