Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...

Prepare for an interview project with a set of worksheets about asking questions and quoting people. After completing a grammar exercise about quotation marks, kids write out the questions they want to ask their interviewee, and record...

Get your kids thinking about climate change with a series of activities that include creating a ditty box poem for the planet, a poem that identifies concepts or objects they would want to preserve.

Turn Pride and Prejudice into a math activity with a magic squares lesson plan. Kids read nine character traits and pair them to a list of the book's characters in order to complete the activity and find the magic number.

Vocabulary really adds up with magic squares! Using words from Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori, kids line up words and definitions to come up with the same sum across and down the square.

Just because a story is on the news doesn't mean it's being presented fairly. Analyze news broadcasts with a lesson focused on evaluating television journalism. At home, kids watch a news show and note the stories presented, including...

Do reporters write about what they see, or what they think? Examine the differences between investigative writing and opinion writing with a lesson from PBS. Learners look over different examples of each kind of reporting, and convince...

Pitch your best news story to your news team, or the peers in your journalism class, with a instructional activity about finding, reporting, and presenting a story. After watching clips of different examples, as well as...

Historical fiction can be a valuable asset when learning about the past. Integrate several novels written about the Civil War into your social studies unit, with groups of four working collaboratively to comprehend the novel from...

How can adding a prefix or suffix to a root word create an entirely new word? Study a packet of resources that focuses on Greek and Latin roots, as well as different prefixes and suffixes that learners can use for easy reference.

What makes a source primary or secondary? Middle schoolers read a definition of each term before exploring different examples and applying their knowledge to a research project.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most recognized names and faces in America—but is there more to the third president of the United States? Upper elementary and middle schoolers conduct research on Jefferson, his famous home at Monticello,...

Scholars read four brief poems and analyze their word usage in order to identify the rhyme scheme. 

This art lesson plan also incorporates a study Mexican and South American cultures and art. Students then create Nichos, which are small, decorated boxes commonly found in homes and public places, or displayed on walls or pedestals.

Identify common prefixes and suffixes used in the English language and categorize the different kinds of information provided in a dictionary entry. Learners will write at least five pieces of information that they learn about a word...

Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...

Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...

Where did I come from? How did I come to be in this classroom? Using curriculum from Kidspiration, class members research the homelands of their ancestors, as well as the journeys that began from many parts of the world and ended with...

Students view a piece of impressionist art, listen to a piece of jazz music and then write a piece about the picture in the style of beat poets. They compare their writing and look for differences in their perceptions.

Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...

Students read nursery rhymes and advertisements to identify examples of figurative language. As a class, students discuss the use of figurative language and its effectiveness in advertising, children's books, rhymes, poetry, etc. ...

Young scholars explore persuasive language. In this emotive language lesson, students consider the use of language that incites readers as they participate in reading and writing activities that require them to describe a tourist...

Students prepare for a trip to a museum and review the elements of art. In this museum and art lesson, students define the difference between looking at a reproduction of art and an original. Students identify the elements of art in and...

Learners explore artistic design by creating pin wheel models in class. In this modern art lesson, students examine historic art work of Van Gogh, O'Keeffe and Mondrian before emulating their work on construction paper. Learners utilize...