Halloween isn't fun for everyone — but playing together is! Read about Esme and her space pirate friend with a short reading passage, accompanied by ten short answer questions.

Encourage scholars to retell their favorite short story or folktale, adding personal details to make it their own. After reading their book of choice several times, story tellers retell a tale verbally to their classmates. 

After re-viewing a documentary segment on the restoration of Santa Cruz Island,, individuals craft an essay in which they compare the views of the various stake holders featured in the video and identify the point of view they find...

After viewing the West of the West's documentary Cache, individuals craft either a newspaper article chronicling the discovery of the cache on San Nicolas Island, a historical narrative of the placement of the cache in the cliff side, or...

Imagine being stranded all alone on an island for 18 years. How would you survive? Class members are challenged to makes necessities out of natural materials that would likely be found on an island.

The poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the focus of a unit that asks readers to consider how an artist's life and changes in society influences his or her work. After careful study of Whitman's and Dickinson's perspectives on...

Time to witness the effects of sound. Learners analyze different materials to determine their abilities to absorb sound waves. They use free software to monitor the amplitude of the waves to verify results.

Good questions can help focus readers' attention on the elements writers use to add depth to their stories. The questions on this worksheet do just that and encourage readers to think critically about a story and author's purpose.

Why do people use drugs? What are the consequences? The alternatives? How can young people resist the pressures to use drugs? The Project Alert drug prevention program provides middle schoolers with the information they need and the...

Is the spirit of peacebuilding already inside you? Scholars take a closer look at the characteristics of peacebuilders, past and present, in lesson 13 of a 15-part series. Individuals identify common traits of peacebuilders, then work...

As the saying goes, art often imitates life ... and literature! A series of activities designed to accompany a visit to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art encourage writers to find inspiration in various landscapes. The lesson includes a...

Challenging pupils' perspectives by having them walk in the shoes of the reader. An informative resource discusses how to identify an audience and anticipate their needs before writing an upcoming argumentative essay. 

After screening an episode by BizKids, scholars show what they know about business vocabulary, then take part in grand conversations about role models and ethical dilemmas.

At over 450 pages, John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Grapes of Wrath can be a challenging choice for full-class, book circle, or independent reading. The activities in a 10-page sample The Grapes of Wrath...

Louisa May Alcott's third novel about Josephine March, spunky-sister-turned-successful-writer, is the focus of a reading comprehension activity. As class members read an excerpt from the third chapter of Jo's Boys, they answer four...

Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" engages adolescents with its theme about the dangers of complete societal equality. Learners complete a graphic organizer to track literary elements in the story, as well as an inference...

In many ways, Victorian Christmas is alive and well today! Class members read an informative passage to learn more about traditional Christmas gifts, decorations, crackers, and visits from Santa Claus in nineteenth-century England—as...

To conclude a study of A Raisin in the Sun and to prepare for a visit to the Lewis Museum, class members analyze Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem." Learners then draw connections to characters in the play and to their own experiences...

What are the benefits of developing social awareness? Using the resource, readers learn strategies for fostering civil discourse, creating a participatory classroom, and enhancing family involvement. Scholars also take a personality...

The two lessons in the fifth unit in this series are designed to help students with disabilities improve their communication skills. The first lesson has class members practice strategies and skills for appropriate communication. They...

Scholars predict the sound of a tyrannosaurus rex roar with a mixing board equipped with audio from crocodiles, chickens, loon, macaw, peccary, sea lion, and bison.

Don't be so emotional! Scholars take part in an activity where they consider how future robots will be able to show emotions. They place paper bags over their heads, act out emotions through body movements, and have others guess the...

Hot topics are often engaging and can get heated. High School students engage in an academic discussion were they must learn to engage with a person holding a different view than their own. They practice discussing different opinions...

Read this interesting background information regarding the presidential election of 2008. Your class will read the provided passages and then answer four critical thinking questions that require them to consider the reading and what they...