Develop a world-wide, email chain on which class members can showcase their acts of kindness. After defining the meaning of random acts of kindness through discussion and through a reading of Random Acts of Kindness,...

Learning about literature can be so much fun; it can also be made more accessible through projects and dramatic play. As they explore theme, character, and setting, the class gets creative and makes a dramatic recreation of a classic...

Where the Read Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is rich with themes relating to love and family. Help your class to understand these themes with the series of reading activities included in this unit outline. Readers can keep a journal to...

What does a philanthropist do? Help your class explore philanthropy using character development and literacy ideas. Learners will define and give examples of philanthropy, listen to The Lion and the Mouse, discuss how the characters help...

Create a list of random acts of kindness and have your class perform them during a designated week. Learners will also participate in a project centered around being kind to others. Each grade chooses their kindness project, and then...

First graders practice random acts of kindness. In this character education lesson, 1st graders consider acts of kindness they can carry out and then identify them as they create ABC books of kindness.

The first of a three-part series on bullying, this plan has class members present skits about bullying, write and sign an anti-bullying pledge, and complete a service project. For the skit, learners use information from previous lessons...

Much more than a simple reading assessment, this resource can form the basis of a review of comprehension strategies, as a worksheet that models for readers how to employ strategies to answer questions based on passages, or as a practice...

Students explore Jewish heroes throughout history. In this character development and history lesson, students work in groups to research a Jewish hero. A life-size model of the hero is constructed. Students participate in a Jewish Heroes...

Students investigate the concept of character kindness in literature. For this human character lesson plan, students read about kindness and write about their understanding of it. 

Eighth graders investigate philanthropy. In this service learning lesson, 8th graders read human rights literature and use information gleaned to discuss children's rights around the world. Students discuss scenarios meant to prompt...

The Cleveland Museum of Art presents this interdisciplinary model unit that asks class members to explore how the same themes are presented in the folktales and art of several cultures.

Create a creature using some of the characteristics of a real animal. Second graders will read a book from the "Froggy," series by Johnathan London to learn about the characteristics of frogs. After discussing and recording various...

Students explore celebrity philanthropy. In this character development lesson, students read an article and discuss Oprah Winfrey's involvement in several charitable organizations.

Learners create a fable that is based on kindness. In this fables lesson plan, students read and discuss different fables. Then they discuss kindness, and write their own fables based on the kindness of others.

Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...

Here is a quick activity that could help your kids with their reading comprehension. They practice a classic strategy that gets them to start asking questions about what they are reading, while they are reading it. They write out...

Pupils listen to stories about kindness and discuss kindness in their lives. Students then complete Kindness Counts page, illustrating and telling story, and turn in completed page to teacher to be laminated and assembled.

Phrenology, the belief that parts of your brain control certain aspects of your personality, is described in Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. While we now know much more about the brain, learners use this...

Here is a very age appropriate idea that can be stretched, modified, or used as is. Learners review plant parts, discuss pollination, read the story The Tiny Seed, and write a retell sentence. Their sentences describe to way a seed...

Students participate in an act of kindess for a staff member in the building. Each student then writes about the activity that they performed and it is then displayed on the bulletin board with their picture. Learning is observed through...

Students collaborate in small groups to choose a scene that they write in place of a scene in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar". In this dramatic expression instructional activity, their scripts include roles, lines and stage...

Students listen to a number of children's books that describe private citizens participating in acts of kindness, sharing their time, talent or treasure. They identify the characters, problems, and solutions in the books.

What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...