Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern. 

Greed is the theme of the West African folktale, Anansi Goes to Lunch and this multidisciplinary collection of lessons. First, scholars listen to a read aloud and participate in a grand conversation about the book's key details and...

Surprise! is the theme of this series of challenge activities. The surprise comes from the information your scholars will discover when researching topics such as alligators and crocodiles, living in other countries, becoming a...

Take your class of youngsters on a prehistoric adventure with this four-lesson series on dinosaurs. Accompanying the Meet the Dinosaurs books by Don Lessem, these lessons engage children in writing their own dinosaur books,...

Fulfilling a dream requires a lot of hard work. A study guide for the novel A Single Shard shares the dream of a young Korean orphan. As readers work through the guide, they answer comprehension questions about Tree-ear and the...

Animals are the theme of this series of challenge activities. Extend scholars' learning opportunities by writing personal narratives and book reports, creating picture and alphabet books, and drawing scenes from stories read aloud.

Take your classes back in time. Learners read real historical texts from both Darwin and Wallace as well as an announcement of their findings. Using guiding questions, they make inferences and draw conclusions from the information in the...

After reviewing persuasion techniques, young historians examine how a specific technique was used in the pro- or anti-suffrage messages. They then examine how that same technique is used in modern-day media messages.

Biodiversity is essential for every habitat, but many species are at risk due to pollution and other factors. Explore several different species native to Illinois in a gallery walk with posters that learners have created after research...

Second graders use 'Read Kansas' cards to learn about the daily life activities of an Osage boy and a pioneer girl. For this similarities and differences lesson, 2nd graders write a paragraph and draw a picture comparing...

Students explore schools during the Colonial period. In this American history lesson, students participate in a simulation of school days in Colonial America. Students visit a museum and use the schoolhouse as a setting for their...

Students learn about similarities and differences between different types of weather patterns.  In this weather lesson, students read Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Weather.  Students create a word search puzzle,...

Second graders demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the reading process.

Second graders compare two books they have read, The Hat and The Mitten. In this compare and contrast lesson, 2nd graders review the author and illustrator of the books and discuss the main characters and problem. Students use Venn...

For this trees worksheet, learners put different kinds of trees into a chart and compare and contrast them. Students then answer percentage problems about the trees and short answer questions. Learners complete 7 questions in all.

Fourth graders investigate Indiana transportation. In this transportation lesson students discover early forms of transportation such as railroads, rivers, boats, and roads. Students compare and contrast the different...

Students compare and contrast the lives of African Americans who moved North vs. those who stayed in the South during the era of Jim Crow Laws.

Students compare and contrast the society in Orwell's 1984 with modern society. In this 1984 lesson plan, students research the historical climate in which Orwell wrote the novel. Students create a comparison chart of privacy issues in...

Young scholars compare the costs of two cellular phone plans and determine the best rate. They use a table and a graph of points plotted on a Cartesian plane to display their findings. Students write an equation containing variables that...

Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...

It is much easier for kids to know they have reached a goal when that goal is clearly defined. By providing sixth graders with a checklist of Common Core reading standards written in "I can" format, each child can keep track of his own...

Before one can understand the military tactics practiced throughout history, he needs to become familiarized with tactics practiced in the ancient past. Learners take a critical look at the military logistics used by Alexander the Great...

A thorough lesson on persuasive writing takes middle schoolers through several activities, including group discussion, collaborative posters, and independent writing. They compare historical speeches and analyze the persuasive techniques...

Students read two stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne and write an essay comparing plots and themes. In this Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories instructional activity, students read "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Minister's Black Veil." After...