Students select writing prompts for the class.

Students take a closer look at the organization of written pieces. In this writing skills lesson plan, students examine transitions, repetition, parallelism, and other organizational patterns in writing. 

Students write persuasive letters based on "The Tell Tale Heart." They brainstorm topic sentences, main ideas, and details. They analyze the character and determine if he is innocent or guilty. They create a map listing their reasons to...

Students use observation skills to develop skills inc. They develop thinking skills and develop descriptive writing. They refine their thinking with concrete materials and make a collage that updates this mural to reflect current culture.

Students, while reading a novel together in class, jot in their journals any connections to their own lives they can make between the text and self, text to text or text to the world. Various themes are connected to open more doors to...

Fourth graders read two books  In this compare and contrast lesson, 4th graders read a science fiction or fantasy story and compare it to the story, "Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library." Students also have the option to listen to...

Middle schoolers practice making summary statements and drawing conclusions. They observe ten photographs relating to Texas history and develop a statement about each. Then they compile their single statements into a summary that...

Biology or health classmates read a case study about a family who is dealing with fetal alcohol syndrome. The PowerPoint that is supposed to be shown is not included, but there are a plethora of web resources that can be used to help you...

As learners continue to examine a short story of their choice, they take some time to look at analysis completed by others on the same story. In the eleventh lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils explore various sites for literary...

Looking for work? Need a resume? Employment seekers find a job posting for a career that interests them, and fill in the blanks on the provided templates to produce three different types of resumes. Templates for the functional, the...

Students practice the art of storytelling using realistic art. They pick one illustration of a character in the book and create a story about the possible life he lived. The important details that are needed is the name, occupation,...

Students identify how the different plants and animals work together to cause the changes in the log. Students discuss the sequence of events in the life of the tree and log. Students plant a seed to take home and care for. Students...

Use essential elements cards to help lesson plan! Each card contains an informational text common core standard for grade levels six through eight and suggestions for activities and supports. Cards address skills such as citing textual...

Students enrich their writing of an original scene by incorporating imagery, visual pictures and scenes painted in the readers mind by using one of their senses as a unique writing tool.

What was Shakespeare's youth like? Virginia Woolf considers the question in her nonfiction text, A Room of One's Own. Scholars begin reading Woolf's work before analyzing some of the text. Next, they write an objective summary and...

How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...

Young journalists use four strategies from an "Am I Being Fair?" tip sheet to check for and counter personal biases about a topic. Scholars apply the strategies to an article about the best pizza as guided practice. Participants then...

Seventh graders interpret their own meaning of the painting, "Christ's Descent into Hell" by Hieronymus Bosch and the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. They focus on the chaos created in both the art and music and discuss...

Fifth graders read a dissection article and complete close reading activities for the text. In this reading skills lesson, 5th graders read an interactive frog dissection article in teams. Student teams complete a KWL chart and...

Students create a movie flyer to advertise the novel that the class has just finished reading in small groups. They search the Internet, format their flyer, select a slogan for their film, write a brief plot summary, without giving away...

Students write a book, newspaper, or other chose published writing that explains the connection between engineering and the environment. They determine why engineers need to be good communicators.

Second graders review the basic elements of a story. Individually, they write their own original story as they use a software program to help them map out their ideas. With a partner, they exchange papers and read them for grammatical...

Learners, in groups of two, choose a politician of interest and research that person. They each assume the role of either the reporter or the politician and write a "mock" interview that they later present to the class.

Fourth graders take on the persona of a pioneer boy or girl. They write a fictional series of journal entries describing, from a child's view, some of the events, hardships and adventures of the trek west