Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...

It's hard to find inspiration; have your learners bring in a slew of magazines and search for inspiring pictures! They look for characters, setting, and possibly even conflict clues. They analyze the pictures they select, turn their...

Teach your middle schoolers to use their ears to their highest potential! Pupils practice active listening skills and reflect on how careful listening might prove to be important in and out of the classroom.

Complete a unit of lessons on hearing and sound. Learners conduct sound experiments, research the history of the telephone and scientific contributions of Alexander Graham Bell, and create a model of the human ear.

The Museum of Modern Art provides this educators' guide to Dada and Surrealism. Featuring the works of such artists as Jean Arp, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, and Meret Oppenheim among others, the guide is ideal for art history and...

It isn't always easy to tell another person how we feel; and little ones have an even more difficult time identifying and expressing their emotions. They get a chance to discuss and explore how they can express how they feel in different...

Each piece of the y=mx+b formula represents something important about graphing. Take those important ideas and connect them to each part of the formula with notes or examples underneath each tab representing y, m, x,...

Add another strategy to the toolboxes of young mathematicians with this elementary math activity on using number lines to add and subtract fractions.

Get up-close-and-personal with history using guidance for an oral history project. An engaging resource takes pupils through brainstorming through feedback for a project to interview and collect oral histories from members of their...

Where's the evidence? Scholars practice ordering the evidence and reasons for their class opinion papers by physically sorting them. Next, they work collaboratively to write a body paragraph, using linking words to connect their ideas...

Without ever using the actual term, this exercise has the learner develop the key properties of the midsegment of a triangle. This task leads the class to discover a proof of similar triangles using the properties of parallel...

A human rights defender is someone who promotes and protects human rights for all. Scholars explore the subject with the fourth and final instructional activity from the Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights series....

Can a sidewalk increase the amount of pollution in local streams? Scholars learn the answer to this question though research and experimentation in the fifth unit in the six-part series. Pupils study runoff, impervious surfaces, and the...

Explore connections within and between informational texts with this instructional activity about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine...

If you're looking to start a unit based around narrative writing, make sure to consider this resource while you're planning. This book covers five topics: writing personal narratives, writing narratives about others, writing...

North and South: two opposite directions and two opposite economic and social systems in time of the Civil War. Pupils peruse census websites and primary source photographs to understand what life was like for the everyday person before...

Students write persuasive letters based on "The Tell Tale Heart." They brainstorm topic sentences, main ideas, and details. They analyze the character and determine if he is innocent or guilty. They create a map listing their reasons to...

Fourth graders label maps of Arizona and Mexico to show the people, goods, and ideas that have moved between the two places. In this Arizona and Mexico lesson plan, 4th graders summarize the effects of the movement on Arizona life.

Collective story writing is a great way to reinforce the concept of story elements and collaborative learning. Young writers discuss story elements such as, setting, character, action, climax, conclusion, foreshadowing, dialogue, and...

How is Louisiana connected to the Holocaust? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders complete a research report about a survivor of the Holocaust who currently resides in Louisiana. Though the idea is a good way to...

Plan on using Gone with the Wind as a reading selection? Here's a packet of prompts for activities and assessments.

Learners explore comprehension strategies as they listen to Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini. As the story is read, teacher and pupils will stop occasionally to make text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections. They also...

Brainstorm ideas to design a sustainable guest village in the Sonoran Desert. The first installment of a nine-part unit teaches young environmental scientists about the basics of the Saguaro National Park and about sustainable design....

Solids come in many shapes and sizes. Using geometry, scholars create two-dimensional cross-sections of various three-dimensional objects. They develop the lesson further by finding the volume of solids. The module then shifts...