Use primary text documents to learn word roots. Learners listen to a reading of the Declaration of Independence and highlight words they don't know. They compile these words and guess their meanings. They discuss roots, prefixes,...

Explore the origin of political parties in the United States. Learners work in groups to read and analyze copies of the "Report on Manufactures" written by Alexander Hamilton. Then, they complete a worksheet comparing the Federalists to...

High schoolers investigate the models for the origin of modern humans and the conditions that facilitate speciation and evolution. The classification and nomenclature of hominid species is also examined.

Seventh graders examine words of Greek origin and discuss character development in fiction. They read a list of Greek word parts and create words on a worksheet. Students then read and discuss an informational handout about character...

Teams practice decoding and using context strategies to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. After verifying the meanings of words through the use of dictionaries, the Internet, thesauruses, and other sources, learners write the...

High schoolers examine the First Amendment and consider the contributions of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. They review conflicts between the rights of Church and State and write a Madisonian argument on the issue.

Students describe some of the distinguishing characteristics of rock, folk, blues, and country music. They identify two main musical roots of today's American popular music.

Learners select vocabulary words from their reading each week then complete a card for each word which includes definition, source and a sample sentence. They share their cards with the class and complete vocabulary building cards...

Students identify several key inventions and other forms of technology that were part of city life during the classical Roman and Greek periods. They report on one characteristic or invention that is shared by modern and ancient cities.

Students analyze primary source documents of the 1920s to find the roots of film censorship and understand Pennsylvania's leadership in this movement. They analyze government censorship documents that banned a film in Pennsylvania and...

Students use the internet to identify cultural traditions throughout the world. In groups, they examine each culture and determine the effect they had on life in the United States. They use this information to write a family history...

Students show the movement of people to the United States from other countries on maps. They study the geographic cultural roots of foods that contribute to the melting pot of food in America. They research where an ingredient comes from...

Students focus on the struggle for minorities rights. They describe the civil rights movement of the late 1950's and the 1960's. They trace the roots of the movement in the second-class treatment accorded many black Americans and...

Young scholars read the first part of the Declaration of Independence and mark the words they don't know. First, they try to guess what the words mean by looking at the them in context, and then they look up the words in a dictionary.

Students identify primary sources, explain the strengths and weaknesses of personal accounts in history, and negotiate the Library of Congress Database. They also analyze documents and write a summary that compares and contrasts the...

Students examine the evidence that scientists have used to support the existence of global warming and the greenhouse effect. How the concepts have been developed and evaluated form the focus of this lesson.

Students analyze the food pyramid. In this food pyramid lesson, students evaluate their nutritional needs. Students record their eating habits and determine if their food choices were healthy.

Students evaluate jazz music and a jazz music performance. They collaborate and create an improvised group short story. They improvise a musical piece on found objects.

Students are introduced to the concepts of economics in a ethical way. In groups, they examine a shift in an economy and discover the effects of the shift. After reading an article, they evaluate it and they write their own conclusion...

The second lesson in the series begins with a starter activity discussing wild versus domesticated animals. Then, scholars play a card game, with optional variations, to emphasize artificial selection. Next, they attend a field trip to a...

Grab any two topics, some index cards, and a couple of kids, and you're ready to compare and contrast! The resource provides instructions for this method and three graphic organizers in addition to or in place of the index cards.

Middle and high schoolers research the life of Pythagoras and the Pythagorean theorem. They write a short biography of Pythagoras and learn to apply the theorem in their study of right triangles.

If you've ever looked at the US immigration system, you know that it is complex and a source of controversy. An insightful lesson plan encourages learners to conduct their own analyses of the US immigration system by asking them to...

Students investigate agriculture by reading a book.  For this plant life lesson, students read the book Growing Vegetable Soup by Louis Ehlert, and examine the ingredients used in the book's soup.  Students create an...