Determine the author's purpose in writing a memoir. Eighth graders work in groups  to elicit author's purpose in memoirs, taking care to note how subtle the message can be hidden throughout the work. This lesson is a good way to...

Explore writing techniques by analyzing newspapers and magazines with middle schoolers. They will collaborate in small groups to read local news stories and identify the main ideas and author's intent. They also utilize an information...

Explore with your class the purposes and author's intents for poetry titles. First you read several brief poems to the class and discuss how the authors may have chosen the titles. Then small groups read title-less poems posted around...

Students explore the main idea and stories behind paintings. In this art lesson plan, students discuss how paintings tell stories and take tests based on details of paintings. The tests are embedded in the plan. Links that students...

Students create posters that demonstrate the step-by-step process of how ideas become laws. They list the fourteen steps of a bill becoming a law, describe a presidential veto, and define override.

As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...

Create a picture dictionary for one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. After readers finish The Tempest, they assign each letter of the alphabet to a concept or character, and add a description and evidence from...

Seventh graders modernize a fairy tale, then compare their version with he original version and determine whether or not they've changed the author's original intent.

Sixth graders conduct research on the internet to discover the principles of drawing using one and two point perspectives. After examining street scenes by Edward Hopper and postcards of Main Street USA in Disney, they write about and...

Students summarize information from their research on to note-cards. In this technical writing lesson students examine examples of note-cards that contain main ideas from research previously conducted.  They will then compose their...

Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 

Students utilize newspapers as a resource to complete various tasks. They read articles, write summaries, investigate the classified section, write commercials, and circle spelling words.

Students create a carnival display displaying the different themes they have studied. In this carnival lesson plan, students display the work they have studied through the samba schools in Brazil. Students also incorporate music in their...

Learners investigate a way to sail a boat around the world without touching land while learning about the Panama Canal. For this Panama Canal lesson plan, students learn about the relationship of socio-political continents and how the...

Students create a video box about a Central American country. In this world history lesson, student research Central America and pick a country they want to investigate. They work in groups to create a video box that shows images about...

Young scholars play the beats of mariachi music. In this mariachi lesson plan, students listen to mariachi music and discuss why music is important.

Young scholars select a Colorado animal, develop a Directed Web page, and research their animal. Each member of the group combine their research and develop a Newsletter.

Second graders explore weather. For this weather lesson, 2nd graders read Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and participate in four supplemental science activities. Students participate in Internet research, create weather maps,...

You set the rate! Step into the shoes of a taxi driver in New York City, and also pretend to be a person who uses taxis to get around town. The class will conduct collaborative research to learn about the history of taxis. Then, they...

Young readers examine the elements of story structure that are included in all stories. They include these elements in their own written pieces. This phenomenally-designed plan has everything you need to easily implement it in your...

Young scholars survey forestry foundations to see how they represent important information into their logos and mission statements. In this forestry lesson plan, students use the information to better understand visual representations...

Third graders read, discuss, and memorize the poem "Jenny Kissed Me." as an example of lyrical poetry. They write a letter to Jenny reliving the memory of her kiss from an elderly person's point of view. They illustrate their poems.

Students research and write a report about a French-speaking country and present their research to classmates. They create a persuasive advertising brochure promoting one specific country as the best tourist destination.

Young scholars use their journals in order to predict what will happen in a text for a prereading strategy. In this prereading lesson plan, students list the 5 strategies they learn and use them before they read.