Inspired by the music "Free to Be. . . You and Me" by Marlo Thomas, this lesson, which will take several days, asks students to compose stories that teach character traits that will be shared with elementary school children. They will...

In Character is an online journal that examines a single virtue--compassion, creativity, purpose, modesty, loyalty, or thrift, for example--from different perspectives. Articles are written by noted scholars, journalists, and critics,...

This lesson plans looks at the leadership and character of Dr. King, and encourages students to draw connections to their lives. More lesson plans from the national parks service on civil rights and Dr. King can be found here:...

"My First Baseball Game" is a one page, fictional, reading passage about a boy and his sister going to their first baseball game and learning what it means to be Chicago Cubs fans. It is followed by constructed-response questions which...

Lesson plans teachers can use to promote self-understanding, cultural understanding, and the interconnectedness of people and cultures.

8th grade students in Fort Collins, Colorado each created a historical character file (HCF) as part of a Learning Expedition on slavery. Each HCF is a fictionalized account of an historically/geographically accurate character. Each file...

This collection of trading cards was created by 5th and 6th graders at Shutesbury Elementary School in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, as part of a choice-based fictional reading project. Each student selected a fiction book that he or she...

This character file was created by a 5th/6th grade student in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, as part of a Learning expedition on architecture. Though only one is shown here, each student's character file (CF) tells the detailed life story,...

How are you feeling today? Recognizing your emotions is critical to emotional development. Emotional intelligence can be learned, practiced, and improved. This blog offers tips for educators and parents on modeling and teaching emotional...

A 5th/6th grade student in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, created this character file (CF) as part of a Learning expedition on local scientists. As part of the expedition, students surveyed all of the fields that are considered the hard...

A 5th/6th grade student in Shutesbury, Massachusetts created this character file as part of a Learning expedition on local scientists. Students were engaged in a survey-style study of all of the fields that are considered the hard...

This ebook shares the story of a small dinosaur named Boland who keeps being the victim of a bully named Tyrone the T-Rex. In this story, Tyrone keeps cheating in games. Can Boland and his friends devise a plan to stop the cheating?...

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will analyze how different playwrights characterize, or develop, their protagonists and antagonists through the dialogue and staging of their plays.

Students will examine Vincent van Gogh's self-portraits and letters to better understand the artist's life story and personality. They will paint two Van Gogh-style self-portraits to show two parts of their own personality and write a...

This ebook shares the story of a small dinosaur named Boland and his gang of small dinosaurs. Boland must overcome his fear of the bully Tyrone and face him so that they continue to play.