Sixth graders describe the defining characteristics of major world civilizations from political, social, and economic perspectives. They compare and contrast the religions in terms of leaders, beliefs and locations.

Second graders read a short passage along with the teacher to pull out various transportation related words. They analyze each of the chosen words by creating a chart which helps them think about the similarities and differences of each...

Have you used the directed reading thinking activity in your classroom? Doubling as either a prereading strategy, or a during reading strategy, it helps readers connect the historical background of the text to the text itself. As the...

Jamie Ford’s historical novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, explores the relationship between a young Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl set against the backdrop of Seattle during World War II. The teaching...

Work on identifying the different parts of a newspaper with your English learners. After reviewing newspaper terminology, pupils pair up and complete a scavenger hunt, looking for specific things in the newspaper and recording their...

First graders read and discuss several stories. They share information about different types of shelter around the world. They explain that lifestyles and shelter depend very much on where people live and how they use the resources...

Middle and high schoolers work in groups to research tales of King Arthur, using primary sources. They present the major themes and symbols from these stories, and discuss how they still relevant in today's world. Use this lesson to...

Where is it? Place a favorite classroom object (a stuffed animal perhaps) around the room and have your young language learners give you directions to find it. They have to tell you whether you should go straight, turn right, etc....

Elementary schoolers discover that the world is at their fingertips as they acquire new vocabulary. Several suggested activities and strategies are provided here, building new reading and oral vocabulary. 

Second graders work with multiple meaning words. They participate in a teacher led lesson about words with have more than one meaning. Everyone completes a skill building worksheet in which sentences using words with more than one...

Young writers study similes and then complete a writing activity for similes. They complete a teacher-led activity for similes and then work independently to write sentences using the given similes. A solid instructional activity!

It's never too early to connect children with the real world meaning of their work. A series of four one-hour sessions, plus a field trip, make up this unit on college and career readiness for first and second graders. After viewing a...

What do families around the world have in common? Explore this theme through the popular animated film My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki. Over the course of two days, pupils view the film, pausing to discuss their own families and the...

Use the list-group-label strategy to introduce your class to In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. The teacher begins by writing a word on the board (dictatorship is suggested here), and then the kids write as many words...

Here is a rather esoteric resource that presents the archetypes found in “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” and would be appropriate for a college-level psychology or literature class, or as a teacher resource. Considered the “world’s oldest...

Students read folktales from around the world comparing two of them using a computer generated Venn diagram. They create a game based on a folktale and use software to create a listening library of folktales.

The underlined pronouns in 20 sentences need correction because they don't agree with their antecedents. Your emerging copy editors provide the correct pronoun. The learning exercise can be printed or used interactively online. Check to...

Why is spelling important? Develop your class' spelling skills. They examine examples of homonyms, heteronyms, and creative spelling. They also photograph misspellings in the real world in order to discover the importance of spelling...

Students explore world culture by conducting an art project in class. In this Native American culture lesson, students identify the types of materials American Indians utilized in their artistic endeavors, specifically clay. Students...

Prior to reading Maus I and II, class members fill in a KWL chart to determine what they want to learn and how to find information about World War II and the Holocaust. Consider gathering packets of information and research sites before...

Students conduct research and explain in a speech why Japanese Canadians were not a threat to Canada during the Second World War.

Here is an impressive collection of lessons on sharks. In them, pupils undertake a serious study of sharks, their habitats, their social structure, and how humans adversely impact their existence. These lessons effectively integrate...

Almost every ancient culture observed the stars and saw pictures in the patterns. Studying stars allowed them to guide travelers, determine when to plant crops, when to harvest food, and the stories surrounding the images include some of...