Youngsters identify and interpret the importance of having rules in order to maintain order at home, at school, in their community, and in the United States. They create a working Classroom Constitution that governs the classroom and...

“. . .different men often see the same subject in different lights. . .” but the great orator Patrick Henry used all the skills at his command to craft a speech to convince listeners to see things as he did--that liberty was worth dying...

High schoolers explore issues surrounding language norms, including the distinction between prescriptive and descriptive norms, the differences between norms for spoken English and those for written English, how word meanings change, and...

Children around the world enjoy a list of rights that protect their bodies, minds, families, and lifestyles. Review the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child with learners of all ages, and teach them all about their rights.

What was the relationship like between George and Martha Washington? To protect their privacy, Martha Washington destroyed all her husband’s letters after his death so historians have little evidence of their lives together. Two letters...

Students chronicle development of human rights for students up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, define human rights for students according to Convention, and identify and discuss three components of the Convention:...

Write an unsent letter about a consumer scam, paying attention to the writing conventions of punctuation and spelling. This lesson could be adapted to fit a variety of social issues in which letter writing is appropriate. 4

Examine three speeches while teaching Aristotle's appeals. Over the course of three days, class members fill out a graphic organizer about ethos, pathos, and logos, complete an anticipatory guide, read speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.,...

Students explore life and language development in the Elizabethan Age. In this English lesson students complete web-quests and other activities surrounding Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Students study the Constitution and then in an interactive group activity create a "Second Constitutional Convention" specifically designed to evaluate and trim down the number of amendments.

Sixth graders research Veteran's Day and wars that affected the United States. In this research lesson, 6th graders work in small groups to create an oral presentation based on Internet and conventional research. They complete...

Middle schoolers focus on the process of and skills necessary for researching a topic. They study the topic of immigration while practicing note taking skills, organizing information and writing conventions.

Students read and analyze the anti-slavery poem, "Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They discuss the content and form of the poem, write an essay, write an original poem, examine how this anti-slavery poem was converted...

Twelfth graders use computers and the Internet to research a specified area, word processors to prepare an essay, a digital camera, a video camera gather visuals, and a scanner to add visuals to a PowerPoint presentation as they discover...

Students use their knowledge of philanthropy and poetic conventions to write original poetry about philanthropic giving. In this philanthropy lesson, students write poetry based on philanthropy using poetic conventions. Students...

Students read about the history and locate dams in Arizona. In this Arizona dams lesson plan, students write a summary about what they read focusing on word choice, ideas, conventions, and geography content.

Learners research and describe the contributions of African-American men and women. They write their notes in a Microsoft Word document. They present their information to the class.

Keep the art of letter writing alive in this age of Tweet and Twitter! The 10 activities detailed in this resource lead pupils through the process of crafting classic forms. A list of and links to famous letters is also included as part...

Students read a multicultural book called "This Is the Way We Go to School" by Edith Baer and Steve Bjorhman. They become culturally aware of the different nationalities around the world and different ways that they may do things on a...

A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few...

Mark Twain's life, politics, writing, and role as a mirror of pre- and post-Civil War American culture are the focus 11th and 12th graders in this section from an expansive author study. A critical writing assignment comparing Twain...

Your class examines F.D.R.'s speech for examples of repetition, alliteration, emotionally charged words, etc. They listen to the speech and interview a person who heard it delivered. They finish by writing an article about the experience.

Students research the HPV vaccine and estimate its cost. They interview doctors and local health officials about it. Students write feature stories based on their research focusing on the timelines for implementation in their states or...

The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...