High school historians interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources to decide if the southern advance was a reckless step toward war, or if it was reasonable. They research the Japanese southern advance tactics during the...

Students collaborate to create a children's book. In this visual arts lesson, student study the components and procedures that go into making a children's book including the shape, size. layout, biographical information about the author,...

How does your location alter or impede your movement? An interesting question posed by two artists, who work to show the restrictions of people in various landscapes. Learners analyze both exhibitions, discuss location and movement, then...

Research the characteristics of leaders who have used nonviolence to change society. The class then applies this information to their own community to find leaders with these same characteristics, creating a wall collage of pictures and...

Students study plots and use a Live Access Server to generate plots.  In this temperature instructional activity students examine the process of incoming and outgoing radiation. 

Students explore African American migration. In this black culture and history lesson, students use a map to identify northern and southern states in which African Americans lived in the 1900s. Students observe and describe objects and...

The creation of state home pages is the focus of this lesson plan. Learners research one of15 states for which special State Quarters have been released, and create a home page for that state. They also perform Internet research and...

Plankton: so much more than just a SpongeBob character. Three different activities have kids looking at both phytoplankton and zooplankton in pictures, as well as collecting their own samples (depending on your access to a saltwater...

Law and society go hand-in-hand, explore the  law as it pertains to social impact throughout history. Here are 20 excellent questions that have learners examine law from the code of Hammurabi, to Napoleonic law and the Magna Carta....

Teaching a unit on the Holocaust? Consider using the personal statements of Dan Pagis’s poetry to contrast with the more “distanced” historical accounts found in textbooks. Five poems, discussion questions, and background notes are...

J.K. Rowling's world of wizards and magic focuses on some topics that relate to our own society, especially in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Have kids complete a KWHL chart (what they know, what they want to know, how...

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is used to model for readers how to craft four levels of questions that promote comprehension. Questions that can be answered with evidence right there in the text, questions that require readers to think and...

Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer...

The design of this two-day lesson eloquently exposes learners to the topic of social justice for people with disabilities. The plan is built off the reading of Are You Alone on Purpose? by Nancy Werlin. The activity introduces...

Examine advanced filters and operators in depth. Class members try out even more filtering tools than they did in the beginning lesson and practice with operators, special symbols or words that affect search results, recognized by...

To celebrate diversity and the purpose of Harmony Day, the class examines culturally diverse music and expression through line drawing. They discuss that all cultures produce music and that music can convey mood just like art can. As the...

With rising oil prices and increasing concerns over global warming, the pressure is on for engineers to develop alternative sources of energy. Among the new technologies being developed are hydrogen fuel cells, which young scientists...

Young geologists discover the important role that rocks and minerals play in our everyday lives through this series of hands-on activities. Starting off with a lesson that defines the difference between plants, animals, and...

Chris Van Allsburg's Two Bad Ants provides third graders with an opportunity to examine point of view and how the point of view of others may differ from their own.

Spark interest and enhance your pupils' map skills using Matteo Pericoli's book, See the City: the Journey of Manhattan Unfurled. Through Pericoli's illustrations and text, learners explore the East and West...

Stand in My Shoes, a story by Bob Sornson, is an effective way to teach young learners about empathy and making friends. Once pupils read through the story, they answer a series of discussion questions and complete reading...

Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...

Teach learners to reflect on their reading with a lesson about double-entry journals. As they read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, class members note interesting passages from the text on the left side of their...

Did you know baking powder can be used to treat acne, whiten teeth, and make sugar cookies? The instructional activity on the development of baking powder is ready-to-go with no preparation required. Through readings, pupils answer...