Students discuss the advantages and types of brainstorming as a prewriting tool. They experiment with different styles of brainstorming and produce prewriting samples for assessment.

Students investigate the concepts that surround the Civil Rights Movement. They conduct research with the help of the teacher and use chart paper to create posters about major people involved. Students also complete a timeline graphic...

Students identify the fat content in foods. In this nutrition lesson, students review the food pyramid and identify foods that are low in fat. Students create a low-fat dessert by using fruit.

Third graders listen to a lecture on how to take notes and discuss the skills of paraphrasing and correctly citing resources. They prepare note cards according to the format presented in class.

Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning instructional activity, students explore the spirit of volunteering as they locate news articles or advertisements regarding the topic. Students discuss whom benefits...

Students develop a sense of historical empathy as they discuss The Holocaust and roll play activities designed to highlight prejudice in today's society.  In this Holocaust history and The Diary of Anne Frank lesson, students...

Students design, invent, and build a model of something new, useful, or decorative to solve a problem using any combination of materials provided. They also create logos, packaging, etc. related to product sales.

Students watch the film "The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color". Using the film, they work together to develop proper interview questions to use while talking to World War II veterns. After the interview, they research...

Learners explore higher level thinking. They develop their critical thinking skills by answering open ended questions. Students work cooperatively and make and explain connections between texts and their personal lives. Learners use...

Learners locate information about a legendary person or place, locate legends in their locale, create a description and drawing of their legendary person or place, exchange their description with another student, and recreate the other...

Students read passages from several sources and evaluate the text for various criteria. In this problem solving lesson, students evaluate character problem solving processes after reading passages. They will use a Venn Diagram to compare...

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...

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...

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...

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.

Complete an in-depth study of the works or a specific author. Working in pairs, students read at least four works by the same author. After completing the reading, they create an essay comparing and contrasting the works and create an...

After reading an example of a Cultural Connection about a particular person, class members are asked to think about what this person might experience on a daily basis. They then craft a narrative from the subject’s point of view.

Need a recipe for a paragraph? Young writers cook up the opening paragraph for a speech on food preparation. They prepare by reading the directions and cutting out the provided sentence strips. Then, they mix up the strips and paste the...

Pupils expand on and elaborate about the field of genetics.

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...

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.

Fifth graders identify and compare works of art from various regions of the United States. Telecollaborative partners, from different states, work together to complete this assignment. Using the internet, 5th graders research a specific...

Students explore ocean biology by participating in a plant growing activity. In this seaweed lesson, students identify the importance and uses of seaweed in the ocean and examine different seaweed samples. Students utilize an aquarium,...

Model for your class members how to use a definition map to make connections between new words and prior knowledge. Although the strategy is designed for social studies classes, the approach can be use at any grade level and in any...