A 16-page packet includes three activities for a unit study of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before beginning the novel, class members identify the factors in their lives that helped create their frame of reference,...

High schoolers assess persuasive techniques in propaganda. They identify and critique rhetorical devices in primary source documents (sources are not specified, but links to sites that contain various documents are included). Groups make...

What's happening in this poem? Have your high schoolers participate in an activity about connotation and denotation. They apply the concept of connotation to a reading of Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz." Lead a discussion about...

Namely through discussion, get your opinionated scholars examining the roles of government- is it even necessary? They analyze the quote: "To be free, one must be chained," writing what it represents and then sharing. Consider...

The dialect words for types of food from across the British Isles get pupils thinking about native dialects and how they differ from Standard English. Class members create a dialect dictionary and discuss the difference between accent...

Using data related to the fish in the Hudson River area, learners calculate distance, elapsed time, and growth. They learn about migratory fish, the life cycle of a fish, analyze a map, and answer questions.

Young scholars participate in reading a story and writing a book report on the computer. They engage in computer skills such as, saving and printing their reports. They read their reports to the teacher and class.

Quotations add validity to an argument or an analysis, but how do you integrate them into your writing? Several examples are provided, and your emerging writers will surely benefit from looking at different ways to add quotations....

A Dorothea Lange photograph launches this study of metaphors. Using the questions provided, the class examines the image and the title to consider how Lange uses her photo as a metaphor. Class members then select an object they can use...

Students analyze Shakespeare's Macbeth through the reading and discussion activities. In this Macbeth lesson, students read Act IV and V and then discuss the ending to the play.

Students participate in various social studies activities in correlation to William Shakespeare's Macbeth. In this Macbeth instructional activity, students study maps of Scotland, England, and Norway to identify locations mentioned in...

In this logic worksheet, 8th graders work in groups to solve 8 math problems requiring critcial thinking skills.

Eighth graders create their survey discussing wording used in surveys and try to create one that is unbiased. They distribute the survey to the middle school but not during instructional time. They then collect and analyze the data...

Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...

Explore the Ukraine through a reading of The Mitten. Readers will determine the sequence of events, cause and effect, make predictions, and find the main idea of the story. They also use math skills to make charts and graphs. Finally,...

In China, hibiscus is known as the shoe flower because it is used to polish shoes, while in Hawaii, it is honored as the state flower. Young scientists learn about the structure and function of flowers. They dissect hibiscus...

Investigate nutrition and the food pyramid. Fifth graders will use computer software to write a paragraph about nutrition. They will then diagram the food pyramid and gather and organize a collection of healthy recipes.

War is one of the most profound human experiences in history, and is often best depicted in works of art and literature. Introduce class members to the poetry of World War I with this resource that uses John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields"...

As part of their continued investigation of the reporting of the shooting of Michael Brown class members analyze photos of Michael Brown and the social media response to these images. The class then develops a guide they...

The murder of Emmett Till is the focus of a guided inquiry that asks scholars to research the events, the trial, recent attempts to reopen the case and the effect of the murder on people today.

Students create a PowerPoint presentation detailing daily intake of nutrients. In this nutty for nutrition lesson, groups of students conduct Internet research to determine what type of nutrients should be consumed on a daily basis. ...

Sixth graders use the local newspaper to find and discuss examples of uses of statistics and the ways in which the information is presented. They create and represent their own set of data showing how students get to school each day.

Students use excel to analyze data. In this technology lesson, students enter data into the excel program to find averages and organize data.

Learners analyze Hamlet's soliloquy, "To be or not to be."  For this Hamlet lesson, students define unfamiliar words in the soliloquy and interpret the lines.  Learners then read the lines aloud and identify descriptive words....