Students explore how marketers use the idea of "cool" to sell clothing and accessories, and become aware of their own attitudes and perceptions about what is cool. They become aware of what motivates them to buy certain things

High schoolers analyze modernist poetry and the role of speaker in example poems. Learners study modernist poems from the Romanticism and Victorian periods as well as Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Using a...

Students take a closer look at archetypes. In this characterization activity, students examine the setting and the characters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as they read and analyze the novel. Students consider how Twain mythically...

Trios write, design, and produce cookbooks. In a truly collaborative project, they choose what content to include, contribute recipes, and decide on formatting. Then, they reformat all recipes to ensure consistent style, publish the...

What is an analytical essay? Introduce this type of thinking to your young writers. First, discuss what it means to analyze something. Then, identify the different components of an essay and what details are embedded in each component....

Students work in pairs during two classes to conduct research online. Students write note cards with URL's. Students complete scavenger hunt worksheets. Students develop a travel brochure on the Colombian Caribbean coast with PowerPoint....

In this writing letters worksheet, students use the mixed up sentences and rearrange them into chronological order to practice sequencing verbs.

In this song writing activity, 9th graders read about the cadences, chords, tunes, and lyrics that are used in song writing. There are no questions associated with this activity.

Students engage in a study about the life of young girl in the book "Bums In The Attic". They read the narrative story while considering the first person point of view. Students write a journal that analyzes the author's style of writing.

Students explore different styles of writing. In this writing lesson plan, students look at menus to get an idea of how many different types of writing there are. Students create their own menus and add border and clip art.

Students write a rough draft book review over a book they have finished recently. Using their peers, they revise and make suggestions to correct spelling and grammatical errors. In groups, they practice giving their book report to the...

Learners participate in the iEARN Project by completing a questionnaire about values and lessons they have learned. They read sample essays by other students in the project about their views on the laws of life. They then write and post...

Young scholars examine the history of Thanksgiving. In this writing lesson, students will use Internet research to gather information on a particular Thanksgiving topic. Young scholars will use their findings to compose an article.  

Make real connections in literature and in life. While reading, class members fill out links for a chain, circling the connection type, noting the page number, and commenting on each one. When they've completed all the links, they cut...

This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...

Invite your class to consider how to respond to a conflict. Designed to be used alongside Secret Saturdays by Torrey Maldonado, a lesson plan focuses on a set of terms: conflict, escalate, deescalate, conflict resolution, denial,...

This lesson asks young readers to predict what will happen to Harry Potter. While the question has been answered by the last book and film in the series, the concept and links provided by The New York Times’ Learning Network are...

Get to you know your new class members with an ice breaker activity that uses their name and creativity. Scholars write their first name in cursive on a folded sheet of paper, cut around the curved lines, open the paper to view its new...

Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...

Consisting of a thorough and straightforward list of poetry terminology, the first part of this presentation would be a good introduction to a poetry unit, or a review for an upcoming poetry project. The list of terms is quite extensive,...

Learners read short paragraphs, summarize the passage in one sentence, and then develop an appropriate title that indicates the main idea of the selection. Part of a series of exercises designed to build literary skills.

Eye contact, volume, and pronunciation are key ingredients to a successful presentation. Pupils present their two-voice poems to the class with their poetry reading partners. Next, to wrap up the unit, scholars use a worksheet to reflect...

Create a simulation of acid rain in your classroom with lemon juice and bean plants to help kids study the effects of pollution on plants. In addition, learners will listen to a story and write responses based on guiding questions.

Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...