Feeling the pressure to confirm is something any adolescent can relate to. Explore an essential theme with a response to literature assessment that prompts learners to identify main ideas with evidence and supporting details.

Give your class a taste of the Common Core with a practice test that includes both literary and informational reading passages. Pupils respond to related multiple choice questions and longer written response questions. See the...

Dive into animation creation using Dreamworks® animated films. Compare and contrast characters, wonder and ponder why the plot is so important, and think of background and themes as your creativity unrolls onto paper.

Help your middle school readers recognize the elements of fiction in two books. After reading and taking notes on the details of the books, they write an essay comparing and contrasting the two books. Use this lesson to emphasize...

Assess your learners on the five themes of geography and the most important key terms and concepts from an introductory geography unit. Here you'll find an assessment with 15 fill-in-the-blank and 14 multiple-choice questions, sections...

Discern the tone in four selected poems with a straightforward assignment. Junior high readers analyze the authors' word choice and text structure to define a tone for each poem, as well as each poem's meaning.

One of Emily Dickinson's most poignant works is the focus of a poetry analysis activity. After reading "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers," individuals answer ten multiple-choice and short-answer questions about the elements found...

Symbols play an important role in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Examine these symbols with a straightforward worksheet. Given the symbols, pupils fill out a chart by noting down characteristics of the symbols, details about each...

Young scholars create and present a theme-based exhibition. In this design instructional activity, students categorize objects to reflect a specific design theme and create their own theme-based collections. Young scholars research a...

Track instances of foreshadowing in any text with a straightforward graphic organizer. In one column, learners note down the events that happened, and in the other they list the clues that indicated that those events would happen. Some...

Students use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.

Looking for some additional materials for Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"? Included in a 14-page packet are an anticipation guide, a vocabulary list, exercise, and quiz, a list of literary terms, and an essay assignment with pre-writing...

Help your young writers use logic in their persuasive writing. Discuss the characteristics of a persuasive paper, and have pupils work together to explore and solve a syllogism. They will write a short persuasive paper which includes a...

Students examine geologic time to scale. In this geologic time lesson, students create a time-scale metaphor that shows some of the Earth's important events. Students present their metaphor to the class.

Every time you make a choice, it prevents another option from taking shape. Spend some time analyzing "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost with a reading activity that includes four discussion questions that recall evidence from the text.

Students use digital cameras to document school experiences. Afterwards, they use computer software to manipulate their photos and write poetry, essays or biographies to compliment the pictures. Finally, students create an...

How many ways can two words be related to one another? Learners practice with 10 analogies that cover a range of relationships. They are provided with bridge types and sentences, which assist pupils in determining the relationships...

As you explore an excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle with your class, discuss how his descriptions of the meat-packing industry caught the public's attention and helped to promote change in the Progressive Era.

Learners examine the Lane Tech murals on the Web or at the school. They conduct interviews with students and professionals as a method of researching the subjects of these murals. They write an article for a special "mural" edition of...

Students explore fiction and nonfiction writing. They identify the elements of fiction in a short story and identify the criteria necessary in a nonfiction piece. Students distinguish the author's purpose in an expository text,...