Young historians study the Angel Island Immigration Station with activities examining primary and secondary source materials, maps, and websites. The unit begins with individuals creating a map of Angel Island, labeling sites on the...

This collection provides a 2-week sample plan and a blank template for remote learning. In addition, we provide ideas to get you started in your planning for remote instruction. 

Election season is a great opportunity to hone critical thinking skills in the classroom. Teach young citizens about the ins and outs of the American political system, provide information about current and historical presidential...

What is newsworthy? Who decides? How do video reports differ from printed news? What makes a good video report? What about journalism ethics? Learn all about it in this extra special collection of materials about video news production.

Kids love checklists that allow them to see progress and understand goals. Use this great set of printable "I can" statements with your 6th graders as you move through the school year. It'll keep everyone on the same page, and helps...

In Module 4, sixth-graders research the question of whether the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences. Unit 1 challenges investigators to read a novel, informational text, and watch videos to gather evidence about DDT’s uses,...

The study of the benefits and harmful effects of using DDT ends in Module 4, with class members drafting, revising, editing, and publishing a research-based position paper in which they use the evidence they have collected to support...

The search is on for information about DDT, its benefits, and harmful effects. Over 15 units In Module 4, young researchers conduct a WebQuest to find informational texts about the pesticide, learn how to paraphrase information, cite...

The first unit in Module 4 introduces sixth graders to the central question of the module; do the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences? Jean Craighead George’s novel, Frightful’s Mountain, is the module's anchor text and...

The topic of ocean conservation and the impact of human activities on ocean life is the focus of three units in Module 3B. The first unit challenges sixth graders to read Mark Kurlansky’s illustrated book, World without Fish: How Kids...

Module 3B ends with class members diving into case studies to learn more about overfishing methods. The goal is to discover information about sustainable fishing practices and a consumer guide for buying fish.

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...

How does an author’s culture influence their perspective and point of view? Moreover, how does an author’s purpose affect their point of view? These are the questions middle schoolers investigate in a three-unit module that uses works by...

The 12 lessons in the second module unit examine how an author’s point of view and perspective is influenced by his or her geographic location. Florida resident Carl Hiassens’s young adult novel, Flush, about a young man whose father...

The first unit in this three-unit module has sixth-graders read Mark Kurlansky’s illustrated book, World without Fish: How Kids Can Help Save the Oceans. They study how Kurlansky introduces, illustrates, and develops his ideas to convey...

To conclude the module, sixth-graders research factual information about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire to make connections to literary texts about the disaster. After learning about the features of a newspaper article, young...

In the second unit in the 3A module, scholars examine how an author’s purpose affects point of view. They compare excerpts from “Comprehending the Calamity,” Emma Burke’s informational text about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, to...

The first unit in this three-module set introduces sixth-graders to a study of how authors’ culture influences and is evident in their writing. Laurence Yep’s novel, Dragonwings, and his biography The Lost Garden serve as the core texts....

Water may be everywhere but supplies of freshwater are dwindling. An eight-week, three-unit module takes up the topic of water sustainability and freshwater management. In Unit 1, seventh graders read Barbara Kingsolver’s article, “Water...

Module 4A examines the effects of entertainment screen time has on the adolescent brain. In Unit 1, seventh-graders build background knowledge by reading texts about brain development, centering around the prefrontal cortex, the limbic...

What makes stories powerful? That’s the question seventh-graders consider in a three-unit, eight-week module. Scholars analyze how Frederick Douglas, in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, uses figurative language and word...

The three units in Module 2A present seventh-graders with literary and informational texts—Katherine Paterson’s novel Lyddie and a speech by Cesar Chavez—that examine historical and present-day working conditions. Pupils learn how to...

An eight-week module has seventh-graders investigate the impact of the Second Sudanese Civil War on the peoples of Southern Sudan. Using Linda Sue Park’s novel, A Long Walk to Water, and informational texts, young historians learn how to...

As the culmination of their study of the Second Civil War in Southern Sudan, seventh-graders draw from what they learned reading Linda Sue Park’s novel, A Long Walk to Water, and from informational texts to create a two-voice poem...