Dim the lights, take a deep breath, and press play to explore the emotions and memories that music elicits. Class members begin using relaxation techniques designed to create a positive listening experience. As music plays, learners...

Groups research participatory democracies and compare the role and rights of citizens in ancient history with those in recent U.S. history. Guided by a series of questions, individuals compose a persuasive essay in which they discuss the...

Slavery in India, Sudan, and Mauritania? What about in the United States? Groups research modern slavery in these four countries, collecting factual evidence (What), determine their feelings about this evidence (So what),...

The poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the focus of a unit that asks readers to consider how an artist's life and changes in society influences his or her work. After careful study of Whitman's and Dickinson's perspectives on...

Was it the War against Northern Aggression or the War to Unify the Union? Scholars investigate the key battles and strategies of the American Civil War to determine just why the North was victorious in the end.

A powerful introduction and conclusion can really pack a punch. Using the resource, scholars first read and discuss a model essay. Then, as part of the end of unit assessment, they draft the introductory and concluding paragraphs of...

First and last impressions are important. Using the helpful resource, scholars draft the introductory and concluding paragraphs of their literary analysis essays. Next, they use a writing evaluation rubric to self-assess their work. 

Learners use context clues to define words with multiple meanings. After extensive practice with their teacher, learners read through six sentences, they then identify a word with a multiple meaning, and determine its meaning based on...

Happy birthday! Celebrate everyone's birthday with this writing activity, which prompts seventh graders to research historical events in a country at the time of their birth to create an essay. Working in pairs, they proofread each...

One much-needed skill for young learners is direction giving. Have your class plan and draw a safe route for them to travel from home to school. They will also draw places and items that are in between home and school in order to build a...

Learning by example is always effective if it's paired with independent practice opportunities! Model good reading practices for your class. Learners listen to the teacher model examples of reading with voice, expression, and tone...

After viewing a map of lights at night over a variety of geographic formations, young topographers connect the location of light clusters to geographic features that encourage human settlement. They list causes and effects of large...

Skim, reread, and then take notes. The step-by-step procedure outlined in this resource can be used to help pupils write a summary of a reading passage. Using their notes, class members then draft a summary focusing on the main idea and...

Are you working on a research and citation unit? Have your young writers listen to a lecture on how to cite research sources correctly and how to distinguish new information that requires citing. They compile a list of works cited from...

What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...

Third graders pair up with a partner via an online classroom. They analyze half of the story "Enemy Pie" and communicate with their online peer to predict the outcome of the story.

Students expand on and elaborate about the field of genetics.

Students brainstorm lists of places, events and relationships that define them. They search for clip art and pictures in magazines to illustrate the items on their list and create a graphic timeline of their lives.

Sixth graders identify the major obstacles in farming in Mesopotamia. They work together to design and build a model that solves these problems. They write a short essay that describes the problems and their possible solutions.

Students search the Internet to find a poem to research, analyze and present their interpretation of the poem to the class. They develop their interpretation in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

Eighth graders create a poem about homeless people using images they saw on websites. After reading the book "The Outsiders", 8th graders make connections of real life homeless people with characters in the book. Students search the web...

Reinforce the importance of the writing process with this publication lesson. Elementary and middle schoolers compose a parts of speech book which includes one page each for nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,...

Students write on a chosen topic. Students brainstorm topics and practice writing on the topic using a variety of templates. Students print a final work and fold it in half to create a Mini Zine.

How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...