What's the future of biotechnology? Explore a hot topic in the fourth and final unit in a series of Biotechnology lessons. Learners develop an understanding of the many issues in bioethics, then create an argument for or against the role...

Observe a flatworm as it regenerates its own head. A laboratory exploration asks learners to cut a planaria worm at different locations and then observe it regenerate. Using data collected during the exploration, they make conclusions...

Jack the Ripper terrorized London in the late 1800s. An educator's guide for the novel The Name of the Star places the historical figure in a modern context. Readers complete a pre-reading activity before answering a series of discussion...

Little Man, in Vince Vawter's Paperboy, is a great baseball player, but due to stuttering he'd rather not speak to a soul. Scholars read how Little Man deals with his fears as they use vocabulary words to complete sentences,...

Scholars develop social awareness by exploring the concept of similarities and differences. Learners examine two beverages and use a Venn diagram to identify similarities and differences. They tally each item to identify if they are more...

Three creative activities follow reading a fiction and nonfiction book about heroes. Scholars build hero action figures out of clay for make-believe play, explain in written form how they show bravery, kindness, patience, thoughtfulness,...

When people look in a mirror, they rarely see themselves as others see them. Tweens and teens can consider the significance of these disparities in a lesson plan that asks them to reflect on the kind of person they are and how they think...

One of Aesop's fables begins with a instructional activity about cooperation and teamwork. Scholars listen carefully, taking note of the moral of the story. The class discusses their findings and why working with others makes work...

Karen Russell's short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" has a unique structure that adds value to the story. With the fourteenth activity in a unit about literary analysis and textual support, analyze how Russell has...

How does Shakespeare develop the character of Claudius in the first Act of Hamlet? Using a helpful resource, pupils complete a Quick Write to answer the question. Readers also work in small groups to discuss the characters of Claudius...

As part of their study of A Midsummer Night's Dream, class members meet in a drama circle to discuss and role-play scenes from the play. They then engage in an activity called World Cafe, analyzing the characters' actions from the text....

Is the secret to success turning an interest into a career? Eleventh graders explore the occupation-interest connection in a career education lesson. Individuals first take an interest inventory and then create a presentation about a...

Address the ways Piggy and Simon try to prevent the other boys from becoming savages in William Golding's Lord of the Flies with an informative slideshow presentation. The slides portray an in-depth comparison of the...

Is our car bigger than theirs? Is this car better than than that one? Use comparative and superlative adjectives of provided verbs to complete twenty sentences.

Combine art, math, language arts, drama, and delicious Jell-o with a instructional activity based on the African folktale Anansi and the Tug o' War. Kids make predictions and discuss plot points of the story before joining in...

Discussion doesn't always need to be spoken. Before you begin The Tempest by William Shakespeare, have kids connect their ideas and experiences to central questions of the play with a silent discussion activity. Once they have...

Step into the shoes (or sandals, perhaps?) of Odysseus, a member of his crew, or another character featured in Homer's enduring classic, The Odyssey. and send a letter back telling the world your side of this great adventure story.

C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the anchor text for a three week unit that focuses on responsibilities, ethics, and virtues. While specific lesson plans are not included in this overview, a focus and discussion...

What would the characters of Pride and Prejudice say to each other in a letter? Draft unsent correspondence between characters from Jane Austen's novel. A great way to explore characterization and plot structure in a creative lesson.

Practice color words and following instructions with a set of worksheets. Kids read each description on the side of the page about a person's hair color and clothing colors, and color the parts of the illustration accordingly.

Designed for teachers, this 12-page packet uses passages from Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" to model how to design activities that encourage close reading of complex text.

Using deductive skills and reasoning based on the data provided about a family's blood genotype, blood phenotype, chromosomes, and genetic conditions, 9th graders answer the questions below. The conditions discussed are Down Syndrome and...

Students look at the behavioral characteristics of their peers from a historical perspective, and realize that, in the larger scheme of a community, these behaviors do have some value, and that a society as complex as ours does need the...

Eighth graders investigate the concept of nature versus nurture in human development through this series of lessons.