How can you foster a thoughtful learning community for your class? First, the class brainstorms a list of behaviors that will help make the classroom a great place to learn. Then learners group similar ideas together and come up with...

Put an end to wasted instructional time with this lesson on responsibility and preparedness. After completing this series of activities learners will learn the importance of these social skills not only in the classroom, but at...

Learning to work together respectfully is one of those life skills learned through practice. The second lesson in the series has groups attempt to complete an activity and then discuss the obstacles they faced. Using what they learned in...

Writer's workshop is an idea that's been around for years. Students write, read, and comment on each others writing in an authentic and thoughtful way. Here is a 21st century twist, 6th graders will use the class blog to create a...

What is science? Sitting in a whole group discussion, scholars first share their ideas on science and how to conduct investigations. They learn about the steps for scientific inquiry and experimentation. Once finished, individuals then...

Young pupils learn about classroom rules as they also practice active reading strategies and reading comprehension skills. This lesson begins with a thorough reading of the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. As the...

Although designed for the Canadian War Museum, the concept here is a solid one. Class members select an artifact from the First World War, examine it, research it, and craft an explanative label that they attach to their picture and post...

Make your classroom a supportive and communicative place to be before beginning a unit on the Holocaust. Working together as a class, learners reflect on their previous experiences of classroom discussions before establishing a...

How have educational standards evolved? Educators of adults examine expectations in the 10th workshop out of 15 to better determine how standards have grown. Participants respond to a variety of sample questions to determine how they...

Second graders participate in a game that focuses on appropriate and inappropriate behavior for second grade. They draw a game card and read it out loud, and students discuss and identify the behavior as appropriate or inappropriate....

Learners collaborate to create a set of group norms and expectations by which they will abide in order to promote a safe, respectful online community.

Introduce language learners to class behavior expectations, and each other, with activities that include greeting and name games, conducting a class survey, and creating a classroom rules poster.

Balance scales create a strong visual of how an individual prioritizes one's self alongside their commitments to the community, school, and home. Scholars complete a graphic organizer then discuss their findings with their peers. A...

Students build a Colossal Classroom Cladogram of vertebrate evolution. After putting it together, they show the gradual, mosaic accumulation of the traits which we, as humans, possess.

Food and Science200128-Standard 20.0128-01 Students will learn the meaning of food science and management for the classroom and laboratory.

Fifth graders examine text features and create a PowerPoint presentation. In this text features lesson plan, 5th graders go over Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and text features before they choose one to include in a book and...

Build a classroom community with a lesson that uses character clovers to examine scholars' roles. Following a whole-class discussion, participants list four roles they play and accompany it with the character traits that go along with...

Class groups bring feeling words alive by creating a poster that illustrates with images and colors, but not words, the feeling conjured by the word. The posters are then combined into a mural for the classroom wall.

Second graders discuss the need for each one to meet educational expectations. They draw pictures and write a summary to explain important behavior for a 2nd grader. In groups, 2nd graders discuss the importance of following rules, and...

Second graders read a book about carpets, a magic carpet ride, or some other type of story involving rugs/carpets. They examine discuss the classroom carpet, designate it the share carpet and develop rules for classroom carpet behavior.

Eighth graders work together to come up with a topic for a service learning project that engages all members of the school community. Groups then develop a dialogue and visit other classrooms to encourage other students to participate....

Peer editors review critique expectations before offering feedback on each other's two-voice poems. They record their feedback on peer critique recording forms, and then begin revising their poems. 

Students explore the dilemma of bioethics. Students review a cast study on a bioethical topic. They research the facts, values, and stakemakers in the controversial debate. Students consider the consequences and discuss their findings...

Imagine being a war photographer embedded in World War I. How do you see your role? How might your photos influence that study of the war? Of history? Class members select a photograph, adopt the perspective of the photographer, and...