Seventh graders study events leading to, during and resulting from the American Revolution. They review elements of a political cartoon. They create and dramatize a scene from a Revolutionary War novel.

Fourth graders explore the music of Buenos Aires as they hear and then dance the Tango. They practice basic Tango rhythm, learn to sing the song, "Any Turkey can Tango," then practice a few Tango-riffic dance steps with a partner....

Students explore the language of Shakespeare. In this literature lesson, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Students pantomime the meanings and then write a short story...

Students investigate how fear can cause problems with policies associated with people with disabilities. In this people with disabilities lesson, students study the associated vocabulary, fill in a chart which contains policies that are...

After looking at the back of a quarter featuring Oregon terrain, learners distinguish between fiction and non-fiction and identify the beginning, middle and end of a story. First, they listen to legends that describe the creation of...

What kinds of foods include corn? Corn syrup? Start by viewing a clip of Food Inc. with your middle or high schoolers. Then, study a list of corn-derived ingredients, encouraging your class to see how many food products contain corn. A...

Artists employ a basic metalworking technique by embossing lines and textures into a soft metal. They look for examples of embossed metals in historical and contemporary examples. This fascinating process has been used by many cultures...

Students survey bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop. They explore how bebop, cool jazz, and hard bop reflected American culture and society in the 1940s and 1950s.

Students survey free jazz and fusion. They explore how free jazz and fusion reflected American culture and society in the 1960s and 1970s.

Students explore jazz's primary elements. They identify the basic definitions of terms associated with jazz. In addition, they listen to Song for My Father.

Discover some of the themes of Dr. Seuss's major books. They see that despite being written for young people, Dr. Seuss' books contain powerful messages and important themes.

Examine Erikson's chart on the various stages one goes through growing up. Individually, they write a paper on whether or not they fit into those categories and how they are different today. In groups, for each stage they role play the...

Skim a brief biography of Amelia Earhart with your class, and then assign groups of researchers one of four topics listed: Amelia's family life, important airplane flights during Amelia's life, turning points in Amelia's life, and...

Students research the HPV vaccine and estimate its cost. They interview doctors and local health officials about it. Students write feature stories based on their research focusing on the timelines for implementation in their states or...

Step into the hopeful and tragic world of Anne Frank with this lesson on reading in context. After complete a variety of activities related to the first two scenes of The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders participate in a read...

Tall tales are so much fun! Introduce your class to Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Davy Crockett, among others! Learn about their lives before reading some of the tall tales as a class. Then, write some tales of your own!

The guiding question for this lesson plan is "Do computers and their contents shape who we are?" Open with a selection of Apple's commercials to introduce stereotypes and people's relationships with their computers. Then, read the...

A fun and delicious lesson can help your kids learn about plural nouns and story sequencing. After reading The Magic Apple by Rob Cleveland, kids match pictures to story segments and add s to nouns to make them plural....

Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....

Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass serves as the anchor text for a lesson on symbolism. Readers use the provided worksheets to examine the symbols in the novel as well as in the world around them.

How does the particular point of view in a situation affect the way it is presented? Focusing on perspectives on slavery during the Civil War, middle schoolers use research to write narratives from the points of view of their historical...

Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...

Learners examine World War I poetry for historical context, poetic devices, and participate in a class discussion. They write an analysis of the poetry's form and its content.

Small groups of learners read text round-robin style, and then work individually to answer three questions based on the text. Next, they share their questions and responses and add ideas from the group. The reading strategies detailed...