The Harlem Renaissance brought forth many American art forms including jazz, and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. Using a carefully curated set of documents from the Library of Congress, pupils see the cultural...

Women and children played key roles during the Civil War, even if their voices are often lost in history. By studying letters and personal testimony from them, budding historians get a glimpse into the day-to-day life of civilians during...

From the trade of the colonial era to the Clean Water Act, water has shaped American history. Class members unpack how water affected the American story using primary sources that span events including the Lewis and Clark expedition to...

Explore the life's work of one of the great children's authors using this ten-lesson author study unit. After first performing some whole-group research into the life of Cynthia Rylant, the class goes on to read six different...

The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...

Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...

Young historians practice in-depth, quality analysis of primary source texts in this three-lesson unit, which examines excerpts from the slave narratives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Caleb...

Students examine the story for use of balanced sentences and parallelism-two literary devices-and then practice using those devices in writing of their own. They combine the simple sentences grammatically into one correct sentence. A. I...

Learners study the letter "F, f" in order to recognize it, say its sound, and write it. They watch a partner's mouth as they make the "f" sound before repeating a tongue twister that contains many "f" sounds. Next, they practice writing...

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,...

Students prepare for the reading of iam Golding's novel, The Lord of the Flies, by exploring the theme through a discussion and sentence starter activity.

Students study the phoneme /p/ both in written and spoken language while differentiating from the phoneme /b/. They think about the "put, put" sound that an old car makes, and work with at tongue twister. Next, they write the letter p,...

Second graders analyze color theory and collage techniques through the creation of collages in the style of artist/author Eric Carle. Color experiments and may hands-on section allow this instructional activity to be very informative...

Students examine the sounds the letters of their name make. They read Dr. Seuss' ABC Book and Mary Engelbreit's Put Em All Together. They practice writing the individual letters of their names in squares.

Students examine the concept of heroism in this lesson, through personal reflection, group activities and a thoughtful analysis of the documentary, HEROES OF GROUND ZERO. They explore their own understanding of what it means to be a hero.

Students answer chapter questions to evaluate the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Pupils explore the calendar including sequence of the days of the week, and the numbers associated with each day. They conduct research about each number and share what they find with the class.