As an assessment of their skill in crafting a compare and contrast essay, class members read and compare the portrayals of nature in excerpts from naturalist John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra and from poet Emily Dickinson's...

Learn more about the work of Gwendolyn Brooks with a language arts lesson. Young learners read an informational passage about the acclaimed poet before attempting a shape poem of their own.

The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...

Students take a stand on whether or not London could be dubbed a "nature faker." They support their position with evidence either historical or from the text. Students write an essay, complete with hypothesis and textual support, on...

Learners examine how Jack London tells a story from the point of view of an animal. They read and discuss primary source documents, analyze text and excerpts, complete a chart, and explore various websites.

Twelfth graders research the history of how a particular environmental issue moves through the Conservation Movement. They create timelines that show the progression of public sentiment and the legislation about the issue.

Teach your class about the Declaration of Independence while giving them practice working as a team. The resource breaks participants into groups and has them answer questions about specific grievances from the Declaration of...

Students work to preserve American National Parks. For this environmental activism lesson, students research the history of the national parks and determine why they were created. Students then focus on protecting the land, using it for...

Students red and discuss an example of a biographical essay. They read The Last of the Falling Tide by Car Hiassen, answer factual questions concerning the work, and create their own story about a natural place they are familiar with ,...

Young scholars examine the geography, politics and history of their local town of New Haven, Connecticut. Using the internet, they explore the neighbors of New Haven and write directions from their house to school. In groups, they...

The characters in The Grapes of Wrath come to life through an activity that asks groups to craft a dramatic monologue for a character in John Steinbeck's National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning novel.  Writers are...

Students research some of the men and women who help to raise the environmental consciousness of the American people through their writings and drawings. They write a persuasive piece about an outdoor place which will connect their...

Students formulate theories about the Lewis and Clark Expedition about its purpose and impact on America. They write position papers supported with facts discovered in their research. Students include quotes, factual references, maps,...

Third graders examine ancient world civilizations and the mythologies they created to explain natural phenomena, as well as the writers and poets who wrote about the mythologies.

Students investigate the history of dinosaurs, as real animals. In this dinosaur lesson plan, students examine basic concepts that help them understand the history of all life. Included in this article is information on the world of the...

Students write a poem. In this writing instructional activity, students learn about Gwendolyn Brooks, a famous poet. Students discuss shape poetry and how it is written. Students choose an object from nature and write their own shape poem.

Young scholars view the film "Dogs: The Early Years" from PBS then participate in different activities revolving around dogs. After researching different breeds, students select a dog that best fits their personality and living...

What do you call a tiny collection of galaxies? A puny-verse! Young scholars graph data gathered by scientists studying Cepheids. They attempt to identify a relationship between the variables through standard and logarithmical...

Students discuss the characteristics of the literary genre known as "Southern Gothic". They write an analysis of the short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor.

Students follow a bookmaking format to create a book and use it as a garden journal. In this science journal lesson, students follow book making directions to create a garden and science journal.

Students examine a selection of traditional African artwork that portray women and explore postcolonial African literature created by women in order to gain insight into the lives of some black women in Sub-Sahara Africa.

High schoolers examine lives, philosophies, and political beliefs of four Enlightenment Thinkers: Baron de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Students then work with partner to write short speech from...

Students gain a greater understanding of how political borders impact human and environmental development. Then, either individually or as a class, establish a correspondence with a Peace Corps volunteer working in Africa.

Students examine historical events of the 1920s, World War II and the Cold War. They discover how literature reflects the economic, political, social, religious and historical concerns of a culture. Students compare literature writings...