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...

Explore Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in this literature analysis lesson. Middle schoolers read and summarize the plot of the story. They then adapt passages for a contemporary audience and analyze the...

This is just the transition phase. Scholars participate in a mini lesson about using transitions in writing. They then have a brief peer critique of the introduction and conclusion paragraphs for their end of unit assessment. Learners...

Class members discuss Chapter 13 of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and use evidence from their character development worksheet to support an analysis of how Malcolm X and attitudes toward him and his teachings are changing.

Revisit the documentaries viewed in the previous lesson in this series in order to take a look at the persuasive techniques employed by the documentary creators. Small groups watch the films a second time, taking notes on two provided...

The second lesson in a series of fourteen, this plan takes the short story basics a step further. Learners complete a quiz about the story from the previous day, discuss the text, learn about Anton Chekhov, and work in groups to begin...

A model analysis essay provides writers with an opportunity to examine a response to the end-of-unit assessment writing prompt. Scholars define key words in the prompt and discuss how the model essay meets the demands in the prompt....

Class members review expectations for successful discussions before reading chapter one of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They engage in a think-pair-share to discuss the gist of the text and add their thoughts to their Readers'...

Howdy partner! After discussion and teacher model reading of Slaveships, scholars pair up for a partner reading of the poem. They then use equity sticks to discuss their thoughts of the poem with the class. Readers talk about allusion,...

How does an author develop and contrast character points of view in a work of literature? Using a graphic organizer, readers continue gathering evidence about character point of view from Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water. Next,...

Here is a lesson that provides scholars with two opportunities to stretch their compare-and-contrast muscles. First, learners compare and contrast their experience reading the fourth stanza of If by Rudyard Kipling to listening to the...

Scholars demonstrate their learning with an end-of-unit assessment. They work independently to discuss the Golden Rule and its relationship in To Kill a Mockingbird.

1,2,3,4 score! Writers use the grading rubric to score the model essay. After comparing and discussing their scorings, the individuals begin the end-of-unit assessment.

It's all about the introduction. Scholars work on the introductory paragraph for their essays, connecting the theme of a myth and The Lightning Thief. They use a graphic organizer to help focus their work and then move to working on the...

Writers have 30 minutes to add the final touches to their end-of-unit assessments for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Those finishing early review their work. After the 30 minutes, learners use the time to review their...

Writers work on creating a plan for their end-of-unit essay of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass using a Frederick Douglass Essay Planner to help guide their thought process. They then regroup as a class to...

A reading of Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken" launches an interdisciplinary study of the connection between the meters of a poem and a melody. After identifying the number of beats in each line of the poem, young musicians use...

Focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and analysis while reading A Weave of Woods, a colorful picture book by Robert D. San Souci. Young learners use worksheets to preview, predict, practice paraphrasing, and make comparisons. The...

Third graders construct numbers to the millions place. In this 30-page place value lesson, learners create numbers and evaluate the place value of digits. They explore standard and expanded form of numbers. An incredible resource!

Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...

Put your common writing errors to rest with this resource, which prompts high schoolers to create eulogies and tombstones for overused and incorrect words. They work on correcting common errors in spelling and usage mistakes in their own...

Outlines are a great asset to essay planning. Scholars read and analyze a model essay about the importance of daily reading and consider how it would look in an outline format. Next, they outline their own informative essays about rules...

Students examine Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. In this presidential history lesson, students listen to the radio broadcasts of select FDR Fireside Chats. Students analyze the effectiveness of his messages to the public as well...

Improve word choice! Writers use dictionaries and thesauruses to aid them in choosing exciting words to incorporate in their writing. They rewrite sentences and practice identifying words that can be replaced using a better word....