How did free and enslaved blacks work to craft freedom for themselves and their families before the Civil War? Young historians read about the life of Thomas Day, a free black man who also owned slaves and had abolitionist ties in...

Designed as the final project concluding a study of Mississippi Trial, 1955, readers select a character from Crowe's novel and craft a portfolio of six entries that reveal not only aspects of the character, but similarities between...

Celebrate the legendary Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day with a plethora of activities set to five stories—The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, and Green Eggs and Ham. Activities...

In a multidisciplinary lesson plan, you will focus your instruction around the West African folktale, Anansi Goes to Lunch by Bobby and Sherry Norfolk while your little learners sing songs, play games, participate in a grand...

To demonstrate their ability to comprehend complex text, ninth graders are asked to craft an essay in which they use evidence drawn from "Letter From Birmingham Jail" to analyze how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses rhetorical devices...

Students explore the meaning of Passover. In this holiday lesson, students participate in various learning centers that focus on the Passover holiday. The learning centers include simulating the feelings of slavery, listening to music by...

Not all technology is digital. Teach learners about the low-tech maker movement with a photo essay about six artisans from California and two articles about the local creator movement. After tackling the photo essay in small...

Kids consider how the body functions and moves, how each structure has a specific movement and purpose. They apply that idea as they construct a sculptural piece that moves. For inspiration they look to the work of Alexander Calder,...

Good books are accessible through a variety of literary lenses. To consider how the same story can be seen in different lights, groups develop a storyboard for a movie teaser that would focus on one of six concepts found in Suzanne...

What strategies are most effective in changing an unjust law? Class members examine the tactics used in the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 (Project C) to achieve social justice and social transformation. After examining documents that...

Young artists use Paintstik colors on paper, canvas, metal, fabric or another surface to create a work of art to be presented in a gallery. Students research the origins of the "Snakebasket" they are creating. These art lessons produce...

A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...

"Stolen from Africa, brought to America,/Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival." Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldiers" provides high schoolers an opportunity to explore the rich history of the Rastafarians in Jamaica and the Buffalo...

“When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it.” These words come from Frederick Douglass’ April, 1888 speech to the International Council of Women. One of...

“America herself is an improbable journey.” So is Deval Patrick’s journey from the South Side of Chicago to the governorship of Massachusetts. The complete text of Patrick’s inaugural speech, delivered outdoors facing Boston Common,...

Students create collages using the irregular-shaped and sized pieces, decorative stitching, and applied or painted motifs that reflect the Crazy-Quilt style, and explain how and why their design fits into that style.

Fifth graders study the Civil War. In this US history activity, 5th graders simulate what life was like during the Civil War by having two groups with one group given more materials than the other group. Students then draw a...

Students investigate positive female role models. In this Women's History Month lesson plan, students read the book Mama Went to Jail for the Vote and think about how the character was a role model for other women. Students brainstorm a...