Before any of us can learn to enjoy a trip to an art museum, we need to learn how to behave. This list of activities describe the behavior expected on a trip to an art museum. Each behavior comes with an activity intended to demonstrate...

Coming up on the Olympics? Be sure your middle schoolers understand the dynamic and ancient history of this global tradition. They begin by recalling traditions parents have passed down, considering their relevance and ways they might be...

Middle and high school students engage in enameling and apply design elements. They study the history and tradition of Cloisonne. The history of traditional Chinese Cloisonne dates back over 700 years, with the most beautiful, artistic...

Learners examine World War I poetry for historical context, poetic devices, and participate in a class discussion. They write an analysis of the poetry's form and its content.

Celebrate Black History Month with this lesson, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas, text, and graphics...

Students view the film 'Black Robe,' which further develop students' abilities to see an event or era of history from multiple perspectives. After the movie, they utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan to write about what they've seen.

Take a closer look at the impact of war in this language arts and social studies lesson. Middle schoolers use primary sources to conduct research as they relate to the effects of war on children. They compare and contrast the effects of...

Dig into some prehistoric vocabulary in Bob Barner's informative book Dinosaur Bones. This works best if you introduce the primitive words before reading the story. These are the focus terms in the text: ancient, climate, extinct,...

Art does not always have to look perfectly realistic. Play with proportion and shape by stretching images. Pupils study works of art by Picasso, Cézanne, and Monet before selecting a photograph to adapt. They use a distorted grid to...

Students compare the situation of Latin American immigrants with the situation of immigrants from other areas of the world. They use media to obtain information on topics of academic interest, personal interest, and intellectual interest.

Students explore early 20th century steel making.  In this U.S. history steel making activity, students view and describe a postcard and a picture depicting exaggerated aspects of the steel industry.  Students listen to a poem...

Step into the hopeful and tragic world of Anne Frank with this lesson on reading in context. After complete a variety of activities related to the first two scenes of The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders participate in a read...

The Secret Life of Bees provides high schoolers an opportunity to connect the events in the novel to events in America’s history. After choosing a topic from a provided list, individuals research how the event affected the Civil Rights...

Teach English language learners about the week-long holiday of Kwanzaa that is celebrated around the world during December. It includes holiday-themed reading comprehension passages, phrase matching, fill-in-the-blanks, and journaling...

Portraiture, artistic expression, romanticism, and androgyny are discussed in a thought-provoking lesson. Upper graders first discuss and examine the history of portraiture and the elements common to the Romantic style. Then they turn...

Due to vandalism, war, and urban decay, many of the world's great monuments have fallen to ruin. Here is an interesting lesson plan that increases understanding of the dichotomy between what are intended as lasting tributes, and their...

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...

Your class can create colorful book boxes with recycled boxes. Versatile and fun, this project can be adapted to various lessons: book reports, history projecs, science collections, and more!

Class members compare the ways the subject of immigration is treated in The Tempest, Act I, scene ii, Act II, scene i and Act III, scene ii with patterns in American history. After tracing their own family’s journey, a series of...

Perry the dog is Sarah's best friend and her guide to the visual world. Young readers learn about guide dogs and communication with Looking Out for Sarah by Glenna Lang, through a series of discussion questions and activities.

Bring multi-cultural experiences and literature into your language arts class with this instructional activity. Here, young readers explore the points of view of first and second-generation Asian immigrants with a list of various fiction...

Review one of the most memorable cases in the history of the United States. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, young scholars read and select court transcripts and other primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys Trial of 1933....

Eighth graders create a propaganda poster. In this US history lesson students research the various sides during the Mexican-American War. They present their poster and their position for or against the war.

". . . gentlenenss is stronger than severity, water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than force." Prior to beginning Siddhartha, employ a KWHL strategy to provided your class members with the background knowledge of Hinduism,...