Students create Inspiration webs using graphics or photographs that depict high and low points in their lives. This technology-based Language Arts lesson for the upper-elementary or middle-level classroom is excellent for improving...

Make connections about animal characteristics and the animal's environment. In this animal characteristics lesson, students use a piece of art as a springboard for a discussion about animals and camouflage. Students choose an animal that...

Students explore cultures around the world. For this cross-curriculum geography lesson, students listen to This is the Way We Go to School , a Book about Children around the World , and locate various countries on the globe and a map....

An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...

Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and...

Students are guided into creating their own self-portrait in steps using colored pastels. They also use their self-portraits as a springboard to write a personal narrative. This is a cool lesson!

Students take photographs of themselves, animals, and objects and used these photos as springboards for writing stories, plays, photo captions, comic strips, ads for products, and greeting card messages.

Students explore philosophy by researching the Dalai Lama. In this peaceful living instructional activity, students discuss the Dalai Lama and his unique views of the world before reading the story Can You Say Peace? Students answer...

Students create a multimedia piece that integrates drawing and collage. Students learn about metacognition and the discovering of self through genres of art and literature by using these steps: inspiration, brainstorm, application,...

Students assess the educational and social issues of boys and girls in school as a springboard to interviewing women in the fields of science, in order to study of their early interests and experiences in these typically male-dominated...

Coming up on the Olympics? Be sure your middle schoolers understand the dynamic and ancient history of this global tradition. They begin by recalling traditions parents have passed down, considering their relevance and ways they might be...

Where did the Olympic Summer Games originate? The class takes a look at ancient origins of modern Olympic games. They research the Olympics and write a compare and contrast essay that describes how the Olympic Games have changed since...

Students create a piece of original fiction utilizing flashbacks. Students define and identify the use of flashbacks in the novel Holes. Definitions and examples are recorded in student journals. They use their examples as springboard...

Students consider the online game Neopets as a springboard to developing the characters, settings and plots for online fantasy games. They draft technical plans that describe how their games be presented and played on the We

Students creatively utilize a word processor in order to do daily journal writing. They explore with using simple, compound, and complex sentences in order to present ideas with clarity and precision. They gain computer skills while...

Students discuss the life of Louisa May Alcott and create an outline of a biography of her life and times.  In this Louisa May Alcott lesson, students explore the Transcendentalist involvement in the abolitionist movement, relating...

Students connect a scene from a play they are reading to events in their own lives. Working in male/female pairs, students act out a scene from "Hamlet." Pairs work to role play a scene as an extension of the one they have read, using...

Students experience musical imagery. They link this musical concept to literary imagery to gain an understanding of the use of imagery in both genres. After listening to a varriety of sounds, students will compose and perform a melody.

Learners read and debate the purpose of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, analyze its story elements, and write their own The Lorax II.

Learners research and create a presentation about their own culture and personal history. They interview family members to increase their awareness of family events and documents. They create a family tree at a web based resource.

Sixth graders participate in a brainstorming activity in which they identify the types of decisions they make everyday. Individually, they complete a worksheet on making decisions effectively. After reading a poem, they identify the...

Students discover the identities of their classmates.  In this tolerance lesson, students create individual posters showcasing their identity, history, and family background.  Students examine the posters to get a better...

Eleventh graders connect art (photographs) to the historical period and conjecture about conditions during this era in American history, sharing ideas in class discussion. Each student completes a project on a period depicted in one of...

Fifth graders create a fairy tale story with emphasis on castles. After reading various texts featuring castles and their residents, 5th graders complete a book report project. The book report serves as a springboard to the writing...