Start with the question in mind with a discussion activity on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. With four focus questions, note-taking prompts, and discussion points, readers practice answering thematic questions based on textual evidence.

Organize your learners with this well-laid-out note-taking printable. Note blanks are organized to allow for two strategies of graphing an equation given in standard form. 

How many cups does it take to reach the top? Learners attempt to answer this through a series of questions. They collect dimension information and apply it to creating a function. The lesson encourages various solution methods and...

Reading comprehension and note-taking skills are practiced as young ecologists embark on this journey. Explorers visit a website where they will read about three ecosystems that are in danger. They use interactive programs to build a...

Take the next step in the writing process with a lesson plan geared towards the completion of writing an evidence-based essay about a rule to live by, as Bud did in Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Pupils collaborate with their...

What does it take to build a stable arch? Pupils apply vectors and physics as they examine arched bridges and their structural integrity. They use vectors to represent the forces acting on the stone sections and make conclusions based on...

Develop a strategy for finding the area and perimeter of irregular figures. Building on an understanding of finding area and perimeter of rectangles and triangles, learners apply the same concepts to composite figures. After...

Students develop an awareness of environmental print, such as signs, logos, brand names, and other print and non-print items that the children see and read in their neighborhood each day. They then engage in active problem solving as...

Faster than a speedy calculator! Show your classes how to use polynomial identities to multiply numbers quickly using mental math. 

Incorporate reading strategies, math, research, and the scientific method into one lesson about water conservation. After reading a story about a landlady trying to determine how many people are living in an apartment, learners develop a...

Circles are the foundation of many geometric concepts and extensions - a point that is thoroughly driven home in this extensive unit. Fundamental properties of circles are investigated (including sector area, angle measure, and...

When given too much data to simply memorize, it helps to sort it into manageable groups. The second lesson in the six-part series of Cosmic Chemistry challenges groups of pupils to take a large amount of data and figure out how to best...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, "I Have a Dream," is one of the most famous in United States history, but why was it so effective? Ask your class to determine the answer to this question. While the resource includes a description of...

A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few...

Compare the North and South of New Zealand. Exploritive minds identify which island is better to live on, taking into consideration such things as social, political, and economic aspects. They research an argument to present and debate...

Eighth graders describe symptoms, effects, treatments, and prevention for chlamydia, HPV, herpes, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV. They begin by answering provided background questions and get one's feelings about what they think...

A guide for competitive swimmers to take a look at how stroke length contributes to swimming efficiency. There is a PowerPoint and several websites for the swimmers to visit to gather information. They then keep track of their swimming...

Sometimes simple is just better. A set of activities teaches young mathematicians about using plausible estimation to solve problems. They break problems down to simpler problems, use rounding and estimation strategies, and consider...

Take a walk and observe living and non-living things on the way. Young scientists practice making valuable observations and draw the details.  You could require that your students complete a T chart of living and non-living things...

This hands-on lesson takes young geometers on a tour of 2D polygons and 3D polyhedrons. After exploring different web resources and discussing geometric shapes, small groups construct models of polyhedrons using bendable straws. Note:...

Every great scientist knows that the process of inquiry is a very important skill. Provide your learners with visual impairments with an opportunity to explore objects scientifically. They examine several pieces of fruit and generate...

Show your class that trigonometric functions have characteristics of their own. A resource explores the features of trigonometric functions. Learners then connect those concepts to inverse trigonometric functions and trigonometric...

Local linearity isn't the first thing that comes to mind to start off an AP® Calculus course. A scholarly article discusses one possible beginning to the AP® Calculus course: investigating and introducing derivatives through activities...

We know theorems about circles—now what? Class members prove a theorem, with half the class taking the case where a point is inside the circle and half the class taking the case where a point is outside the circle. The lesson then...