Should the student population wear uniforms to school? Pupils express whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with a controversial statement, moving to a designated corner of the room to indicate their stance....

The ABC book format is used to organize information found in a Holocaust research project. Class members use the library and/or online resources to collect information and organize their findings under key terms, places, or names. Before...

Learners practice sentence combining at increasingly difficult levels throughout a week. They begin with nouns and verbs and build to contrasts, parallels, etc. 

What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs....

The class finds and cites evidence showing India's unity in diversity and work to recognize some of the complex interactions of a civilized community. They read to understand how geography, history, politics, economics,...

Have you ever lost someone? Middle and high school learners journal about a time they experienced the loss of someone through death, divorce, moving, or another type of change. They share their responses and discuss an article relating...

C is for cute cut-and-paste activity! Youngsters develop literacy by identifying images and words that begin with the letter "C", and then pasting their cut-outs onto a provided worksheet and writing descriptive sentences.

Way before the digital age radio was the medium of popular culture. After listening to excerpts from radio programs (easily available on the Internet), participants return to the radio age by creating a two-minute sketch based on a...

Dear Nancy, how do you analyze a letter? Love, Trez. Dear Trez, you use a Letter Analysis Worksheet. Love, Nancy. This richly detailed worksheet provides multiple questions that lead researchers step-by-step through the process of...

Is your opinion significant? Help your class discover the influence their opinions hold and encourage them to make a positive change in their community. To start, they get in teams and brainstorm why their school should have more healthy...

Widespread video gaming makes this content relevant and high interest. Developing youth awareness about the impact of violence in games is important to promote literacy, critical thinking, health, and consumer awareness. After reading...

Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...

Are you preparing for state testing or hoping to develop literacy skills in your classroom? Give your class this short reading assignment and the questions that follow. The reading passage is about a page in length, and there are 15...

A reading of “Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers,” a New York Times article by Sara Rimer, triggers a discussion of the American Dream and what it means to strive for something. Following the discussion, class members...

Why is online privacy so important? Explore privacy with a group assignment for which pupils create word clouds with words they associate with privacy. A discussion and online activity follow. Learners will read articles, explore the...

Introduce your class to the concept of copyright with a series of activities. Pupils first learn about copyright laws and fair use, putting their knowledge to the test with a quick categorizing task. They then watch a video and answer...

Who and what can you trust online? How do you know? After viewing a pair of introductory videos on positive and safe online conduct, learners discuss the content and put it into practice during an online search activity about alien...

Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth...

Do you really need that new laptop/phone/dress/jacket/etc.? Financial decisions require us to distinguish between our wants and our needs. Through discussion and the evaluation of scenarios on provided worksheets, this resource...

Receiving credit can be both a benefit and a curse. Prepare your learners to make wise credit choices by studying how credit influences credit scores, identifying the different components of credit cards, and exploring major consumer...

Introduce your young adults to the important understanding that the money they receive from their paychecks is a net amount as a result of deductions from taxes. Other topics covered include federal, state, Medicare and social...

Newspapers and broadcast news. Social media, blogs, and blogospheres. Class members generate a list of news sources they use to get information about events. The big idea here is to introduce the necessary vocabulary and to establish a...

Guide your class through reading various versions of The Three Little Pigs. Talk about the traditional story line and then discuss a different point of view: Maybe the wolf was just an innocent bystander! This lesson plan, which has...

Students watch a video prior to developing a family emergency preparedness plan and kit. They decide with their families what local media sources they would use to get information during an emergency situation.