Students create Inspiration webs using graphics or photographs that depict high and low points in their lives. This technology-based Language Arts lesson plan for the upper-elementary or middle-level classroom is excellent for improving...

Here is a one-stop planning resource for Louis Sachar's Newbery Award-winning book Holes. You'll find 21 links to worksheets and various activities designed to span the entire book. Learners draw to help analyze settings and...

Assign each group of 3-4 upper elementary engineers to a different type of transportation fuel. A background information page is provided to get them started with researching their assigned fuel. Each group then produces an exhibit...

What is an advocate? Help high schoolers understand the issues forcing refugees to leave their home country. After gaining some information on the subject, high schoolers create a dynamic presentation and persuasive essay encouraging...

Take a journey to India with a read aloud of The Drum: A Folktale from India by Rob Cleveland. Make connections to the story's theme by building and practicing drums, role playing story characters, and practicing skills in phonics, math,...

As a before reading strategy, class members select a tale from mythology, examine several picture book versions of the myth, and fill out part of a Venn diagram with observations about the hero in particular and the myth in...

Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...

This is the culminating activity for a unit on energy balance for 3rd-5th graders created by Together Counts. Young learners make a plan to balance their energy in and their energy out for one month. They use the SMART steps in creating...

Sometimes being different is an advantage. An engaging activity has scholars match cards with quadratic functions in various forms. Along the way, they learn about how each form highlights key features of quadratic functions.

Sometimes it's helpful to read certain passages in a novel slowly and carefully, and to read other parts more quickly to move the plot along. Learners tread carefully through Chapter 20 of Lois Lowry's The Giver, noting which...

Thank you. Excuse me. I'm sorry! Pupils watch a video about encouraging things people should say more often. Next, they work in small groups to develop a role-play based on a difficult situation. They perform their role-plays for the...

Examine how the media informs the way your class thinks about racial and ethnic differences. Additionally, middle and high schoolers discuss whether "objectionable material" in mass media from the past should be preserved.

Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...

Two online lessons, one in math and one in language arts, are here for you. In them, learners play online games which reinforce important skills in literacy and numeracy. The thing I like about both of these lessons is that they get the...

Students explore the topic of underage drinking. They find a focus and write a news feature/analysis that reports on what the community is doing to prevent underage drinking and some assessment of the extent of the problem.

For this bullying prevention worksheet, students read detailed informative hints on what to do if faced with this problem. Ideas about how to handle various situations are included in this handout designed for older elementary students.

In this My State Report Booklet worksheet, students complete 25 pages about a state. Example pages include state animal, bird, flag, flower, and insect.

Fifth graders read a book.  In this informational text features lesson, 5th graders define captions and their purpose.  Students view an article and discuss the graphic aides that assist comprehending the information...

Explore reciprocal questioning with this ReQuest comprehension strategy. After reading a passage, learners first question the teacher, trying to "stump" her. Then it is the teacher's turn to ask the pupils questions. All correct answers...

Investigation is a brilliant way to spark scientific inquiry. First graders will identify, research, and report what they have learned about a mysterious bug found on the playground. They will use multimedia resources for research and...

A link to a beautiful Animoto presentation is included, giving examples of primary sources that a student might want to contact when doing research. Using the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah as a sample topic, middle schoolers view a slide...

What words end with /x/? Unite several alphabet concepts as scholars learn all about the letter x. After identifying it, they listen to you pronounce the /x/ sound and try it themselves (use these tips to explain how you do this)....

Take an amphibious journey with budding readers as you explore vocabulary in Wendy Pfeffer's informative book From Tadpole to Frog. This text is the backdrop of a vocabulary exercise based on six words: fertilize,...

Encourage good reading habits with an activity that asks class members to examine the title and cover of Out of the Dust, and then make predictions about the setting of and events in the tale.