Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...

Participants examine two documents related to Rosa Parks and the bus boycott, sources that challenge some of the commonly held preconceptions about Rosa Parks. They then respond to discussion questions to reinforce...

Begin your discussion about Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility before you even open the book. Kids fill in a worksheet that lists five statements about the literary themes of the novel, and then discuss their opinions as a...

Begin your unit on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with an anticipation guide that addresses the novel's themes. Kids read ten statements that discuss love, friendship, and growing up, and determine whether or not...

Bring the world of video messaging into your classroom with this creative communication application. Offering the ability to create animations with customized characters, backgrounds, and recorded messages, this resource is guaranteed to...

Use a handy concept analysis guide as you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. With character descriptions, literary themes, and anticipated affective issues, the guide can help those new to using The Tempest craft...

Growing up within a culture leaves a lot of ideas and values unspoken. Take a closer look at the cultures in which your learners live with a discussion activity that addresses cultural identity and traits of those living within the...

Students engage in a study about the life of young girl in the book "Bums In The Attic". They read the narrative story while considering the first person point of view. Students write a journal that analyzes the author's style of writing.

Second graders read a story from an online picture book. After reading the story, they pretend to be Gilbert, one of the main characters and create a narrative to accompany the illustrations. They compare their narrative with that of...

Students write poetry in response to Rembrandt's landscapes and portraits. They create accompanying illustrations based on interpretations of Rembrandt's work and present them along with the poems in book format.

Students chronicle the main events in their lives so far. They draft, revise, and publish an anecdote. Students get to know their fellow classmates and they build a nurturing learning community. Students take an interest inventory and...

Students read excerpts from memoirs written by Gary Paulsen as examples of how to write a narrative piece. They identify figurative language used and then they write a memoir of their own that contains imagery and figurative language.

Twelfth graders write creatively and reflectively on 20 different events or memories that shaped their senior year. They organize memorabilia into a scrapbook with 20 entries and create a cover that represents their senior year. They...

Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources. In this American West activity, students examine photographs that reveal the cultural components of the West and then write narratives regarding the photographs.

Eleventh graders explore importance of abolitionists who worked to advance freedoms of black Americans prior to/during Reconstruction era, read and identify key concepts in Frederick Douglass's narrative, recognize how Douglass's slave...

Fifth graders practice proofreading skills. In this proofreading lesson, 5th graders check their work for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling errors. They participate in a proofreading relay where each person takes a turn fixing...

Students explore agriculture by participating in a role-play activity. In this farm to fork lesson, students ask and answer questions as though they were a specific plant about to be eaten. Students write responses to critical thinking...

Students investigate the 5 senses by reading children's literature. For this descriptive writing lesson, students read the story The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida, analyzing the story and characters as they go. Students identify the use of...

Students read The Gadget War by Betsy Duffey. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding inventors and inventions. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing, social studies, and library connections.

Pupils explore the feelings surrounded by humiliation, resentment and retaliation in the context of school violence.  In this character building lesson plan, students examine possible reasons for school violence and focus on...

In this social justice worksheet, students complete the provided requirements listed in this narrative rubric in order to research and present their findings about social justice issues they select.

Learners read and discuss poems by Robert Frost. Students collaborate in small groups to draw inferences about speakers' character and motives and to gather evidence supporting those inferences.

Students forge a compassionate link to the large numbers of people who were the victims of slavery as opposed to thinking of them simply in terms of numbers. They perform a math exercise to put the number of people in slavery into...

Fourth graders read the book, Good Dog by Alexandra Day. In this writing lesson, 4th graders re-write the story from a chosen character's point of view. This lesson can be used with many other wordless picture books.