As part of their reading of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members consider what it would take to survive living on their own. Using the provided worksheet, individuals list their needs and decide where they would...

Examine the differences between totalitarianism and democracy in this writing lesson plan. Using the same format and theme from Great Expectations, young writers work in pairs to compose their own short stories. They follow guidelines...

Middle schoolers debate one another. In this pollution lesson, pupils work in teams to debate which is more serious, air or water pollution. They research their topic to come up with valid points to justify their side of the debate.

Explore the measures of central tendency through a challenging task. Given values for the mean, median, mode, and range, collaborative groups create a set of data that would produce those values. They then critique other answers and...

As an example of nature's water filtering system, young ecologists conduct an experiment in the lab. They construct a funnel out of a plastic bottle, fill it with specified layers of materials that simulate layers of soil, then run muddy...

There is no doubt many changes or lack of changes are due to bipartisanism in the capital. Learners analyze a political cartoon that describes the issues surrounding changes to the current health care system, and consider whether...

Learners can use this learning exercise to discuss the expectations placed on the Obama presidency. Included are two cartoons to analyze, a web site to visit, several great discussion questions, and a short activity. This is one learning...

Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...

Imagine having no control over your life and then suddenly having to provide for yourself. Such was the challenge faced by many American slaves after emancipation. Class members are asked to consider these challenges are they examine...

Community service is a win-win! Scholars discover how to gain valuable career skills through helping others using a lesson about volunteer work. Second in a six-part career and college readiness series, the activities focus on...

If you are new to the technique of Socratic questioning, check out this resource that details the five steps in the Socratic method. The examples of each step are drawn from Brave New World.

Pupils research the police ticketing of teens in their city or county. They determine if the police are targeting teens and why. Students explore other ways the community tries to ensure safer teen drivers. They survey teens in school....

Introduce your young writers to the five-paragraph expository essay format with a four-page worksheet that uses color codes to model for writers how to craft the essay. Although designed to prepare writers for the GED, the approach can...

Students investigate the concepts of area and perimeter with the use of chocolate bars. They calculate the perimeter and area of different size rectangle chocolate bars and record the statistics. Then students make a visual comparison...

Learning how to interact and work cooperatively in a team is an essential skill, both in school and the world beyond the classroom. Pupils use a self-check, group skills worksheet to evaluate their behavior in a recent group situation,...

Are your English language learners using Spanglish when they don't know the appropriate word? Have them study the chart at the top of the page. First they match the Spanglish phrase to its proper English meaning, and then they translate...

Here is a wonderful lesson designed for students with special needs. This well-thought-out lesson uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping Quilt is used in the main part of...

Students, who are adult learners, participate in an Internet scavenger hunt in order to assimilate information about the biography of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers. They look at the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers...

Students study environmental issues from different perspectives. They look at the issues from the view of both preservationists and conservationists as they identify themselves with one group or the other. They determine how teamwork...

Students read and debate the purpose of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, analyze its story elements, and write their own The Lorax II.

Students establish background regarding a controversial article regarding rape. Students determine whether this article achieved the label of "satire". Internet sites are used for reference.

Students review the elements for a successful play review. For this play review lesson, students work in groups to complete peer responses, a consensus activity, and tally activity. Students write a play review. A Peer Review Sheet is...

Students explain the term "public agenda' and identify the characteristics and components of the media. They read newspapers, watch and listen to newscasts to determine the media's position on the war in Iraq.

Fourth graders brainstorm the differences between the fossil fuels that people use in their transportation now and what they could use to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. They use a variety of techniques from webquests to writing...