Plagiarism is the theft of intellectual property. To avoid this crime, class members learn how to create a works cited page and how to craft in-text citations. After examining a high-performance model paragraph and an example of a works...

Focusing on the consequences of the hunter-gatherer food chain that Michael Pollan discusses in The Omnivore's Dilemma, teams work together to create hunter-gatherer food chain consequences charts. Next, scholars view other groups'...

It's time to gather nuts, berries, and lots of information. Scholars continue on their quest to determine the consequences of each of Michael Pollan's food chains from The Omnivore's Dilemma. Using research questions developed in a...

Class members dig into the expectations for the end-of-unit assessment for A Mighty Long Way by studying the rubric. The Rubric Criteria strips help pairs of readers look more closely at specific rubric points. They share ideas with the...

Read like a writer. Scholars read a model literary analysis in preparation for a similar writing assignment before annotating each paragraph for the gist. Next, pupils devise a list of qualities of a strong literary analysis essay. 

Transitions are the glue that link paragraphs together. Pupils listen to a mini lesson plan on sentence structure and transitions and use what they learned to revise their informative consumer guides. Next, they self-assess their writing...

Analyze, strategize, synthesize! Scholars analyze informative consumer guides to determine what features to include in their own guides. Next, pupils select charts and images to use in their guides.

Not all sandwiches are edible. Scholars use a Quote Sandwich graphic organizer to draft the written content of their informative consumer guides. Additionally, they view a mini-lesson on formal writing. 

Twenty prompts reinforce scholars' writing skills of essays and poems. Prompts cover topics such as superpowers, holidays, the weather, and more!

Put children's descriptive writing skills to the test with these fun collaborative writing activities. Presented with the picture of an object, young writers are are tasked with creating a description that provides enough detail for...

Looking for something to write about? Try out one of the prompts from three and a half pages of ideas. The list includes a variety of different topics that you can pick and choose from when planning a writing assignment or unit.

Imagine four pages of writing prompts. Although designed specifically for eighth graders, the topics could be used for upper-elementary and high school writers as well.

"If you could un-invent something what would it be?" "What are you more comfortable with—routine or spontaneity?" Here's a packet of one-a-day writing prompts. Although designed for fifth graders, the topics are appropriate for any grade...

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Primary graders write about an animal that interests them, describing what it looks like, where it lives, and what it eats.

Who is the greatest US president? George Washington? Abraham Lincoln? FDR? Find out the opinions of your young historians with this cross-curricular writing prompt that engages them in researching the accomplishments of these influential...

Track the progress of your fourth graders' reading and writing skills with this practice Common Core assessment. Based on a collection of six reading passages that include narrative stories, poetry, and a series of...

The end of the year has arrived, which means it's time to find out exactly what your fifth graders have learned over the past few months. With the help of this Common Core-designed assessment that includes two narrative passages and...

Check in on the development of your fifth graders' reading and writing skills with this Common Core-designed assessment. Given a series of six reading passages ranging from narrative stories to informational texts, young...

The last instructional activity in this unit about human rights consists of a final assessment. To demonstrate the skills your class has acquired throughout this unit, they will work with a new article entitled "From Kosovo to the United...

Third graders read primary and secondary sources as the study about schools in the early years of Kansas. For this primary and secondary source lesson, 3rd graders examine how historians use primary source documents to tell about the...

Students create a cookbook.  In this recipe and writing lesson, students brainstorm the skills necessary to follow a recipe, watch a cooking show and write down a recipe used.  Students use a word processing program to write a...

In this grammar activity, students review, define and write each one in a grammatically sound sentence. Students share their sentences with their classmates.

Twelfth graders research historical turning points, gather-data, and extrapolate possible alternate outcomes. They work individually to choose one historical event from Attachment D, Historical Turning Points. Students complete either...

In this reading comprehension worksheet, 4th graders will read a 3 page expository passage about Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. They will then answer 10 questions based on the passage.