The American Revolution brought freedom to select groups and ignored others. An enlightening resource highlights the struggle of African Americans during the American Revolution and their efforts to escape slavery. Scholars analyze...

Just like the colors and techniques used to create a vivid image, learners will use exceptional language to create vivid stories. They examine the techniques used to tell a visual story in the painting, Road to Santa Fe. They then use...

As we all know, some clothing has a way of letting us know a little something about the person wearing it. Kids explore the idea that clothing can be a form of communication and artistic expression. They analyze a Native American textile...

Drag queens in thigh-high shiny red leather boots! Welcome to Kinky Boots, the Tony Award-winning musical about a young man trying to save his family-owned shoe-making business. With an engaging story line and songs by Cyndi Lauper, the...

When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...

Focus on the literary elements of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with a concept analysis sheet. With suggestions and explanations for many of the book's concepts, vocabulary, and other issues that may arise in...

Being a historian requires serious sleuthing. They examine primary source documents and look for evidence, for clues that reveal who wrote the document, when, and why. After watching two historians model the process, young history...

Ninth graders explore the concept that education is related to freedom. In this human rights lesson, 9th graders read The Narrative of Frederick Douglass. Students dialogue about their readings and education as it relates to human...

Students improve their' writing by incorporating photography into descriptive and narrative writing exercises. They write descriptions of various professional photographic collections. Later they use their own and other classmates'.

High schoolers read a variety of narratives from fugitive slaves, discuss the many reasons slaves had to leave and what dangers they faced when living as a fugitive. They write and present a fictional narrative incorporating their...

Students read several slave narratives that comment on the ways in which slaves were transported from market to market. They write three original pieces expressing the viewpoint of a man, woman and child in captivity.

Third graders develop basic narratives. They retell a focused story and create a basic publication using available resources (e.g., pictures, colors, computer, copier). They experiment with different forms of creative writing (e.g.,...

Fifth graders study how to form paragraphs. In this writing lesson, 5th graders discuss why it is important to have paragraphs in their writing. Students also explore the rules writers use to know where to begin a new paragraph and then...

Students in a Spanish class are introduced to the techniques of creative writing. In groups, they focus on the pre-writing section of creative writing and keep a folder of their works throughout the instructional activity. They end the...

Students read various examples of children who lived in hiding during the Holocaust. Using the texts, they identify commonalities between the children and create a timeline of events. They read a first person narrative of hiding and...

Third graders gain an appreciation for writing, analyzing, reading and listening to poetry, viewing poems as a motivation for studying Japanese culture and tradition. They study and create their own haiku and tanka poems with illustrations.

Students write an essay. In this comparison lesson, students read about a child's typical day on a fair trade cocoa farm in the Dominican Republic. Students write about a typical morning of a child in the US and make comparisons.

Young scholars analyze the use of language, including non-standard written and oral English. They write persuasive, descriptive, narrative and/or evaluative pieces in response to the story read and keep reflection journals. Finally,...

Words can hurt! But self-esteem can blunt the impact. That's the takeaway when discussing the themes in Sharon G. Flake's powerful novel The Skin I'm In. A discussion guide leads groups through a study of this narrative of a girl...

Students study the concept of the westward expansion. In this exploration of the western U.S. lesson, students participate in different activities that explain economic hardships, jobs, and land opportunities. Students describe...

Approach the topic of popularity with this resource from the New York Times and their Learning Network series. The article is about Alexandra Robbins' "Quirk Theory." Learners respond to the article excerpt either on paper or...

Explore women's history through films and filmmaking. An innovative research project prompts class members to create their own screenplay about a figure in women's history. After outlining their characters, settings, and plots, young...

Young writers examine dialogue conventions, including indentation, quotation marks, and expressing thoughts and feelings through a fictional text. By noticing where and when authors use dialogue, they decide how to incorporate dialogue...

Scholars read two texts about Miné Okubo’s life. In Riverside’s Miné Okubo and Miné Okubo, readers gather information to write narrative essays describing how Okubo became visible again. The essay serves as part of a performance task.