Use O. Henry's ubiquitous tale of love and poverty to explore irony. After reading the story, middle schoolers identify examples of all three kinds of irony in the story. With partners, they brainstorm original examples of irony. Then...

A terrific lesson on homophones awaits your youngsters. First, pupils access a website that contains lists of homophones. Then, it's time to get creative! Everyone gets a piece of poster board and they create a homophone cartoon -...

What rights are guaranteed to students? Do they align with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was approved by the United Nations in 1948? Middle and high schoolers present persuasive arguments about the rights they believe...

What do figures of speech have to do with financial literacy? Take an interdisciplinary look at The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money to find out. Young analysts read about the cubs' spendthrift ways and how Mama and Papa Bear...

Interpret current events using editorial cartoons and other print media. Middle schoolers explore the meanings of literary and artistic terms such as satire, irony, and caricature. They visit internet sites to develop an understanding of...

Engage critical and social thinking by exploring the value of language and word choice. The class considers the article "The Silence of the Historic Present" and analyzes several presidential speeches. They engage in class...

Invite your class to investigate racism and civil rights by analyzing the great Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Your learners will read the words from the "I Have a Dream" speech and analyze the political and racial overtones. They will...

Students assume identities of lawmakers, judges, writers, and protestors during times in American history when freedoms of speech and press were limited because country was on the brink of war or fighting one. Students use primary source...

Students conceptualized, planned story sequences, shot slides, and recorded narration for a slide/tape presentation on the eight parts of speech. They demonstrate the grammatical element and then include it in a sentence in each slide...

Students investigate the different parts of speech by participating in a fill in the blank activity. For this Mad Libs lesson, students define the different parts of speech and discuss how they are used appropriately in sentences....

Young scholars create a lesson to present to the rest of the class about current laws, including expressing killing the president as a joke. Students research past events and current laws. Young scholars present to the class using...

Encourage the poetic genius in your young creative writers with a poetry workshop. Fix form poems (cinquains acrostic poems, octopoems, hello/goodbye poems) provide a framework and encourage vocabulary development as well as an awareness...

Tackle some big questions about A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle with a board game project. As learners brainstorm for and complete their board games, they consider what helps and hinders Meg on her journey and why she succeeds in...

Learners consider indicators that mark a country's progress, examine how last year's State of the Union address has affected U.S. foreign policy, research issues deemed important in that speech, and create report cards assessing the...

Students analyze the meaning and process of categorizing items, people and events as 'the best.' students then defend pieces of literature, images, and sounds that they feel most represent 'the best of the 20th century.'

A thorough activity on persuasive writing takes middle schoolers through several activities, including group discussion, collaborative posters, and independent writing. They compare historical speeches and analyze the persuasive...

Pupils develop a strategy for furthering the First Amendment interest and knowledge in the school through posters, school-wide announcements, speakers, contests and more during the rest of the school year. Student research about free...

Students practice using prepositions by writing on the tracing of a human.  In this parts of speech lesson, students create a giant poster using the tracing of a classmate's body and fill in the outline using prepositions in places...

Slavery is a serious topic that can be challenging for middle schoolers to study. Young scholars can see firsthand through primary sources what occurred during that time period in the United States. The third of five lessons provides...

What better way is there to teach about human rights than by seeing them firsthand? Introduce your class or club to the spirit of service through a myriad of service project ideas. First in a series of human rights instructional...

Students write their own speech about their hopes and dreams and deliver it to the class.  In this "I Have a Dream" instructional activity, students create a speech using the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech as a model and for...

Take a break from vocabulary development and have your Spanish scholars immerse themselves in Spanish culture. What are common Spanish proverbs? In short sessions over the course of a few weeks, the class will learn about different...

High school pupils research online to complete a family tree and explore their ancestry. They view a sketch of a family tree, and brainstorm questions to ask their parents about their heritage. They also diagram their own family tree. In...

The book Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, is read aloud,and students listen for regular and irregular plurals in the story. They record their words on a worksheet which is embedded in the plan. This lesson provides good practice...