“It was a dark and stormy night.” Thus begins the 1830's novel Paul Clifford and, of course, all of Snoopy’s novels! Encourage young writers to craft settings for their stories that go beyond Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s often-mocked phrase...

Discover activities to help learners increase self-awareness, build peer and family relations, and develop positive self-esteem. Here you'll find six suggestions for instilling a sense of confidence and self awareness in youngsters. Each...

Dear Nancy, how do you analyze a letter? Love, Trez. Dear Trez, you use a Letter Analysis Worksheet. Love, Nancy. This richly detailed worksheet provides multiple questions that lead researchers step-by-step through the process of...

If you've ever looked at the US immigration system, you know that it is complex and a source of controversy. An insightful lesson plan encourages learners to conduct their own analyses of the US immigration system by asking them to...

It was the single bloodiest day in Civil War history. Now, class members have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Antietam using an interactive website. Supplemental resources include...

The Great Gatsby, The Jungle and study HRC's Teaching the American Twenties-The Dream Factory are the focus of this lesson, Your high schoolers will rewrite a small scene from the novel into a dramatic film scene and then create a...

Kids who need extra support with the concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic unit on silly stories, will benefit from this packet packed with skill builders, activities, exercises, and practice sets.

Conflict is everywhere—but is it avoidable? The first activity in a series of 15 peacebuilding lessons examines the nature of conflict at home, school, and across the world. Learners develop a definition of conflict through group work...

Start out your alphabet practice right using this phonics and printing instructional activity. Pre-readers begin by tracing and printing lowercase letters a and b and adding them to an incomplete alphabet at the bottom....

Which of these pictures begins with this sound? Learners focus on letters g and h in this alphabet practice instructional activity. They trace and print each letter and add them to an incomplete alphabet. Then, they...

Students create a movie from the material they have learned during the unit covering the American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Following the method used by Truman Capote, class members research a major character from his novel, In Cold Blood, and then conduct an interview with that character. The resulting research is used to craft a newspaper article about the...

Get your pupils thinking about some of the big ideas present in Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson with this anticipation guide. Learners decided if they believe a series of statements are true or false. A discussion follows.

Here's a calendar that helps readers keep track of the major events in The Wednesday War.

Upper elementary historians research a legendary person who had an impact in the the history of the United States. Learners research the life of their person of choice, and construct a legendary timeline using computer software which...

Examine the characters in Willa Cather's My Antonia with a group project. Small groups illustrate their chosen character on a large piece of paper and choose quotes from the text that tell about the character. Where learners choose...

Students recognize that density determines whether objects sink or float.  In this sink or float lesson, students experiment with plastic in three liquids. students drop their objects into the liquids and observe and record their...

Chapter II of John Milton's Paradise Lost provides the text for a series of comprehension questions crafted using Bloom's Taxonomy.

When is it okay to go against authority and what can happen if you do? This is the leading question in this activity to accompany your classroom reading of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. After reading...

Every culture has a set of social skills one must learn to establish and maintain relationships. Some of these skills are particular to a culture and some are universal. Class members practice using appropriate language,...

Immerse your class in the Middle Ages with a thorough history lesson. After viewing examples of illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, they discuss how these were the mode of keeping and storing information...

Students discuss the importance of systems of the human body and ways each has its own function while relying on the others. Students work in groups to research their assigned system. They complete a report. Students take virtual tours...