Students read about the slave trade in primary source documents. They discuss differences and commonalities in experiences. They write prose or poetry from the point of view of one of the figures from the reading and create a triptych.

Fifth graders chart the elements of drama. In this performing arts activity, 5th graders discuss the role of a playwrite, practice doing some Reader's Theatre scripts, write a paragraph about a problem between two people,...

Pupils conduct Internet research to identify the conflicts and positions of slaves, slaveholders, and members of the Underground Railroad network in the time preceding the Civil War. Students write an essay about their findings written...

Middle schoolers examine photographs from newspapers and write a headline and story to accompany one.

Learners examine photographs from newspapers and write a headline and story for one of the examples. In this news writing lesson, students analyze a photograph as a class and discuss it. Learners analyze photographs and example headlines...

Students engage in the writing of a magazine article. They focus upon the reading of a children's fiction book and create an informative narrative. They create main ideas and supporting details for the article. The supporting of main...

Fourth graders compare and contrast Fudge and Peter, two main characters from "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing". They use a software template to analyze and compare the characters in a rough draft, edit their work and then produce a...

If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson plan allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...

Use the Peace Corps to explore a different place and different perspectives. Your class reads the personal narrative "Cross-Cultural Dialogue" by Roz Wollmering, completing an attached story frame sheet in preparation for a class...

Study the features of nonfiction text with a set of comprehension and analysis materials. Readers learn about Alexander Graham Bell with questions about the text, writing prompts, and proofreading activities.

Students discuss reasons why early europeans immigrated to North America. Working in groups, they complete Internet activities on the PBS Website. They take a simulated voyage to the new world and rercord their actions on worksheets. ...

Third graders explore fables. In this fables lesson, 3rd graders use Venn Diagrams to organize information about 2 fables they will read. Students work in groups to fill out the diagrams and share their results with the class. Students...

Students write from an animal's perspective. In this writing lesson plan students explore the landscape of San Francisco prior to the arrival of the explorers. Students research animals indigenous to the area.

In this pecans instructional activity, 3rd graders fill out a graphing organizer sequencing how someone shells a pecan. Students also draw someone shelling a pecan and write a story about it.

Students practice the art of storytelling using realistic art. They pick one illustration of a character in the book and create a story about the possible life he lived. The important details that are needed is the name, occupation,...

Bring language arts and U.S. history together in this lesson, which prompts middle and high schoolers to gather biographical information about Abraham Lincoln. They compare and contrast information written about his childhood and discuss...

Analyze the use of balanced sentences and parallelism in a narrative. Included in this resource is a narrative about serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan titled, "The Train Ride Home". Middle and high schoolers review...

Here's a fabulous lesson on the life cycle of a butterfly. Youngsters are able to identify and understand the four stages of life. They construct models of a caterpillar and write a sequence story about the life of a butterfly. This...

Even middle schoolers still enjoy experimenting with bubbles! They execute a series of experiments enabling them to distinguish between convex and concave surfaces, explore the properties of buoyancy, surface tension, and density,...

Everyone celebrates traditions in different ways. Young writers share the ways their families celebrate Thanksgiving with a journal writing prompt and discussion activity.

Fifth graders practice the trait of word choice and create a narrative writing with appropriate word choices. They work in pairs to write a story using as many word pairs from their imaginations as they can.

Three lesson plans are shown on this site, two of which pertain to Read 180. Start the year with the first instructional activity by having your learners create a brochure about themselves. In the computer lab, they find clip art and...

The Civil War is undoubtedly a part of America's history, but could it be part of your pupils' history as well? Middle schoolers conduct research to discover a connection between their ancestors and the American Civil War. Whether...

Explore the inventions of the past with a project on ancient tools. After reading an article about hunting during the Archaic period, the Late Prehistoric period, and the Historic period, kids fill in a cause-and-effect chart about the...