After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms...

Can social media bring activists together? Learners gain experience in using online media tools to raise awareness during a hands-on activity from a digital citizenship library. Once they identify a cause, groups create a unified message...

To gain an understanding of the importance of professional references, class members engage in two projects. First, individuals examine an online review site (Yelp, for example), paying particular attention to the positive and negative...

Pupils investigate the Transit of Venus and create and produce a public service commercial promoting the Transit of Venus and providing information about its safe viewing.

Learners gain an appreciation for geologic and historic time. They gain a general amount of information of the development of hte Chicago area, with particular attention given to the role of the Chicago River. Students contruct a time...

Twelfth graders gain insight and perspective as to how and why the Holocaust occured. They explain why the specific groups were targeted, and complete a brief paragraph about what it would have been like to live during this era.

Students visualize census data on a map and use a map key to read a population map. In this census lesson, students use a map of the Virgin Islands and corresponding worksheets to gain an understanding of population density.

Students examine primary sources to gain historical perspectives. In this historical analysis lesson, students analyze documents that their instructors have adapted to make more user-friendly. Example adapted primary documents are included.

Students explore the lives of migrant workers during the Great Depression. In this Great Depression lesson, students examine photographs and song lyrics to gain an understanding of the conditions for people living in the era. Students...

What's missing from most studies of the American Revolutionary War is information about the role African Americans played in the conflict. To correct this oversight, middle schoolers research groups like the Black Loyalists and ...

Students read a variety of biographies to gain insight on the experiences of an African-American's life. Individually, they try to determine the time period it was written and compare the event with ones that occured in their own lives....

Eighth graders gain a greater understanding of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and the issues surrounding the development of our Constitution. They participate in an activity and listen to lecture on the Convention, then search...

Students discuss the needs of senior citizens. They assist them with basic household chores. They gain pride in helping others and reflect in their journals.

Learners analyze the poem, "The Colored Soldier" by Langston Hughes to gain a greater experience of how poets use language to create meaning, influence thinking and thus become pioneers of change in American society. They work on the...

Students gain a basic understanding of Capitalism and Communism, the ideologies that fueled the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Learners use the author's writing as a model to achieve vivid description and engaging humor in compositions of their own. They examine the ways a writer can capture and hold a reader's attention and write a short personal narrative...

High schoolers research social elements of the 1920s.  In this persuasive writing lesson, students make comparisons between women of the 1920s and women in the 21st century.  They work in small groups to discuss the women in...

Students rewrite the beginning of a story. In this writing instructional activity, students read stories from Spooky South by S.E. Schlosser in order to gain exposure to different ways to begin a story. Then, students chose one of the...

Pupils gain further understanding of the diversities of trade and the cultural impact of the trade items. Students evaluate and analyze trade items and use this knowledge to make sound trade decisions. Pupils describe and analyze the...

An engaging resource provides many primary source materials to inform a study of the Women's Suffrage Movement. Suggestions include building a timeline of the fight, using the documents as the basis of a DBQ, and/or using a Venn...

How does the point of view of Poe's protagonist in "The Tell-Tale Heart" contribute to the suspenseful tone? Help your middle schoolers identify the point of view in a literary work with this lesson, which goes on to discuss the...

Your little learners listen to the story Chicken Little in order to explain how behavior affects interpersonal communication. They engage in a class discussion to determine the differences between truth and gossip.

Students consider toys as more than items for playing, compare and contrast inventors and toys they created, and discuss purpose of specific toys, including whether toy was created for education, financial success, or both.

How free are people in the United States, or in the world for that matter? The class reads and compares two articles that discuss levels of freedom enjoyed by different people around the globe. They discuss why some people have more...