Close the unit on Esperanza Rising with an in-class analytic essay on how Esperanza changes over the course of the novel. Writers can use any of their notes and work from the unit as well as their drafts of the first two paragraphs of...

Art history projects can be a lot of fun. Budding art historians research the life, art, and times of Pablo Picasso, visit the local art museum, and create a multimedia presentation showcasing his art and personal history. Handouts,...

Seventh graders examine their school performance through self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses. They construct a line graph, plotting all courses and achievements. Students use graph paper and colored pencils for each activity. If...

The Secret Life of Bees provides high schoolers an opportunity to connect the events in the novel to events in America’s history. After choosing a topic from a provided list, individuals research how the event affected the Civil Rights...

Students explore connections between non-verbal language and art. In this visual and auditory art instructional activity, students investigate the science of sound and principles of drawing. They then use various genres of music to...

Young scholars use different pieces of music and writings to explore the theme of self-reliance and individuality. After viewing a video clip, they discuss how the images made them feel. They keep a writing journal to evaluate their...

Students survey the exploration of oneself through self-assessment and interviews by others. They organize ways to present themselves to the world through writing and artwork. They also customize research from a computer as a tool for...

Young readers demonstrate phonemic awareness in words and blends, and recognize 100 high-frequency words. Use a nursery rhyme to point out rhyming words, and change the words by putting a new letter at the beginning. Each learner will...

As your scholars begin their career study, it's important they understand their personal intrinsic values. What makes them feel rewarded? There are discussion prompts here to get learners thinking about specific careers, and they also...

A great idea for showing language arts pupils the universality of themes, even in the real world! Have class members choose an idea-noun (peace, justice, war, love, etc.) at the beginning of the year or semester. They complete weekly...

Students identify their intelligences.  In this multiple intelligences lesson, students analyze how everyone learns in different ways.  Students complete a series of worksheets to analyze their learning preferences then discuss...

Second graders practice their reading comprehension by analyzing stories they read in class. In this children's literature lesson, 2nd graders are assigned to read a book for 20 minutes each day in class and also reflect on it in their...

Students use songs to analyze their sense of identity and self-worth. In groups, they discuss and explore their own character development and discover how far they have come in recent years. They also identify the positive and negative...

Fourth graders examine and explain who they are and communicate that person to the viewer through the use of the visual arts. They think about themselves and try to find five things that represent who they are and what they feel is...

Second graders choose a "positive work habit name" and explain why they choose the selected name. They share self-assessment information about their work habits and progress from week to week. Students respond with, "I did it" anytime...

Kids evaluate world history events that show perseverance by creating artistic images. They investigate historic photographs and images which conjure up the feelings of perseverance, then utilize acrylic paints to capture the...

Writing is a process, and lesson planning is, too! A personal narrative unit stresses the writing process to pupils, who first examine various stories and poems as a model of autobiographical writing and then write their own stories....

Fourth graders explore world culture by creating an arts and crafts project in class. In this weaving lesson, 4th graders identify the Kente culture and their uses for straw and other natural elements in their communities. Students...

As your class finishes the novel Dragonwings, use these culminating projects. A vocabulary list is given for chapters eleven and twelve and either an epitaph or letter activity concludes the book. The final project consists of creating a...

Practice making predictions by looking at the cover of a book. You can use The Hungry Thing, as suggested here, or any other book you may be reading in class. Use the predictions to talk about good reading strategies. A chart is...

Merge technology and wellness. Class members complete inquiry-based research on a personal wellness issue and create an annotated bibliography, uploading their completed work to their personal wellness websites. Prior to beginning, your...

Students in a teacher education program use a jigsaw method to identify the six areas of language arts to be taught in an early childhood classroom. They describe their vision of a literacy rich environment and practices uses a KWL...

First graders listen to "Is Your Mama a Llama?" for descriptive words. They make a mask showing features of one animal. They draw a self-portrait and staple their masks onto the self-portrait. They write 3 complete sentences that...

Students discover movement and pantomime techniques in this adventurous story telling experience for kindergarten. Assessment is done through a short question and answer session and students drawing the "adventure".