As part of their study of the history of the Channel Islands, class members watch Dark Water, a documentary about a traditional Chumash ceremony. The documentary launches a series of lessons about this tribal nation that inhabited the...

How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation, class members engage in a series of...

The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island documents the story of Juana Maria, who spent 18 years alone on the most remote island of the Channel Islands chain. After watching West of the West's documentary and reading two print resources,...

The excavation of a cache of artifacts, believed to have been buried by Juana Maria, a Nicoleno Native American who lived alone on San Nicolas Island for over 18 years, is the focus of a unit that shows how archaeologists uncover...

The tale of the restoration of California's Channel Islands begins with a video that details the devastation of Santa Cruz Island by introducing species that are not native to the region. Additionally, the video discusses the controversy...

The Last Roundup explores the issues raised by the transitioning of Santa Rosa Island from a privately owned to a National Park. The documentary is short, poignant, and weaves together vintage family photos and videos with interviews...

Luke Skywalker meets Hamlet in a 10-lesson plan unit based on Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope (WSSW). Using Star Wars® as source material, Doescher has transformed Lucas's film into a Shakespearian...

Boost sixth graders' reading comprehension skills with a collection of 12 reading worksheets. With each practice page, young scholars read informational text and answer the questions that follow. Short answer responses cover the texts'...

West of the West's Arlington Springs Man series documents the history of the archeological digs on Santa Rosa Island and the discovery of human and mammoth bones that challenge the once-popular theories of human migration to the...

A series of five worksheets and a PowerPoint presentation gives readers a chance to practice making predictions and develop higher-level critical thinking skills. Scholars read short text that ends abruptly and gather textual evidence to...

Ben Across the Curriculum is a set of interdisciplinary lesson plans that highlight the five central themes in the international traveling exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. These themes are Character Matters, B....

A collection of emergency sub plans make those unplanned absences just a little bit easier. Designed for sixth-grade classes, the language arts and math activities follow Common Core Standards. Print up these materials and stash them in...

The “There’s a Poem for That” series features readings of contemporary and classical poems illustrated by award-winning animators. Linked within the descriptions of many of the videos are interviews with the poets who, in turn, identify...

Hemingway: BH, AH. Before Hemingway and after Hemingway. A collection of PBS lessons, authored by Julia E. Torres, uses clips from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary to EXPLORE the influence events in Hemingway’s life had on his...

Forsooth! Here’s a collection that has everything you ever wanted to know about the theater and drama—everyone from Aristotle to Chikamatsu, from Moliere to Shakespeare to Williams. From Banraku to Zaju, every type from comedy to...

Facts can be hard to find, especially when investigating key issues facing local communities and governmental agencies. Two lessons teach high school journalists how to collect, verify, and display data in an investigative article about...

The three units in the “Water is Life: The Earth’s Hydrosphere and Its Impact on Living Systems” are designed to teach middle schoolers about the role water plays in all life. Unit 1 builds background knowledge. In Unit 2, scholars...

Good writing prompts are hard to find, especially those for informative writing such as research reports, how-to instructions, and letters. The colorfully illustrated templates in a seven-prompt collection include lines to write on, as...

Actors share insights into some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters, plays, and about Shakespeare himself. Each video in the Shakespeare English Exercises collection has interactive exercise as well as a transcript. Activities for...

A collection of lessons calls kids to craft clever creations. Each of the 10 resources focuses on a single poetry form and includes an explanation of the form, rules to use when writing the form, and examples. Poems and poetry planning...

Designed for learners with reading difficulties, a 17- lesson collection teaches word recognition skills. Here, lessons one through eight focus on mastering basic sounds and blending sounds in words, while lessons 10-17 develop...

Viewers of a four-video collection can go with the flow as they listen and watch raps about hyperbole, types of text structure, pronouns, and setting. The clever animation, rhymes, repetition, and catchy music are sure to engage the...

Enhance your literacy unit with a set of videos featuring textual analysis and reading comprehension strategies. From discerning the main idea of a text to evaluating an author's purpose and tone, the ten-part series engages upper...

Kate Chopin's The Awakening is the focus of a three-lesson collection designed for readers of the novella. The first resource provides readers with background information about Chopin and Creole culture. The second resource explores how...