Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...

Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. In this reading strategies instructional activity, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn...

Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...

Small groups in your physics class collaborate on researching and forming an opinion on whether or not to continue operating the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. Once the information is gathered and an argument developed,...

Observations are a key step in the scientific method. In a fun activity, kids learn more about a mammal that they know, such as their own cat, a class hamster, or a friend's dog, through making detailed observations. In addition, they...

Students explore Frederick Douglass's method of resisting slavery. In this Frederick Douglas lesson, students read a speech given by Douglas regarding his theories of resistance. Students discuss the speech and then write their own...

Fifth graders discover the value of trees in our society.  In this ecosystem instructional activity, 5th graders read the book, A Tree is Nice, and discuss with classmates how trees are essential to our existence due to creating...

Fifth graders research life in Alaska and compare life there to their lives in this lesson. They read "Julie of the Wolves." They research through the novel and other reference books facts about the Alaskan climate and geography. They...

Students prepare to write summaries of heroes. In this note-taking lesson, students listen to a guest speaker discuss the attributes of unsung heroes and take Cornell method notes.

Fourth graders read a book about debt, credit, and interest rates and write a story about these topics. In this debt and credit lesson, 4th graders read the book Four Dollars and Fifty Cents, define the terms "debt" and "credit," and...

Fifth graders read postcards and find their locations on maps. They use the pictures and text on the postcards to write about imaginary vacations. They compute the mileage and compare it to TripMaker data.

Students investigate rivers. For this geography lesson, students work in cooperative groups to read about rivers from articles they have collected. Students form questions using Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide.

Students explore the National Road to Indiana. In this U.S. highway history and primary source research lesson, students read an original journal written by Jane Voorhees Lewis in 1806 describing her trip west on the first federally...

Third graders examine themselves to evaluate their own levels of personal and social responsibility. They read the lyrics to 'The Man in the Mirror' and compose journal entries about personal responsibility.

Second graders explore religion by analyzing the state of the country. In this American creation lesson, 2nd graders read that God created the world and therefore the United States and all of the beautiful things within the country....

What is a boll weevil? Your class can find out that and more by following the activities included here. Pupils read an article, sing a boll weevil song, add to the song with their own original lyrics, illustrate the song, study the...

Young scholars read and discuss an article about Native American cooking practices before 1500. In small groups they recreate a recipe for pemmican and sample the results. They discuss how food preparation and ingredients differ from...

Students select a wide variety of presentation methods to compare Planet X and Earth. Students share these with their classmates. Students select other methods to present their ideas about a livable planet for human life forms. ...

Young scholars create their own plot-choice story after reading and discussing a commercially published plot-choice book.

Students read The Northern Migration and research immigration policies of different nations for the past and the present. They create a bulletin board or spreadsheet using their information.

Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...

Learners examine the political status of Puerto Rico. In this global studies lesson, students explore Puerto Rico and consider the feelings of Puerto Ricans regarding their unique political status.

After choosing a topic of interest, young learners use the K-W-L thinking process to create an informational, illustrated, big book. K-W-L, a three-part thinking process, asks the learner to respond to three questions: What do we know...

It's never too early to build research skills! Young scholars locate information relevant to a subject they are doing a research project on. They take notes and sort the information under main topic headings. Through research, they gain...