Eighth graders study persuasive writing. They analzye an editorial for introductory,body, and concluding sentences. They develop arguments for and against various topics in small groups.

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.

Your class may be active in the community, but what about showing appreciation for what others do? Turn the tables with this fun idea as learners celebrate those who have worked to make their campus better. They discuss the ways in which...

Students are engaged in the introductory skills of playing tennis and develop the ability to overhead serve. They practice serving a ball over the net without a return being made. This is done to work on technique and speed of serving...

Investigate mirror images with alphabet letters! In order to experiment with mirror images, distortion, and reflection, class members use small mirrors and place them over and near the alphabet letters on the worksheet. Individuals or...

Can your learners identify a complete sentence? Read the 20 examples and indicate which sentences are complete and which are fragments. Then, follow the lead of the examples provided and have your learners indicate what each sentence...

Use circle time to work on counting. Kindergarteners practice the months of the year, say the full date, chart the day's temperature, count to 100, and sing the alphabet song. This kind of daily routine cultivates deep roots for...

Translate transition words for your class with this handout and brief exercise. Fairly straightforward and informative, it includes sample sentences and a working link to a more complete list of transition words. There are two different...

The subject and the predicate are two vocabulary words that every young writer must know. This short, but effective, presentation aptly describes what the subject and predicate are, what role they play in a sentence, and offers some...

Are you working on a Central American civilizations unit? Give your class a quiz on the Aztec gods after studying the Aztec culture in social studies or literature. Fifteen questions focus on basic identification.

In part one, your astronomers read an interview dialogue between a reporter and Dr. Maria Ocasio, the chair of the group that assigns names to celestial objects. The topic in question is Pluto's status. Learners research Plutinos and...

Determining the meaning of a word based on context clues or marking how the meaning of a term evolves in the course of a document can be a challenge in more complex text. Give your pupils an opportunity to practice this skill with a...

It is no easy feat to wade through legal and political documents. And incorporating this type of informational text into a literature class can also be a challenge. Here’s a resource that includes suggestions for how to address this...

Each country or group of people has created special places of worship. Children read a story about religious buildings and architecture and then make clay models of the buildings they like the best. The lesson has been written to...

Support your learners as they read The Cay by Theodore Taylor with a word wall. This resource includes 50 words from the book. All the words are printed in large font, and some of the words are paired with images.

Class members explore how to read and use histograms by watching a video on creating and analyzing histograms. To finish, the class works on a set of questions that tests these skills.

Students combine different foods to make possible lunches and determine the specific combinations of lunches that can be made from a finite set of foods.

Young scholars determine how many number cards are needed to display the dates of the month. In this place value notation lesson, students write numbers on blank cards to see how many are needed of each number to makes all the...

Young scholars view a video, and they are reminded that Impressionism was an artistic movement that begin in Pairs in the 1800s. They are asked to think about the paintings featured in the video and describe the typical style of these...

Students, while utilizing learning stations, read and analyze Robert Frost's poems from his "Frostiana" collection. They are encouraged to experience and explore poetry through different means via small groups. Within each station they...

Middle schoolers use Tootsie-Roll Pops to become familiar with atoms and chemical formulas. They, in groups, find more combinations of Tootsie-Roll Pops than the other lab groups within 3 minutes (Round 1), and within 5 minutes (Round 2).

Ninth graders compare the development of text in Book 5 of "The Odyssey" to Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotus Eaters." After discussing the comparison's of the two text within a group, they create an original piece of work or...

Students work in small groups researching the impact of climate change on a particular country, and predict future impacts for this country. They simulate an international summit on climate change. Students understand the impact of the...

Students participate in literary circles to analyze characters, critique writing, discuss events, and  story elements.  In this literary circles lesson, students take responsibility for their learning as a member of the...