Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A lesson like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions very...

Learners discover their body weight and composition. In this health lesson, students use a body mass indicator to identify their percentage of body fat. Learners develop an exercise plan and record progress throughout a month.

Learners create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...

Students are required not to change their usual eating pattern while recording everything they eat and drink for 1 day. They evaluate the nutrient composition of their diet, as well as their dietary intake and behavior within the...

How do you think the parrot in "The Ghost" chapter of Matilda feels in the chimney? Put a class member in the hot seat and have the class ask questions relating to how they might have felt if they were the parrot in the chimney....

Spice up your writing! Your amateur writers will benefit from concentrating on understanding and improving verb use in writing. An introductory activity addresses weak verbs. A second exercise helps them see the importance of strong...

Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...

Five learning stations for five physical fitness components: cardiovascular exercise, body composition, muscle endurance, muscular strength, and flexibility. As pupils progress through each station, they will complete assigned tasks,...

You can explain it, but can you do it? After learners view a sequence of transformations, the next logical step is creating the transformation. Challenge your classes to construct a composition of transformations and verify the...

Students view DVD "Greatest Guitar God Guide Video Primer," examine and demonstrate understanding of layout of fret board, practice basic fingering patterns, play simple melodies using E and B strings, write original melody, and practice...

Students explain functions.  In this function lesson, students solve functions.  Groups of students develop strategies to perform operations with functions.  They write test questions using functions which include all...

High schoolers examine how to write article summaries of abstracts. In this writing skills lesson, students edit the noted sections of an abstract that is already written on the Old Testament Abstracts.

To conclude a study of social justice and tolerance designed to prepare classes for a visit to the Museum of Tolerance, class members brainstorm a safe and peaceful world. They then write about their own vision of this world.

Students write a composition comparing and contrasting two portraits. In this comparing and contrasting instructional activity, students will observe two portraits and compare them through their writing. They then will write a letter to...

Introduce and challenge the essay organization skills of your junior high writers with the paper reconstruction activity in this demonstration.  Theydetermine what the word organization means, and discover the basic organizational...

Fifth graders write a report. In this research lesson, 5th graders work in groups to complete an Internet scavenger hunt. Students research an area of health related to nutrition or exercise, write a report and present their report to...

Students write a journal exercise that relates to pets. They collect information from each other in order to practice making and interpreting bar graphs. They Continue building different kinds of graphs with the group.

Here is an art lesson that combines visual arts and language arts into one very nice package. In it, youngsters study a fascinating painting called Painting of Bear and Sun Dances. They begin to understand the importance of...

By The Great Horn Spoon is a fantastic novel for introducing learners to life during the California Gold Rush. First, kids research and analyze American folk songs, then they connect to the text as they listen to symphonic pieces written...

Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain...

Young scholars explore the language of Shakespeare. In this literature lesson, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Young scholars pantomime the meanings and then write a short...

What do writing and dance have in common? They both have a six-trait rubric for assessment. Just like a good story, a good dance must have a hook, beginning, middle, end,  logical sequence, and a climax. Learners use a...

Students develop a strategy for combining various ideas into well formed sentences which then combine to produce effective descriptive paragraphs.

Seventh graders explore nutrition and the effect it has by participating in class discussions.  In this diet and exercise lesson, 7th graders analyze print advertisements and discuss how unrealistic their expectations are and how...