Learners list criteria to evaluate credible historical sources and defend their criteria in an essay. In this historical sources lesson plan, students review information of historical sources as well as the facts and pictures.

Students explore why the need arose for laws to govern society, comparing and contrasting hunter/gatherer societies vs. agrarian societies. They write letters to the editor of the Babylonian Times, discussing their opinion of Hammurabi's...

DNA is the code for all biological traits, both plant and animal. Using an exploratory lesson, learners begin to explore the concept of a biological code by decoding word puzzles. They then extract DNA from plant cells using detergent to...

Ziggurats, cuneiform writing, the Tower of Babel, hieroglyphics, pyramids, the Great Wall. Launch a unit on ancient cultures, with a presentation that introduces viewers to ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Sumer, Egypt, Indus, and China....

Match my cereal sequence. Pupils view a sequence made by colorful cereal rings and create copies of it. Learners must either remember or write down the sequence to transport the code to another location. Scholars replicate the cereal...

Here is a cut and paste activity activity designed for older students. They fill in the blank with information about the composition of DNA, then create a DNA strand with its complimentary nucleotide chain.

Youngsters love to write on their hands, and in this fabulous activity they are actually asked to. Using numbers written on the tips of their fingers, they will learn how the binary number system works. This hands-on activity is a...

What does a future as a computer scientist look like? Pupils learn about loops in computer coding by writing a story about the future. They include the repeat until and wait blocks in the Scratch program to incorporate these loops.

Explore a trailblazing way to talk about innovation. Using the Scratch coding program, young computer scientists create innovations and write stories to accompany them. They include some of the add-ons they mastered throughout the unit.

Ahoy there! A fun computer science lesson challenges pupils to write a program that creates an ocean wave. They then develop stories to accompany their projects. All of this takes place within the Scratch coding program.

Class members look again at the end-of-unit essay prompt for A Mighty Long Way. After reviewing the requirements of the essay, they use their Gathering Evidence note-catchers and color-code the evidence that matches the two questions in...

Get your class thinking about advertising with this lesson plan. Over the course of 15 days, your class will discuss advertising techniques, study the concepts of pathos, logos, and ethos, and analyze the persuasive techniques of...

As part of a study of  Sean Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens learners write autobiographical e-mails, hold discussions, create a collage, and compose a personal mission statement. Pupils then have a...

Sometimes it's okay to text in school. Young computer scientists work in the Scratch program to write a text message conversation among friends. They use different sprites within the program to represent each side of the conversation to...

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the focus of three activities designed for readers of the autobiography.  First, class members deconstruct the title to understand Douglass's purpose in writing. Next, scholars...

Students generate more expressibe and receptive language by send emails to a friend. They improve their word processing and technology skills by sending and receiving emails. A rubric is included in this lesson plan for assessment purposes.

Your principal won't mind graffiti, as long as it's on a virtual wall. Scholars use the Scratch block-based computer language to write a program on graffiti. The program lets users place certain designs on a wall. 

Logos just make a club seem more fun. Scholars incorporate knowledge from previous lessons in the unit to write a computer program in the Scratch block-based language. Their program should help design a logo for the CS First studio. A...

AP® free-response questions are often challenging for scholars. Give them practice writing free-response questions using former questions from the AP® Biology exam on topics such as genetic mutations, cellular respiration, evolution, and...

After investigating the Black Lives Matter movement, class members do a close read of Roger Reeves' "Black Laws." They write down words and phrases that rhyme, consider the kinds of rhymes used and their function in the poem. Scholars...

Tests are no fun, but test cases are extremely helpful. Pupils work in groups to write a Java program that completes a given task. They come up with test cases to give to another group, then trade test cases to determine if their program...

Learners investigate dress codes in their school and how they compare to what courts have ruled as well as interview school administrators, students, and teachers on their views of the dress code. Learners then write a news feature about...

Match the vocabulary terms in column A with the definitions in column B. Write the letter of the definition in column B in the space next to the terms in column A.Write short answers or fill in the blank to the following questions and...

Eleventh graders will participate to brainstorm on the overhead, characteristics of an "irresponsible" adult and 5 of a "responsible" one? How do these differ if we apply these to businesses? Working in partners--Create a Code of Ethics...