This PowerPoint includes text describing the key elements of a community, as well as the unique features of a suburb, a city, and a town.  Illustrations and clip art are included depicting each type of community. Instructions for...

The Renaissance is the theme of a five-week unit designed to boost reading comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, and expository writing skills. Scholars listen to and discuss daily readings and engage in skills practice activities...

Get those middle schoolers ready for writing excellent reports. This outline provides instructions and organized space to help learners gather information in a thoughtful and useful way. They research the life and works of an artist....

A great student reference tool and graphic organizer in one worksheet! Young writers can read a detailed description of each section of a standard five-paragraph essay before completing a graphic organized with their own writing. The...

Create a sense of accountability among scholars with a lesson plan that focuses on making and keeping New Year's resolutions. Writers compose a five paragraph essay focused on three resolutions—promises to...

Review the components of a well-written paragraph with your class. Be sure your writers include a topic sentence supported with main ideas and followed by a conclusion. Unity, coherence, and transition words are emphasized. Experiment...

Here is a great way to get pupils to express a scientific concept in a fun way. After hearing the story of Walter the Water drop and learning facts about the water cycle, the class will write a creative expository piece describing what...

Three wonderful questions will help your middle schoolers better understand the Byzantine Empire. They construct short essay responses to each of the three prompts, discuss the schism between the Greek and Roman Catholic church, the...

Celebrate Black History Month with this lesson, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas, text, and graphics...

Human prehistory is an exciting topic for many learners! Engage your social studies class in critical thinking by having them answer the three short essay questions on this worksheet. They need to know why prehistoric people migrate, how...

Use this learning exercise to check for understanding after your class reads materials related to Europe in the Middle Ages. There are three questions that ask them to describe Charlemagne as a prominent historical figure, the feudal...

Those studying the history of India and the legacy left by the Gupta Empire will have no problem answering these three short answer questions. Learners compose three short paragraphs describing the Gupta Empire, the historical population...

Three questions in need of well-written answers await your budding historians. They put their reading comprehension to the test when they describe how the Crusades impacted Italian city-states, why kings like Richard the Lion-Hearted...

Learners compose answers to three questions related to the rise of the Renaissance. They will compare and contrast the Renaissance to the Medieval Period, consider why ideas from classical civilizations reemerged, and think about the...

For use alongside a complete lesson or as guided reading questions, this instructional activity provides three short-answer questions for consideration. Learners consider why the Tang Dynasty was considered a golden age, the role women...

Consider the factors and outcomes of societal changes that occurred during the Japanese Feudal period. Critical thinkers use what they know to answer three short essay questions. This helpful worksheet is a great tool for building...

Did your class finish reading about Feudal Japan and the Tokugawa Shogunate period? Reinforce their understanding with three essay questions focused on comprehension and critical thinking.

As a mid-unit assessment, individuals craft an in-class, formal essay response to a prompt that asks them to use textual evidence to identify Haley's purpose, as well as analyze how the structure, style, and content contribute to the...

Looking for a PowerPoint presentation that models the framework for the traditional five-paragraph essay? Look no further. Here, the brief explanations are clear and concise, and color codes indicate the thesis sentence, the topic...

Need a quick review of the format of the five-paragraph essay? The strength of this presentation is in the color-highlighted examples used to illustrate the terms. Consider adding additional slides that provide a model of a complete essay.

If your writers have already mastered the basic five-paragraph essay, consider introducing them to a broader application of this format. Writers consider sections instead of paragraphs, context/claim, and synthesis. Although no models...

After reading an excerpt from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, The Fun of It, learners explore various nonfiction resources about her life and write a short newspaper article on a specific event. They then develop a longer piece of...

Fourth graders who are studying life in colonial America engage in an instructional activity that has them create a "Help Wanted" ad that would have been written by a master craftsperson from back in the day. They utilize a graphic...

In this grammar activity, students review, define and write each one in a grammatically sound sentence. Students share their sentences with their classmates.