In this excellent story elements map worksheet, students view and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a graphic organizer to help structure stories and compositions. To my eye, this graphic organizer will help students...

Young scholars explore language arts by reading a classic children's story in class. In this story structure lesson, students read the Judith Viorst book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Young scholars...

Students write their own version of "Peter and the Wolf". They explore the characters and the instruments that represent the characters. They use graphic organizing software to brainstorm ideas for characters and story lines for...

Seventh graders access an organizer from an earlier lesson and transition sentences to begin a new essay.  For this organization and composing lesson, 7th graders work in small groups to create a draft of an article about...

Students explore note taking. For this study skills and nonfiction comprehension lesson, students complete a two column main idea chart while reading a nonfiction passage.

Students practice taking notes. In this written communication lesson, students discuss the purpose of taking notes and then research note-taking methods using the provided Web site tool. Students practice using one of the note-taking...

Class members can outline a topic or text with this graphic organizer. There are spaces provided for causes, details, and results.

A thought-provoking lesson which will provide your 5th graders with a world view. Pupils discuss children's rights here in the US and around the world, and do some comparisons. They watch a video, embedded in the plan, that shows a young...

Explore a real-word math problem with your class. Strengthen their problem-solving strategies by coming up with an answer to a money question. They work in groups to determine the answer. Also, they share with the class the various...

What a great project. Graphic arts students consider the social, political, and economic impact made by a chosen invention. They build an argument to substantiate their reasons for choosing said invention. They create an oral...

How figurative language affects the tone and meaning in Chapter Three of Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy is the focus of a series of exercises that ask readers to locate, record, and analyze Curtis' word choices.

The difference between an average and an unforgettable writing can lie in the author's word choice. The figurative language in Chapter 2 of Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Medal Winner, Bud, Not Buddy, is the focus of a series of...

Groups use a Venn diagram to compare the theme of love and loss in Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address to Stanford University students and Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy.

Students discover the links between population and Congressional representation. In this government lesson, students research population statistics and create spreadsheets that compare population to the number of Congress members per state.

Compare and contrast the characters of Gemma and Becca from Briar Rose. Using a Venn diagram (not included but easy to create), readers will explore the characters. Not much direction or explanation is included here. 

Ask your learners to synthesize what they know about Waiting for the Biblioburro by writing a well-organized paragraph. Young writers focus on using transition words and including specific details in their paragraphs. The plan allows for...

Time for pupils to use their imagination! Learners examine the relationship between a system with no real solution and its graph. They then verify their discoveries with algebra. 

Ensure your pupils are rule followers! Learners add the addition rule to the set of probability rules examined in the previous lesson. Problems require both the multiplication and addition rule.

In this compare and contrast graphic organizer worksheet, students choose 2 different topics to compare and contrast using the graphic organizer to organize their information.

Use 2x2 matrices to move along a line. The second day of a two-day instructional activity is the 28th installment in a 32-part unit. Pupils work together to create and solve systems of equations that will map a transformation...

You don't need to be discreet about using the resource on discrete variables. In the fifth installment of a 21-part module, scholars explore random variables and learn to distinguish between discrete and continuous random variables. They...

Water, water everywhere. Readers revisit paragraphs six through nine in the article "Water is Life" to answer text-dependent questions. They then pair up to reread the article focusing on its structure and record their thoughts on...

Anybody can write a body paragraph! Pupils analyze the development of ideas in a body paragraph from a model essay. Next, using what they've learned, they draft the body paragraphs of their My Rule to Live By informative essay. 

The fabulous four. Scholars learn the four key components for creating an excellent journal entry. They then work to create a journal entry rubric and participate in a mini lesson about organizing and outlining journal entries.