Beautiful illustrations and tender memories of cultural identity make Kam Mak's story My Chinatown an ideal resource for budding readers learning four vocabulary words in context: fortune, scraps,...

Here's the teacher guide to a unit on family and family vocabulary. Sift through the ideas (a pre-test, lesson activity, and closing activity are all included), and include them in your own unit. Since visual connections are a great way...

There are a lot of great ideas to be found here. To better understand the connection between art and history, learners research several music and art pieces, then relate them to major social events. They study the lives and works...

Dive your class into a reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins with this in-depth study guide. Breaking the novel into three parts, the resource begins each section with a focus activity that identifies a specific theme or question...

Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....

Everyone has a different point of view, even when it comes to the enormity of the universe. Two separate text passages explain the scope of a galaxy, prompting young readers to write an essay about each author's argument and how the...

Genetic information transfers through nucleic acids, making these the chemical link that connects people to their parents and grandparents. Viewers determine the importance of both DNA and RNA after observing the presentation. Key...

Hilary Clinton may have been the first woman to run for president on a major party ticket, but she was only one example of an historic candidacy. Class members use video clips curated from C-SPAN to examine historical firsts in...

High school writers identify the purpose of both a topic sentence and a transitional statement. They write a topic sentence which denotes the paragraph topic and the author's stand on that topic. Then they write an effective transitional...

Tenth graders identify the different ideas, emotions that different colors represent the significance of color in real life. They examine the significance of the lack of color in The Giver and the movie Pleasantville. They develop...

The broad ideas included here provide clear ideas on how to use brain-targeted learning, what activities work best with Tuck Everlasting, how to apply the knowledge gained from their reading, and ideas for evaluation.  Not teaching...

Students label maps of Arizona and Mexico of the products that moved from one place to another. In this Arizona and Mexico lesson plan, students also summarize the effects of the movement on life in Arizona.

Eighth graders identify and explain the connections between new ideas and information and their previous beliefs, values, and experiences. They understand that certain themes are relevant to their lives. They realize the harm of clicks...

Collaborate with another class (or school) and have your learners share ideas about their reading through the use of email. Perhaps you'll create a specific question or a few questions for writers to choose from. Not only will they...

There is nothing more frustrating than discussing theme in literature, and now the Common Core requires that your learners determine two or more, and discuss the development of it throughout the text. This is crazy, but manageable with...

Learners brainstorm ideas for a teacher selected writing topic. They demonstrate seven steps for writing an academic essay. They jot down words or phrases using different colored pens. They write a thesis statement and create an outline...

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein. The sixth installment of a seven-part series teaches young scientists about the importance of being able to communicate scientific research and...

Thinking about introducing your middle schoolers to reading log journals? Try the approach suggested by this resource. After reading to the class an article or portion of a novel, demonstrate a Think Aloud and then model how to transform...

Students investigate patterns of immigration in the US while comparing and contrasting the ideas of citizenship and non-citizenship. They decide how education plays a role in citizenship.

High schoolers create self-portraits using ideas from a particular theme and piece of literature in this high school Art lesson. Emphasis is placed on combining visual and literal material in a cohesive manner.

Use this model, based on urban youth poetry competitions, to create an engaging venue for your poets to share their work out loud, with expression. Build class community, have fun, and celebrate your authors' original verse....

Learners use Internet to research definition of an assigned vocabulary word, and brainstorm ideas for how to teach the new word to classmates in an innovative way using a digital format.

Can you use X-rays to measure bone mineral density? This is the essential question that learners must answer in the first installment of a seven-part series. They brainstorm ideas about necessary background information and what they...

Students identify main idea of passages, reading selections, and cartoons.