Students explore the basic steps of writing an informative five paragraph essay. Using a hamburger as an analogy, students discuss the five part method of writing and, given blank hamburger sheets, they fill in the main parts of the...

Explore a real-word math problem with your class. Strengthen their problem-solving strategies by coming up with an answer to a money question. They work in groups to determine the answer. Also, they share with the class the various...

What's this all about? Scholars learn the importance of summarizing skills using a summary writing graphic organizer. They work with an elbow partner to discuss summaries and complete the organizer using Middle Ages Excerpt 1. Learners...

Encourage your young writers to thoughtfully plan and organize their work. First, model how this is done and vocalize your thought process as you work. Next, create a class list of strategies that they can use during independent writing...

Time for pupils to use their imagination! Learners examine the relationship between a system with no real solution and its graph. They then verify their discoveries with algebra. 

What is the big idea? Scholars use Middle Ages Excerpt 2 to complete a summary graphic organizer. They then use the information from the organizer to write a summary of the text on lined paper. Learners share summaries with the class.

Begin class with a short comprehension quiz and review and then move into a new genre: two-voice poems. The activity provides information about this type of poetry as well as a video example made by eighth graders that you can show your...

When your class members have completed the novel Esperanza Rising, they will be ready to write an expository essay on how Esperanza responds to events and what this says about her character. Set your pupils up for success by...

Planning is the key to success. Scholars continue planning their essays by adding reasons to their Planning My Argument graphic organizers. Additionally, pupils analyze a body paragraph from a model position paper, identifying the...

It's time to refine writing and word choice. Learners work on Part 1 of their end of unit assessment by creating an essay titled What Makes a Hurricane a Natural Disaster? They use glossaries and graphic organizers from previous...

Step up! Using the resource, scholars discover the six steps to writing an effective position paper. Next, they work on a graphic organizer to begin planning their argument-based essays.

Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...

Character analysis isn't always earth-shattering. Using a graphic organizer, pupils analyze Moon Shadow's point of view following the earthquake in Laurence Yep's Dragonwings. Also, scholars co-create an anchor chart showing the...

Finding the central idea in a text is equally important in fiction and nonfiction. Work on analyzing a piece of writing for the central idea with Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," complete with supporting...

That's a double whammy! Scholars read the excerpt Double Whammy from The Exterminator. After identifying the gist of the text, they annotate by marking the author's claim. The group discusses what is meant by double whammy and...

It's all in the presentation. Readers take a look at author's presentation in the article Rachel Carson: Sounding the Alarm on Pollution. Scholars work together to complete a Comparing and Contrasting Authors’ Presentation graphic...

Examine the meaning and purpose of vectors. Use the lesson to teach your classes how find the magnitude of a vector and what it represents graphically. Your pupils will also combine vectors to find a resultant vector and interpret its...

Investigate the components of vectors and vector addition through geometric representations. Pupils learn the parallelogram rule for adding vectors and demonstrate their understanding graphically. They utilize the correct notation and...

You don't need to be discreet about using the resource on discrete variables. In the fifth installment of a 21-part module, scholars explore random variables and learn to distinguish between discrete and continuous random variables. They...

Use 2x2 matrices to move along a line. The second day of a two-day lesson is the 28th installment in a 32-part unit. Pupils work together to create and solve systems of equations that will map a transformation to a given...

Anybody can write a body paragraph! Pupils analyze the development of ideas in a body paragraph from a model essay. Next, using what they've learned, they draft the body paragraphs of their My Rule to Live By informative essay. 

Help your class use critical thinking when it comes to unfamiliar words. With vocabulary from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer, and find its category, comparisons,...

Time to move on to nonlinear functions. Scholars create input/output tables and use these to graph simple nonlinear functions. They calculate rates of change to distinguish between linear and nonlinear functions.

How can an unfamiliar place help you learn something about yourself? Use a narrative writing prompt as you culminate your unit on Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic. Kids consider the ways that, like the main character from the...