After reading The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a homework assignment your class will complete a literary analysis.  Learners will analyze important element of the story and take notes to help support their...

Beware! (not only the Ides of March). Warn your researchers of the dangers of plagiarism! After defining the term, viewers are introduced to the consequences of and forms of plagiarism, as well as tips on how to avoid plagiarism....

What kind of shoe is this person? What time of day is this person? Aspiring poets’ responses to a list of questions provide descriptive words and phrases that can be crafted into a blank verse poem. A link to sample poems is provided.

Students write a one-page description of a postcard received from the teacher. After finishing, they tape postcards to the blackboard and number them. They read their descriptions, while other students guess which card the student is...

Students work in small groups to write a plan for how to do a class assignment. They remember that making plans is an adult ability and they need to practice while they are young.

Students have several discussion questions on what a biography is and how to research for information. They define the terms biography and autobiography. Students access why biographies are important.

Learners, after finishing Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr, discuss the tragedy of Hiroshima and its impact.

Fourth graders listen as the teacher reads a picture book that emphasized word choice. They discuss words and how word choice impacts a piece of writing. Students view various passages on the overhead, and highlight adjectives and verbs...

Learners write and illustrate a descriptive paragraph entitled "My Favorite Place" highlighting a dominate impression or dominant feeling in their paragraph.

Students explore the rainforest. For this environmental lesson, students work in small groups to conduct online research of various topics having to do with the rainforest. The groups construct a large poster to illustrate the concepts...

Students develop news stories for the high school paper based on current issues in the local news. Students identify different sources for articles, and develop interviews questions. In this news ideas and sources lesson plan, students...

Students discuss a narrative work of art, then write stories describing the action and publish their stories and illustrations in books.

Students examine and differentiate between rural, urban, and suburban communities. They describe their local areas, view and discuss the images on the West Virginia Quarter, and write a friendly letter describing a camping trip.

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

Students draw a map. In this map drawing lesson students draw a map to show where a character is from and where they are going in the story. Students are writing an odyssey.  

If your class loves movies, this lesson is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go see a film. The...

Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What...

Explore math concepts as they relate to real world situations. Young analysts consider a personal hobby or favorite sport and list three ways math is involved in the hobby. They create several related math story problems and write a...

Third graders investigate the concept of setting a goal within several different contexts. They participate in a game to illustrate the need for a goal and then focus upon the setting of a short term educational goal because of the age...

Students review the vocabulary terms solid and liquid. They also review that adjectives tell what kind, which one, and how many. The teacher introduces a "Oobleck" after reading "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss. The students...

How does poetry differ from other forms of writing? Class members view two writing samples, decide which one is a poem, and then identify the criteria they used to distinguish between the two samples.  

Students observe the growth of a seed into a plant. They plant their own seeds and record the growth of the plants and write about what they observe. They describe the germination of the seed and create a time line of the growth process...

Artifacts, inscriptions, and monuments. Here's an activity designed to ensure that all learners are familiar with the key terms and concepts they will need to begin a study of archaeological discoveries.

Young scholars write and illustrate original cinquains based upon the ideas of nobility and virtue. The lesson includes a vocabulary list of key terms and rubric for student reflection and assessment. This is intended for a 4th through...