Use a series of extension activities to enhance your class reading of Chris Van Allsburg's holiday classic, The Polar Express. From a biography of the author to filmed book reviews and research about the railroad, kids can take...

Young scientists meet Edward Alexander Bouchet who, in 1876, was the first African American to receive a PhD in Physics. This two-part lesson first looks at the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois about the type of...

Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...

The dreidel song, or "I Have a Little Dreidel," is a fun traditional song for the season of Hanukkah. Teach your class how to play the dreidel game with an activity that includes the lyrics to the classic song.

After the Revolutionary War, the success of the United States was far from guaranteed. Foreign powers coveted the new land, and Great Britain challenged American sovereignty. Learners consider the challenges facing the new nation using...

Students engage in a study of incorporating literature into the Social Studies classroom. They review a variety of literature sources and then create a bulletin board with the information. Then students practice using the Reader's...

Twelfth graders examine the concept of classical conditioning. They listen to a lecture about the principles of classical conditioning and the basic response and stimulus experiment conducted by Pavlov. Students discuss and identify...

Strengthen your learners' relationship with Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic novel of a pioneer family with these materials. Multiple choice comprehension questions and a set of reflection prompts are provided for each pair of chapters in...

Learners research information about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, the Plymouth Colony, the Wampanoags, and the first Thanksgiving. They take an online tour of the Mayflower, interpret timelines, create a postcard, and compare and...

A perfect resource for encouraging an understanding of the world's religions and note taking skills. Text is broken into a classic note taking style, ideal for teaching good habits. Content includes a break down of major religions,...

Tenth graders compare and contrast the immigration reform policies of Presidents Reagan and Bush. In this immigration lesson, 10th graders examine primary documents related to each president's policy for immigration reform. Students...

The story of Christopher Columbus has fascinated young historians for centuries; use this vocabulary-in-context strategy to dive into Kimberly Weinberger's picture book about this classic explorer. Begin by introducing the new words:...

Ah, the classic business cycle model: recession, depression, recovery, prosperity. And then there was the Great Depression. Groups investigate the economic conditions that led to and social movements of the 1920s that great out of the...

Filter young teenagers' opinions and perspectives with a classic fishbowl discussion. Given any topic relevant to your curriculum, a group of class members engage in discussion for their peers to observe.

Students reflect on their favorite childhood toys and assess their continued appeal. They work in pairs to redesign classic toys and create posters to represent their new models.

Students relate the classical world to the modern world. In this map skills lesson, students turn a blank map into a colorful complete map by following step-by-step directions. This lesson allows students to connect our current geography...

A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...

Whether you are teaching an art class or world history class, this presentation will appeal to viewers' creative minds and receptive eyes. With brief explanations on Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Dada, and Bauhaus as representations...

A 10-lesson unit takes high schoolers through a novel study of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. To start, students learn about Fitzgerald's background and gain historical context that prepares them for a reading of the book. The...

Students read and analyze a classic Eastern European folktale. In partners, they read the story, take notes, define vocabulary terms, and write a summary of the folktale.

Here is a lesson plan whose focus is on classical archaeology. In groups, high schoolers read various myths and legends to examine the how the culture was passed between different groups. They participate in a role-play activity in which...

What a creative approach to studying about the ancient Mayan civilization! Learners will become investigators in the case of the "disappearance" of the Classic Maya by examining a variety of primary and secondary source material,...

Are the juvenile courts fair? Learners read a bit from the classic Oliver Twist to consider how young people are treated and represented when they've been accused of a crime. They read a case study from their books, discuss children's...