Young scholars examine what it was like to travel west on the Oregon Trail. They develop a list of questions about the trip, explore various websites, and create a story about the experiences of a 19th century family travelling on the...

Learners access the Oregon Trial website to find information on what it was like to experience traveling the Oregon Trial. Then, in groups, they create dioramas depicting events that could have happened along the Oregon Trail.

Third graders make alphabet cards that depict the wide variety of life forms found in the Sonoran Desert. A terrific lesson that combines language arts, visual arts, and life science all into one wonderful package. Each of the cards has...

Are you just about to teach persuasion in your class? If so, you should consider this short unit. In small groups, learners create a product, develop a magazine ad for the product, and pitch this product to the class using a visual...

Young scholars identify and solve problems as they modify the design of an everyday household item. They gather and analyze information and work in collaborative teams to create a design plan for a new product.

Upper graders investigate how the Seventh Day Adventists are objectors to the practice of war. The lesson plan covers the Civil War and examines the church's position about the practice of war. The research extends to modern wars and...

Seventh graders create an original narrative story in a diary or journal format involving a fictional character with conflict, plot, resolution and falling action within the story line. They follow the steps of the writing process with...

Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...

Learners divide a poster board so everyone gets the same amount of area to decorate. Youngsters talk about the different ways to divide a rectangle. They measure their lines to make sure that each piece is equal and then decorate their...

What are the pros and cons to having either permeable or impermeable materials for building? How do they affect the environment? Use this role-play and the extension activities to get your environmental scientists thinking about the...

One of the most difficult parts of getting a job, is the interview. Learners are each given a card with personal experience and information on it. They respond to an advertisement for a chef position at a Korean restaurant. Each person...

To generate interest in and enable readers to connect to The Things They Carried, class members write about what they carry—both tangible and intangible things. The class then makes a list of these things and compares the list to...

The cat might have got your tongue, but you can’t avoid the elephant in the room while you wait for the other shoe to drop. After all, the early bird gets the worm and the chickens are circling. After researching Poet Laureate Kay Ryan...

Use this well-developed class period to introduce your junior high learners as to how to provide effective feedback concerning their classmates' writing. The plan includes a warm-up, review, introduction, guided and independent practice,...

How do you show that something is a rectangle? This activity starts with four coordinate points and asks young geometers to explain whether they create a rectangle. Knowledge from both geometry and algebra come into play here, as well...

Young historians envision what life was like for African Americans living in the Jim Crow South through hands-on, experiential activities. 

Invite your learners to take on the voice of a character from Ordinary People as they write a letter. Pupils use what they know about the given character to compose their letter, which must relate to the plot of the novel.

Class members conclude their reading of The House on Mango Street with an assignment that asks them to compose letters to characters using their own voices or that of another character in Cisneros' story.

It may not be possible to have control over all aspects of life, but through the activities and discussions in this lesson class members learn different ways to cope with those areas over which they have little or no control.

Learning to embrace the opportunities and challenges change presents is the focus of the exercises and activities in this fifth session of a 10-lesson course on Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive and Spiritual (SPECS) health....

The activities and discussions in this—the ninth in a series of 10 resources on Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive and Spiritual (SPECS) health—focuses on helping class members develop appropriate and healthy relationships....

Get the word out about friendship, support, and a safe school community with a media literacy lesson about bullying. Young journalists investigate instances of bullying and take descriptive pictures as they compile a magazine to fight...

Programming a robot is a mathematical task! The activity asks learners to examine the process of programming a robot to vacuum a room. They use a coordinate plane to model the room, write equations to represent movement, determine the...