Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...

Learners are given information about two popular sonnet forms-English and Italian. They are given the rules for writing a sonnet. Students are asked what type of sonnet they would use. They are each given a sheet of paper and asked...

Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate  the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of...

Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.

High schoolers examine how Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke incorporate poetic devices to convey meaning in the poems, 'Those Winter Sundays,' and 'My Papa's Waltz.' They listen to audio clips, explore websites, and write an analysis...

Students explore crystals through the story Snowflake Bentley and then create crystal pictures of their own. In this interdisciplinary lesson, they create a crystal web chart on chart paper, design artificial snowflakes, and write poems...

Students participate in a guide close reading of the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet. They write a prologue sonnet to another piece of literature they have read.

Students read and write poems for two voices about the Civil Rights Movement.

Get the youngest American citizens involved in the presidential election and inauguration with a set of social studies activities. Focusing on the history of presidential inauguration ceremonies, learners draft their own poems, design...

First do this and then do that. Next do this and after do that. Young readers read about the order each person in the story gets dessert, before answering the who, the what, and the how in the reading passage.

There's no place like home. Three family pets prove this in The Incredible Journey as they head out to find their way back home. Scholars read about the dangers the pets face on their journey while they learn eight vocabulary words from...

Learners have an appreciation of Langston Hughe's poetry and his use of jazz rhythms, have the ability to read poetry closely, and freewrite to gain a fresh perspective on music and literature.

Students find words for different feelings: sad, happy, annoyed, bored, puzzled, etc. They think of colors which seem to fit each feeling. A painting is introduced and they are asked to verbalize how it makes them feel. What mood does...

Learners research the Samurai and their Haiku Writings. Students use internet research to gather information about the ancient Japanese Samurai. The learners then create individual Haiku writings, and a cultural day is designated when...

Young scholars engage in a lesson that is concerned with the study of poetry while focusing on Haiku as a format. They practice reading a variety of different pieces of literature in order to increase exposure. Students discuss the...

Students reinforce creative writing skills.

Students brainstorm and discuss ways math is all around them, explain in writing how they solve math problems, describe mathematical ideas in writing, and create original story problems.

Inntroduce primary learners to essential critical reading strategies with an activity based on James Reeves' poem, "The Wind."  Learners listen as the poem is read, first as a riddle, and then re-read with the title visible. The...

Fifth graders determine how freedom comes with rights and responsibilities through literature and poetry about World War II. In this World War II lesson, 5th graders use the letters in the word "infamy" to write an acrostic poem. They...

Learners read and explore one of Emily Dickinson's nature poems, "A Bird Came Down the Walk-" through interaction with a variety of art forms. Clips of a hymn to hear meter and the viewing of bird images exposes them to the language and...

Discuss tone and imagery with Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." In an attempt to get his fair lady to consummate their relationship, he write a poem urging her to seize the day! Introduce the author to your high school class,...

It is entirely fitting and proper that Wilfred Owen’s powerful “Dulce et Decorum Est” is the poem used for an exercise in close reading, discussion, analysis, and argumentative writing. Class members discuss focus questions in pairs,...