Help your middle and high schoolers reflect on the responsibility of newspapers to act as a vehicle for 'everyday citizens' to voice their opinions. Then, using an article about the first day of the Senate impeachment trial of President...

Discuss race in the United States. Start by having each learner read a copy of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech, "I Have a Dream." Then, have them read the article "Shared Prayers, Mixed Blessings" about a church in Atlanta,...

Learners will share ideas about class mobility. They create a timeline that chronicles milestones in their own lives, and synthesize their learning by writing personal essays about their class status and aspirations for the future.

Does it actually exist? Consider the sighting of a giant squid, much like the one that appears in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Middle and high schoolers read the article One Legend Found, Many Still to Go, and research other mysterious...

Your class can build strong, well-represented opinions about the music they hear. They listen to, and share thoughts about, a piece of classical music. Then they write a piece of music or a poem, and analyze their peers' work and their...

What is your attitude on health and illness? By considering their own experiences, students will reflect on and discuss their attitudes toward health and illness while educating each other by researching illnesses in small groups,...

Young historians research one of the most colorful periods in US History: the cattle drives of the 1800's. They research the three most popular trails, and complete mapping and writing assignments about each one. The lesson has many...

Students compare bottled water qualities to water found naturally in a pond habitat. They research their state's laws/regulations in regard to bottled water and study the advertising, cost, and quality of brands of bottled water. They...

Plan ahead! Integrate science and language arts! Schedule your reading of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe to coincide with the arrival of spring. As pupils read Chapter 11 of the Lewis classic, they are assigned one of...

Brian Jacques’ novel Redwall provides the focus for a series of lessons involving the analysis of folklore. Adopting the persona of a character, groups write letters in the voice of their character, assemble a collage using Microsoft...

Practice responding to controversial information with the New York Times lesson provided here. Middle schoolers watch a video interview with the director of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. After reading a companion article, they identify...

Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...

When life gives you mold, make penicillin. Scholars design an inquiry experiment to determine what causes rotting and mold growth. It also covers decomposers and the important role they play for other living things. 

An educational lesson focuses on the idea of conservation of matter through a demonstration of the water cycle, a discussion of digesting food, and the path of carbon and oxygen atoms as they change form. 

Students imagine and describe fictitious sea animals that might live in the ocean. After reading an article, they reflect on new discoveries found in the ocean recently. Using the internet, they research the interdependence of animals...

Begin this lesson by estimating the cost of a college education and comparing it to actual data. After reading an article, high school seniors discuss the processes of the college loan corporations. They listen to a lecture about how to...

Contemplate what music learners listen to and why they listen. Can they find poetry within music lyrics? Specifically hone in on blues lyrics and ruminate upon the social issues prevalent in the themes. Particular song lyrics coincide...

Put on your math caps and explore place value and ways to represent numbers. Learners read, write, and represent whole numbers. They interact with numbers as they read and explore a teacher-created story, play games, and practice their...

What a terrific resource! This presentation focuses on wild horses and what should be done about them. While the questions found in the presentation focus on grammar and comprehension, this set of slides could do so much more. Learners...

The video clip that comprises the warm up is not available, but the related article from The New York Times and the movie trailer for Aliens of the Deep are, leaving enough material to make this a fascinating lesson on deep-sea...

Engage your learners in global events. The makers of the film Invisible Children began the Kony 2012 Campaign to bring awareness to the Lord's Resistance Army. You can show your class the video Kony 2012 and spark discussion with the...

After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.

How many potatoes tall are you? Unearth this rich resource! A reading of John Coy’s Two Old Potatoes begins a cross-curricular exploration of potatoes. Class members read, write, weigh, measure, and experiment with potatoes. Additional...