Students work together to research a time when their family came to America. They each take on the role of a member of the family and research their lives. They are to make the presentation to the class.

Students role-play real-life survivors in a panel discussion. They read a mini-biography about a survivor.

Students examine different types of media. They identify the bias in film and share them with the class. They also examine their personal biases and write about them.

Students examine magazine advertisements to identify how the product is being sold to the consumer. They work together in groups to respond to ads and explain why they are successful.

Seventh graders are introduced to and discuss the power of persuasion. After reading text, they identify the author's purpose, perspective and argument. They write their own fiction and non-fiction texts and develop a perspective after...

Eighth graders discover that literature can be a great way to gather information about the past. Using various types of text, they research its historical data and determine if it is correct. They write two papers to respond to the...

High schoolers have to look at the text of the play Othello and cut the text in half. Each group then moves to the computer to their right and continues on with what that group wrote. They then have to stage the final script and...

Young scholars examine how people have contributed to American history, regardless of culture, race or religion. They develop a sense of pride for their own efforts, as well as for the efforts of others. They also study how to work both...

Second graders listen to the book, Pigaroom carefully. They create lists of animals that may be on the farm and then write their own books about farm life. They proofread their stories using editing checklists and exchange their paper...

For this foreign language worksheet, students discover that many Polish words are similar to those in English and the meanings can be guessed. Students read a chart of 220 Polish words and their English translations. Example: balon...

In this language arts worksheet, students read 5 sentences; all have a form of the verb "take." Students choose the correct meaning of the phrase in the sentence. Example: She takes after her father (inherit characteristics). This is...

Students solve problems based on sharing scenarios. In this sharing lesson plan, students listen to a book on sharing and answer questions. Then the teacher presents different scenarios to the class and they have to problem solve to come...

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?...