Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...

Invite your class to reflect on the responsibility of newspapers to act as vehicles for citizens to voice their opinions. Using an article to gain factual info. about gov't strategies in dealing with current events in Kosovo, young...

Students research dinosaurs using text, software, and Internet resources while role playing as paleontologists. They place the information from their research in databases and publish an illustrated page about their findings.

Fourth graders examine the statistics when it comes to teens and drug and alcohol abuse. In groups, they research the side effects of four different drugs. Using the information, they perform a skit, or puppet show to share their data...

Examine the three basic nutrients and their effects on the body. Fifth graders will research data to construct a bar graph and then  demonstrate the relationship between malnutrition and food security. This is a very comprehensive...

Conduct research focused on improving a current technology by having students work in groups to investigate improvements that could be made to a particular piece of technology. They list the current problems and attempt to develop...

Examine the role of social media in social and political uprisings. Pupils listen to NPR audio clips about social media and the Arab Spring and read an article that proposes the idea that revolution will not happen through social media....

The final lesson in a skill-based series focuses on setting goals and making checklists. Class members discuss what it means to set realistic goals and practice making lists to manage their time effectively.

Young mathematicians use bags of Skittles to help them gain practice in graphing and organizing data. They work in pairs, and after they have counted and organized their Skittles, they access a computer program which allows them to print...

Introduce the background of design and designers and their role in communicating their thoughts to others. In groups, you can assign participation in a writing cluster on various designers and write paragraphs to submit to magazines. To...

Fourth graders complete a research project about the state of Michigan. They conduct Internet research, organize the information on index cards, and create a HyperStudio presentation.

Sixth graders write a reflection piece, outlining each of the decision-making steps they have used and what decision they have decided upon, which includes possible solutions, as well as possible outcomes for each solution. They also...

Eighth graders engage in a lesson that is concerned with the acquiring of skills necessary to make informed career choices. They examine the type of language that should be acquired for communication in the workplace. They also have...

“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...

Model for emergent readers how to write a story by interpreting picture clues. For guided practice a second book is used, and then pupils work independently or with an adult to write their own stories based on illustrations.

A reading of Peggy Parish's Amelia Bedelia launches a study of idioms. Groups then select several idioms, write the meaning of the expressions, draw or select images, and use GIMP or Photoshop to create an idiom book. 

Groups research participatory democracies and compare the role and rights of citizens in ancient history with those in recent U.S. history. Guided by a series of questions, individuals compose a persuasive essay in which they discuss the...

Students examine how the Jamestown settlement changed the first few years after it was founded. They take a virtual field trip of Jamestown, read primary source documents, discuss census information, and write a summary of changes in...

Even though the student handouts are not included in the write-up, this lesson contains the instructions for terrific activities to use when teaching middle schoolers about metamorphic rocks. First, they compare granite to gneiss and...

Here’s a fresh approach to establishing classroom rules at the beginning of the school year. Class groups brainstorm what they know about rules for baseball, basketball, and football. They then consider how the games would differ without...

Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...

Students examine the sequence of events that led up to the annexation of Texas to the United States. They create a timeline of significant events, analyze primary source letters from this time period, and write a letter from the point of...

This unit introduces book clubs/literature circles to lower elementary classes, but could be adapted to higher grades. It outlines the anticipatory activity that includes a WebQuest, a discussion to clarify questions about the unit,...

Young scholars explore the concept of measurement as it relates to equivalencies. They complete simple conversions using visual models of measurement units, and  record their answers in a two-column table.