“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...

Stories from "The Great Lakes Mariner" provide pupils with an opportunity to practice their synopsis-writing skills. The tabloid, which focuses on the Great Lakes region, is filled with stories written by sea captains, that are filled...

Fourth graders investigate the significance of natural resources and the habitats of butterflies. They create a list of their own favorite foods, then watch a video about habitats. Students identify things in the video that animals and...

Help your young writers recognize the importance of composing formal letters. Middle schoolers read letters written by Thomas Jefferson and analyze the components that make it a formal letter.  They will then compose their own...

Fifth graders determine how freedom comes with rights and responsibilities through literature and poetry about World War II. In this World War II lesson, 5th graders use the letters in the word "infamy" to write an acrostic poem. They...

Actual ship diagrams and a table of voyage data gives young historians an authentic glimpse of on-board experiences during the Atlantic Slave Trade. The class examines a projected diagram of the slave ship Brooks, recording thoughts....

Ancient Rome is the topic of this creative lesson plan. Students research Ancient Rome using the links provided, and then create a travel brochure using Microsoft Publisher. What a fun way to review facts on Ancient Rome!

It's time to get crafty with shapes! Your future farmers demonstrate their geometric ability by building a farm using triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares. But first, scholars take part in a brainstorm session inspired by their...

Fourth and fifth graders define the term media literacy, then come up with examples that they share with the class. The types of media studied are auditory, visual, and written. Learners get together in pairs and perform a media...

If you are reading works by Walter Dean Myers in your class, this resource might be worth a look. Included here are activities and discussion questions for Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, Fallen...

Readers respond to a series of questions focused onJuliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, and crafted to reflect the levels in Bloom's Taxonomy.

Students simulate going to a pizza restaurant, ordering a pizza, and determining whether a small, medium, large, or family size pizza is a "better-buy." Students calculate the price/per/topping and determine whether this price is "fair"

Students identify specific passages in the Monroe Doctrine to events in early U.S. diplomacy.

Learners read and analyze William Faulkner's novel, 'As I Lay Dying.' They define Faulkner's place in American literary history, describe Faulkner's "South" in the context of the historical South and examine the Bundren family through...

High schoolers collect photographs on the Progressive Era in Illinois, then write three newspaper articles, using one photo per article. The article will highlight an event in Illinois during the Progressive Era. The newspaper must also...

Students explore the concepts of mean, median, mode, and range as they elicit data about people's favorite flavor of ice cream. A practical application of the data obtained offers an extension to the lesson plan.

Students examine several examples of budgets to develop a facility with the components of its formation. Income, expenses, and expenditures are considered and itemized for this lesson.

In cooperative groups, emerging ecologists research assigned biomes found in Arizona. Combining photos and facts, they use PowerPoint to produce a fully automated commercial that lasts 45 seconds. In addition to the lesson outline,...

Learners examine what life was like in free African-American communities before the Civil War. They analyze maps, identify elements of everyday life in these communities, explore various websites, and complete a chart.

Is your class reading Pride and Prejudice? In order to link scenes to the themes in Austen's novel, pairs take on the confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth (Chapter XIV). After writing their own version of the...

Mini-marine biologists use Scholastic Explorers website to learn about declining numbers of leatherback sea turtles and dusky dolphins. They fill out a K-W-L chart and observation journal worksheet, which are both provided in the lesson...

Walk your scholars through the process of finding percentages using this problem-solving worksheet! A word problem asks students to figure out how many pieces of a puzzle are left, if the completed 750 pieces make up 60% of the total....

The string section of your school orchestra can get a proper form make-over by incorporating this lesson. They reestablish proper playing form, posture, and sound as they compose an essay on how to maintain good playing habits during...