A wonderfully graphic cartoon entices learners to read more about issues near the Arabian Peninsula. They will use the provided cartoon and critical thinking question to practice building their analytical and critical thinking skills....

Hoops, basketball or Hula? Hula hoop workouts, will this be the next big thing or just a fad? Read all about it and decide for yourself.

Using this thoroughly-written plan, you can have your junior ecologists exploring local biodiversity. They take a journal outdoors to tally the species that they see. An article is included along with comprehension questions. The author...

See the changes, controversy, and innovations that define postwar American art. The onset of the modern art era in American history is well-defined in this slide-show. You'll see how Abstract Expressionism shifted into conceptual, pop,...

Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...

Act and act, address and address...there are so many words in our dictionary that can function as nouns or verbs. Start this lesson by having your class list as many as they possibly can. When an adequate list presents itself, have your...

Over the course of the instructional activity, your pupils read and analyze a translated eight-line poem from the Tang Dynasty written by Du Fu, a poet caught behind enemy lines during the An Lu-Shan rebellion (755-763)....

Fill in the blanks with a Cloze activity based on Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. After listening to a passage read out loud, kids complete the worksheet by using their memories and context clues.

Pogrom, schlepped, meshuga. Kapo, reich, Wehrmacht. As part of a unit study of Maus I and II, readers use a list-group-label (LGL) strategy for vocabulary drawn from Art Spiegelman's famous graphic novels. The focus of the activity is...

Ease into informational text with the instructional activity suggested here. Part of a unit series, the instructional activity draws from previous lessons and acts as a natural moment to add in informational text. Class members read one...

If the Lorax were to write a letter, what would he write? Introduce your class to systems and feedback loops through the whimsical stylings of Dr. Seuss. Learners take on the Lorax's point of view to write a letter, among other activities.

Get your class ready to read with this anticipatory set for Running Out of Time. Small groups each consider one thought-provoking statement. After each group comes to a consensus, the whole class participates in sharing ideas and voting...

Students create a group wall drawing that demonstrate the contributions that each part makes to the whole.

Students investigate the environmental factors that threaten Timbuktu. Students investigate what measures are being taken to restore their mosques, and the condition of their ancient manuscripts. Students discover information about the...

Students, after reading Fahrenheit 451, brainstorm inventions that could have been in the novel. They present their invention to the class and writing an expository essay about their creation.

"I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works." This colored view is the focus of a close reading activity that asks readers of The Great Gatsby to examine the way...

Riddle me this! What do kennings, caesura, and alliteration have to do with the Nowell Codex? Introduce class members to Anglo-Saxon poetry and prepare readers for a study of Beowulf with a series of activities that...

Advanced lab apprentices prepare zinc and copper solutions to which they will compare the same minerals from a multivitamin. Using absorption spectroscopy, they analyze the contents of the multivitamin for concentration. This lab can be...

Students listen to and watch the opera, Don Pasquale, by Donizetti. They discuss the importance of sets and costumes in an opera and then, with a partner, design a period costume for each of the main characters in the opera.

Eighth graders explore exponents and look for patterns that help to determine the ones place when the base is raised to any power. They use trial and error and seek general solutions. Also, identify patterns in a number sequence.

Seventh graders investigate theoretical and experimental probability by conducting a series of experiments with multiple trials, comparing results, combining results and making conclusions. They express probabilities as fractions,...

Sixth graders inspect M&M's to complete statistical data. Students interpret percent of colors represented. They convert data from decimals, fractions, and percents. Using the data, 6th graders create a bar graph and a circle graph.

Third graders determine the outcome of each of the following situations and justify their findings: even number + even number = ?, even number + odd number = ?, odd number + odd number = ?, and odd number + even number = ?.

Fourth graders practice calculating area by creating a classroom quilt. Students are given a 6x6 inch square material they design based on a classroom theme. A sample of the class quilt is created using graph paper so students may...