Sixth graders are introduced to the concept of scale. As a class, they create a model of the solar system taking into account the scale between the planets and the Sun. To end the lesson, they examine "Dina the Monster Bee" and discover...

Pupils read original, primary source account of coming into New York's harbor, compare harbor experiences of Native Americans and Europeans, and explore role of African Americans in waterfront and seafaring activities in New York's history.

Students explore the basic ideas and beliefs about medicine in the 18th and 19th centuries. They write a news account to be published in a "medical journal" developed by the class. Each "article" in the journal should be dated...

Students design and make products and take into account how the products will be used. In this problem solving lesson, students use a range of sources of information to test their design thinking while creating a canal vessel that can...

Fifth graders develop a personal profile which they use to communicate with Chinese e-pals. In this blogging and personal profile instructional activity, 5th graders write descriptions of themselves and their families using a word...

Students draw conclusions about historical changes in Boston by comparing and contrasting the features and details on Boston maps. In this Boston history and geography lesson, students view several sets of dated maps chronologically and...

There's a lot of challenging vocabulary in Romeo and Juliet. As you progress through the novel, assess your class's understanding of the vocabulary with this two-page quiz. Twenty words are presented, and learners must answer questions...

Develop vocabulary in your To Kill a Mockingbird readers. This two-page activity is the first list (of many) for Harper Lee's popular novel. Twenty different vocabulary words like amiable, profane, and assuage are shown. In the first...

Play it cool, real cool, with a vocabulary exercise based on words drawn from West Side Story. Do not deprive young choreographers or your ensemble a chance to prove they are not juvenile delinquents.

Readers of A Tale of Two Cities are asked to draw connections between Book III, Chapter Nine of Dickens’ story and The Gospel of John 2:1-43. The Biblical text and discussion questions are included with the worksheet.

As your class reads Act III of Macbeth, give them this two-page instructional activity. Focusing on themes and motifs, they record quotes from the act that represent each of the topics provided such as ambition or manhood. 

The chapter-by-chapter questions on a Catcher in the Rye study guide would serve well as a group work exercise in preparation for a whole class discussion of Salinger’s novel. The resource includes a nice mix of fact-based,...

Words, words, words. Wuthering Heights provides the words for two vocabulary exercises. Readers respond to questions using one of Emily Bronte’s words and then complete several sentences using words drawn from the provided list. 

Is CTE the right choice for me? Introduce the class to career and technical education through an exploratory lesson, fourth in a series of six career readiness activities. After an introductory video, scholars determine possible careers...

Learners develop and build their vocabulary with daily practice using a Corel Presentation slide show created by their teacher. They independently access and use the software to practice saying the words, identifying their meaning and...

After creating a booklet illustrating and explaining a variety of figures of speech, your class will use examples of simile, alliteration, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, and symbolism to develop a slide show in small groups.

Construct words using root words, prefixes, and suffixes. They listen to Chapters 8 & 9 of Bunnicula being read aloud and write down any words they hear that have a prefix or suffix. Learners infer the definition of new words by...

Here is a literacy lesson for at-risk students. They listen to the story Five Little Penguins Slipping on the Ice, and answer questions before, during, and after reading. Learners practice reading high frequency words on flashcards and...

Make text-to-world connections between 1920s American history and The Great Gatsby. Upper graders share facts they researched about the 1920s the evening prior, view two video clips about F. Scott Fitzgerald, and then choose a book to...

After completing an essay on the American dream, learners revisit their thesis statements. To remind your class what a good thesis statement should look like, show them the rap video, and flip through the PowerPoint presentation. Then...

How does a film vary from its text version? After your high school class finishes The Great Gatsby, let them watch parts of the 1974 film version. First, they complete a journal entry that attempts to connect their personal life to the...

Is Nick Carraway a reliable narrator for The Great Gatsby? Does he really, as his father directed, reserve judgment? Groups rewrite selected scenes from chapter four and five of the novel from the point of view of another character and...

Who would you like to see at your luncheon table? After selecting a character from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, young writers re-imagine The Great Gatsby and how it would be different if told from their character’s point of view....

How do different themes and motifs develop in Shakespeare's Macbeth? As your class begins reading Act Two, have them use the provided document to track themes such as ambition, conscience, and reality (among others). On the second page,...