Explore how the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation affected everyday individuals in the Civil War era. Learners are given the opportunity to read and evaluate primary and secondary source material, and then to compose a writing...

Read the story Gingerbread Baby and use these various activities to connect to grammar, art, and point of view. In one activity, learners create character masks. They practice writing verbs on the back of the masks to tell what each...

Fifth graders write a descriptive narrative about summer vacation. The use of this topic helps the lesson to have a high engagement level. Technology is infused in the lesson with the use of computers to write the report.

The subject doesn't sound to interesting, but with a child's imagination even a trip to the store can be an adventure. The class writes a narrative story about a trip to the store. They organize their stories to include an introductory...

Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...

Use beaded necklaces to practice with ordinal numbers and sequencing. For the first, scholars color the beads blue, red, or yellow based on their given positions (1st, 3rd, etc.). The next set of beads has learners do the opposite,...

Quite often, learners confuse the main idea in a selection of reading with the supporting details. In this lesson, pupils practice the skill of finding the main idea and the supporting details in pieces of writing. Newspaper articles...

Using various exploratory techniques, young actors work as an ensemble company to devise, perform and evaluate a piece of theatre for assessment. This outline provides an objective and a list of games and activities that stimulate skills...

Students work in groups to write an original fairy tale in Italian. They research the components of a fairy tale, compare and contrast fairy tales with myths and follow an outline to write a complete, 15-20 page fairy tale.

Do you have a class set PDAs? Seventh graders use the Note Pad function on their PDAs to brainstorm writing prompts. After three minutes of listing their favorite foods, class members use the Note Pad Eraser to reduce their list to the...

One of the most important skills in orienteering is being able to read a topographical map. Understanding the contour lines and symbols and the scale of the map will make planning your route so much better. In this activity, partners get...

Eleventh graders write a paragraph about what they are going to do after graduating from high school. As a class, they share how they are going to meet their goals and discuss other options other than going to college. To end the lesson,...

Students discuss the life of Louisa May Alcott and create an outline of a biography of her life and times.  In this Louisa May Alcott activity, students explore the Transcendentalist involvement in the abolitionist movement,...

Twelfth graders examine the causes of freedom by revolutionary patriots. In this Civics and Economics lesson, 12th graders analyze primary sources. Students work cooperatively to write a freedom declaration for their group.

After reading a text written by James Joyce, middle and high schoolers find examples of passive voice. They share their findings with the class. Use this lesson to emphasize the effect of passive voice in writing.

Have a Happy Halloween and build strong oral language skills. Special needs Pupils functioning at a moderate level can practice sequencing, writing lists, and using oral language by explaining how they carve a pumpkin. 

Examine author's purpose in a persuasive text using this scaffolded plan. You essentially have a verbatim script here, but it can definitely be used as an outline instead. Review questions that readers should ask themselves when...

Introduce budding scholars to the many types of academic plagiarism.  Potential plagiarizers develop a definition of the infringement and determine how it has been committed. The instructor provides the writing examples and...

The blogosphere may be overwhelmed with content, but there's still room for unique points of view. Creating a blog that stands out, however, is the bigger challenge. A handout on blogs, part of a series of handouts on specific writing...

Engage the class in researching oral histories and historical revision, in order to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the sacrifices made by Americans in the Korean War. The inquiry process is scheduled to take one week....

Young scholars make a mind web to describe their favorite soda. They then make thumbnail sketches of their labels. Tehy create a unique font with which to write the mane of their soda.

What is a signal word? Recognizing these words is an important step in both reading and writing formal text. Review a list of signal words (provided and organized into specific categories), and then have your class play a game to...

Young historians examine the lifestyle changes and cultural changes that occurred as a result of the challenges posed by World War II on society in general. With regard to American History and culture, pupils write an essay on the...

Fifth graders make model and write essay of a new family pf arthropods using known data.