Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science instructional activity, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the...

What does is take to be a role model? Through grand conversation, and the use of books and a graphic organizer, scholars find out and apply the requirements to identify a role model within their family. They then journey through the...

After a grand conversation about immigration to the United States, scholars interview a family member to learn about their journey to America. They then take their new-found knowledge and apply their findings to tracking their family...

The class gets their mean and median all in a row with an assessment task that uses a population of ducklings to work with data displays and measures of central tendency. Pupils create a frequency chart and calculate the mean and median....

Take a journey with your class as they explore the different settings from Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Middle schoolers write postcards in first person as if they were the characters of the story.  

Group members role play state legislators, supporters of and opponents to the The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors). After listening to the arguments put forth for and against the immigration...

Students use the strategy turn and talk to discuss inferences they have while reading the book The Fear Place. In this inferences lesson plan, students answer discussion questions and read independently as well.

Students read a newspaper article about the historic Lott House in Marine Park, Brooklyn. They study the history of slavery in New York and uncover the secrets of a historic Brooklyn farmhouse that kept slaves and later protected them...

Students explore the role of women as soldiers during the Civil War period. They read about a young Brooklyn woman who concealed her identity to join the army and imagine how her family or fellow soldiers responded. They role play a...

Students produce iMovies to share their thoughts of friendship along with poetry creations in this technology-based lesson for the upper-elementary classroom. The lesson includes a link to a "create a poem" site and requires computers...

Fifth graders practice making inferences on various types of reading material. As a class, they develop a definition of the word "theme" and discuss themes for some of their favorite stories. They use the context of the reading...

High schoolers write a persuasive essay explaining how religion and/or spirituality serves as both a guide and a source of conflict for both an individual and their culture. They develop a definition for the terms spiritual and...

students draw what they visualize after the teacher reads a page from the book Oak Trees. They share their pictures and compare how they visualized the tree being described.

Students locate Slavic countries and identify a few characteristics of those countries. They read and/or listen to the Slavic tale, "The Twelve Months," and compare this version with another Cinderella story.

Eighth graders explore the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment.  In this US History lesson, 8th graders read and analyze primary source documents.  Students write a three minute paper demonstrating their understanding of the...

Seventh graders participate in literature circles as they read African novels. They read, work on word studies, and complete comprehension activities. They share their reading with other literature circle groups in the class.

Students engage in reading comprehension activities for the story "Pinky and Rex and the Just Right Pet". In this reading comprehension lesson, students make prediction drawings before reading the story, create new illustrations for...

Sixth graders explore ancient Greece. In this ancient civilizations lesson, 6th graders research how ancient Greece influenced modern societies. Students prepare PowerPoint presentations to share their findings with their classmates.

Young scholars listen to the story "Wilfred Gordon Mcdonald Partridge" and brainstorm about memories. They write a story describing what they would put in a memory basket when they are 80 years old.

Young scholars read and analyze an extended definition in preparation for writing an extended definition of a CHARACTER TRAIT. They use analogy as a definition strategy to tailor writing to a particular audience. Finally, students SHARE...

Students explore how different cultures commemorate people and events. They research how commemorations are created through music, painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, and poetry. In collaborative, students create a...

First graders discover predicting and clarifying skills while reading "The Old Woman and Her Pig." During the reading, they check their predictions while evaluating the characters, setting, problems, and solution. On the second day,...

Students listen to the first couple chapters in the book, Missing May by Cynthia Rylant and then sketch or write about a character or the setting, using words and phrases from the book as guides. They then discuss the chapters using the...

Students explore dwellings around the globe and conduct collaborative research on cliff dwellings, igloos, longhouses, and yurts. They then explore how different dwellings reflect environmental and cultural conditions, and they create a...