Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library, whether or not your school has adopted the Common Core. Designed for middle and high school language arts classes, the packet is packed with teaching tips, materials,...

Questioning a text is a very effective way for kids to develop their reading comprehension skills. Designed to engage all class members, a reading activity prompts pairs to develop and share their own questions about the ending of Neil...

What are the benefits of developing social awareness? Using the resource, readers learn strategies for fostering civil discourse, creating a participatory classroom, and enhancing family involvement. Scholars also take a personality...

A Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) strategy for Great Expectations scaffolds and guides readers as they begin Dicken's novel. Step-by-step directions are provided, as are chapter one pair-share questions, a prediction worksheet,...

A 12-page document lists an abundance of math-related activities that boost social and emotional topics; self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.  

A visual literary lesson provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy with a...

Encourage readers of Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, to develop their categorization and organizational skills with a strategy that asks them to list all the words they can...

What's the best way to learn the elements of the periodic table? The inventions of Thomas Edison? Patience? To prepare for the performance task assessment on how people learn, class members share ideas about ways to learn in a variety of...

The second lesson in a two-part series that prepares high schoolers for a study of Othello focuses on additional pre-reading strategies. Pupils reflect on what they have learned and consider what they would like to learn about the play....

Scholars think of a special place, then represent that place through pictures or written words— a poem, song, or short story. Peers show off their organizational skills by reviewing their binders and notebooks, comparing strategies, and...

Encourage your sophomores to become life-long learners with the series of activities contained in this packet. Class members set goals, review personal targets, identify strategies to improve their study skills, and develop an...

Bloom's Taxonomy and Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences feature largely in a session that asks class members to identify their dominate learning style and intelligence. Furthermore, individuals consider how using...

Middle schoolers develop a strategy as they read excerpts from Walk Two Moons. Using question and answer relationship strategies class members bolster their reading comprehension as they appropriately identify and create...

Scholars find out how primary and secondary sources help us learn the past. Beginning with an anchor chart, class members discuss and write the differences between primary and secondary sources; a card sort is added to the anchor chart...

Imagine a learning community committed to using Costa and Kallick's Habits of Mind as the basis of curriculum design. The resource book is packed with lessons that are designed for and identify the standards and...

An addition table supports third graders as they learn strategies to improve their math fluency. When finding sums greater than ten, students are taught how to first make a ten and then add on the rest. A similar method is also...

A 32-slide professional development presentation introduces administrators, counselors, and teachers to the social awareness competency. The presentation includes specific strategies to help learners develop social awareness, identifies...

Tweens and teens learn coping skills to help manage strong emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness with a instructional activity that asks them to generate a list of self-calming strategies they use and to consider the suggestions in a...

Listen up! The game of Telephone launches a study of active listening. Class members watch a short video that demonstrates active listening and tips on practicing active listening. Pairs then interview each other and practice their...

A K-W-H-L chart is a great way to scaffold prior knowledge. As class members begin their reading of Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse’s 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, they chart what they already know about the Great Depression...

The success of any activity based on a complex text relies heavily on what instructors do before beginning the reading. Before reading Othello, scholars engage in a series of pre-reading activities, including completing an anticipation...

To regulate emotions in a conflict it is first necessary to be able to identify those emotions. To that end, class members engage in a series of activities, watch a series of videos, and compete worksheets that help them understand and...

As part of the unit on social, emotional health, seventh-graders examine the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. Pairs then engage in an activity that analyzes a scenario and role play resolution strategies that show...

There is no more useful life skill to learn than budgeting and setting financial goals. It's math that is used by every person, everyday. Learners examine the responsibilities and costs involved in family economics. Through a series of...