Alliterative adjective nicknames generate stories inspired by Rosemary Wells' book Noisy Nora (also a thematic complement to any class with children who make a ruckus to get attention). Class members explore basic story elements --...

Are you looking for a way to teach sequence of events in your narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your middle school class, as it prompts young writers to create a narrative sequence map of events that have happened at school...

What steps did Henry "Box" Brown take while planning his own escape from slavery? Learners work in groups to analyze segments of Brown's narrative and identify the sequence of the most important events of his story.

What does a philanthropist do? Help your class explore philanthropy using character development and literacy ideas. Learners will define and give examples of philanthropy, listen to The Lion and the Mouse, discuss how the characters help...

Help bring subconscious stereotypes to the surface to stop it in its tracks. Pupils first read an excerpt describing the experience of prejudice and analyze how this process connects to World War II. Then, they write a creative story...

How can evidence and perspective challenge even the most well-known of stories? Through primary and secondary source analysis, think-alouds, and discussion, young historians evaluate the historical narrative of Rosa Parks across multiple...

"You are pigs." With those three simple words, the lives of the Piggott family were changed forever. Read aloud the children's story Piggybook by Anthony Browne and teach your class the importance of personal responsibility,...

People often save money, but what are the benefits and drawbacks of that action? Youngsters learn about saving, savings, and opportunity cost through the lens of a short book, called Something Special for Me.

A lovely guided reading lesson awaits you and your students. They read the book,Corn is Maize: The Gift of the Indians, by Aliki, summarize the important events of the story, and describe how corn has helped develop culture in America.

Students arrange illustrations in sequential order. In this text organization lesson, students access a webpage where they must follow the instructions to learn about the steps of pumpkin carving. Students then click and drag...

A great ESL lesson focuses on Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, and the Mayflower. Printable versions of the Mayflower, a Thanksgiving booklet, a Pilgrim house pattern, and links to other free sites that offer all sorts of Thanksgiving...

Invite your class on a ride through the American Revolution. Young historians travel through time as they explore the events that led to the foundation of the United States of America. Over the course of eight lessons, this unit...

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

What a fantastic project idea for discussing not only the history of America's expansion into the West, but for reviewing any major unit of history in your class. Pupils build stamp collections to visually represent themes of the...

How do you introduce the topic of slavery to your youngest learners? The Sneetches, by Dr. Suess, is a great introduction to the idea of being different. Read the story to your class, and discuss desegregation in...

Young scholars explore Aboriginal storytelling traditions through the spoken word and through visual culture. They listen to stories of the Dreamtime told by the Aboriginal people and investigate Aboriginal storytelling in contemporary...

Students learn how slaves communicated with each other.  In this slavery and freedom lesson, students learn how slaves used quilts as maps, learn what different quilt patterns meant, draw a picture for their class freedom quilt and...

Even the littlest learners can become art historians if they have the right training. For the activity, your preschoolers discuss the piece Long Jakes as they point out all the details they notice. They discuss what mountains and...

Students explore seasons.  For this cross curriculum weather and seasons lesson, students identify characteristics of the four seasons and sequence related pictures. Students listen to poems and stories about trees in different...

How does HIV operate at the molecular level? Pupils discover the progression from a healthy immune cell to one infected with HIV, watch an animation of the HIV life cycle, and finally identify each of the stages with illustrations...

Designed with many of the Common Core standards in mind, this 10-lesson unit is brimming with ELL strategies, teacher's notes, and the best of core instructional methods for teaching the common elements of folktales, and exploring...

Artifacts give us the privilege of learning about the past, may it be family, culture, or traditions. Here, class members learn about their family's past with the help of an artifact, or family heirloom. Once an artifact is...

Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate...

Class members explore possible career paths and consider their own passions and interests by researching job openings, career descriptions, and skills, as well as reading the success stories of experienced entrepreneurs.