Even if you've never picked up a musical instrument, chances are that music has directly impacted your mental and emotional development. Sixth graders engage in a reading activity in which they read two articles on the impact of music on...

Winter, spring, summer, and fall! Every season is covered in a 14-page list of writing prompts. Included are story starters, reflection questions, poetry topics, and more.

Lesson 7 focuses on building academic vocabulary and writing an explanatory letter with supported textual evidence. For the first five minutes of the lesson, the educator reminds the class of how to read and refer to the accordion...

The eyes have it in a project that combines art with creative writing. Class members list three adjectives or characteristics of a person they admire. Then draw a picture of a pair of eyes that they feel reflects these characteristics....

A 55-page unit examines the novel, The BFG, by Roald Dahl. Six lessons pay close attention to friendship, dreams, and believing themes while analyzing interesting characters, writing creative vocabulary, smilies, metaphors, an exciting...

Scholars become familiar with tagline literature with the help of the story, Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Terrible Day by Judith Viort. After a read-aloud and whole-class discussion, leveled groups complete...

Encourage creativity and reflection with a hands-on activity book. Scholars document their personal appearance, age, height, friends, and feelings about the first day of school to the last. 

Sometimes a person needs an ear unattached to a mouth, a place to vent or clarify emotions. Journals are a great way to offload or gain insight into mixed emotions. The trick is to find a starting point. This list of 30 journal prompts,...

Go beyond a traditional end-of-the-year survey and have your middle school pupils compile a portfolio of work illustrating their progression as a writer. 

Young writers compose an opinion piece that details who they feel is worth more than gold.

Get to you know your new class members with an ice breaker activity that uses their name and creativity. Scholars write their first name in cursive on a folded sheet of paper, cut around the curved lines, open the paper to view its new...

It's time to refine writing and word choice. Learners work on Part 1 of their end of unit assessment by creating an essay titled What Makes a Hurricane a Natural Disaster? They use glossaries and graphic organizers from previous...

As this short story unit comes to a close, provide a day for a full examination of theme and allow some time in class for individuals to work on their various assessments. This final lesson before presenting iMovies and portfolios is the...

Learners discuss creative writing—what makes something creative writing? Each learner starts writing a story and after 15 minutes, they pass their story to another who adds to it. After another 15 minutes of writing, the story is passed...

Teenagers love to take risks to test their personal boundaries, but many risks are too dangerous to try. The set of exercises in this packet teach your class about the ways they can stay safe and protect themselves while still having fun.

Why didn't Rapunzel's hair stop growing?  Why did it take the fairy godmother so long to intervene in Cinderella's affairs? Young writers consider unanswered questions like these and compose news articles investigating the true...

Discover how writers express identity in their writing. Learners explore how issues of identity surface in the literature of minority writers. Scholars watch a video, read and discuss biographies, conduct research, engage in creative...

It's all a matter of opinion! Pupils take Part II of the mid-unit assessment, in which they continue organizing their notes in preparation for writing an opinion speech. Using the resource, they add reasons, evidence, and a concluding...

Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...

Here you will find three simple and engaging American Revolution projects that will allow your learners to not only express their comprehension of major events and key terms during the war, but also offer the opportunity for great...

Understanding the concept of equality is fundamental to the success of young mathematicians. To explore this basic idea, children compare the dots arranged in pairs of rectangles in order to determine whether or not they contain an equal...

Growing up within a culture leaves a lot of ideas and values unspoken. Take a closer look at the cultures in which your learners live with a discussion activity that addresses cultural identity and traits of those living within the...

Is it relevant? Scholars choose a resource from their folders and search for relevant information about the harmful and beneficial consequences of DDT. They mark benefits in one color and harmful effects with another color. They then add...

The second volume of the Core Knowledge History of the United States ebook begins by asking young scholars to consider the impact immigration, industrialization, and urbanization had on the United States in the late 1800s. The text ends...