Make connections with past history and current events with this critical thinking exercise. Kids read background information relating to Alaska's statehood as well as information on oil drilling and Alaska's economy. They put it all...

Plankton: so much more than just a SpongeBob character. Three different activities have kids looking at both phytoplankton and zooplankton in pictures, as well as collecting their own samples (depending on your access to a saltwater...

Modern day and historic images grace an informative presentation. Learners can review multiple battles and effects of the Civil War on the state of Arkansas. Major sites and battle fields are shown as they looked in the past and as they...

Who was Walt Whitman, and what link does he have to president Abraham Lincoln?  After Lincoln's assassination, Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" This poem and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" are the focus of...

Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...

Considering an examination of point of view? Use visual arts to engage learners in of this element of art and literature. Class members select a portrait from the Renaissance Connection and, guided by a series of brainstorming...

The era after the Civil War saw a flourishing of African Americans exercising their rights. Using graphic organizers and Internet research, pupils consider the legacy of Benjamin Sterling Turner, who sat in Congress. Afterward, they...

Skyscrapers are amazing feats of architectural design that create the iconic skylines of the world's biggest cities. Young architects explore the defining characteristics of these monstrous towers with the first lesson plan in this...

Art and architecture go hand-in-hand. Kids watch clips from the Hayo Miyazaki film Spirited Away to better understand Japanese customs and architecture. The discussion questions included are very good, and will help you lead the class in...

Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...

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

Introuduce your scientists to the differences in air at varying altitudes with a colorful explanatory graph. After some discussion, they view unbelievable footage of mountain-climbing Leo Houlding and a narrative about how he might do...

Children gain first-hand experience with Native American agriculture while investigating the life cycle of plants with this engaging experiment. Focusing on what the natives called the Three Sisters - corn, beans, and squash - young...

Cover one-point perspective through observation and practice. Class members examine several works of art that use one-point perspective, look at magazine images to find the vanishing points and horizon lines, and draw their own city...

Planning on using primary source materials? Introduce your class members to SOAPS, a worksheet that models how to analyze and reflect on primary source materials. Readers name the document, identify the subject (S), the...

Find out who works in various careers with a vocabulary activity, which features matching activities and a crossword puzzle. Learners use word banks to figure out which skills belong to which career, and then fill in the blanks with...

Develop a system of classroom rules created by the kids, for the kids with this three-part lesson plan series on the US Constitution. After learning about the structure of the Constitution and the government it established, young...

Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a...

Time to see what they've learned. Seventh graders solve a set of seven short problems in the ratios and proportional relationships domain. Applications include photo negatives, washing machines, coffee powder, sleep, stamps, etc.

The reason people first began trading was because of their desires for objects other societies possessed. In the activity, classes discuss why exploration has been a common thread in all societies and where these desires have taken...

The final lesson in a unit study of American slavery asks young historians to synthesize what they have learned about how slavery in America changed over time. Revisiting the many documents they have examined, they consider the economic,...

Get your class started down the path to a great career! The first of a six-part series of career and college lessons inspires learners to use their interests to explore career options. The activity also provides resources where...

Eleventh graders compare the artistic values of Terry Evans' photography with LandSAT images and other images made for purely scientific, government and commercial purposes. They consider the artistic choices made in aerial photography.