Now this is a clever approach to familiarizing aspiring astronomers with the phases of the moon! They first record the specific dates for ten special events in their lives. Then they use an online moon phase calendar to find out which...

A thorough lesson plan template allows teachers to design balanced and standards-based lessons for any grade. The template includes spaces for unit vocabulary and concepts, objectives, and additional resources.

Explore the countries involved in World War II. Pupils find information about what these countries were like before the war. Who was the leader of each country? What issues, concerns, and goals were important in 1938? They fill in their...

From baseball and tennis to capture the flag and four-square, here is a great document that will help you design your next unit on a sport-related activity. 

Explore color through an examination of pointillism and light. Class members view Georges Seraut's famous painting on a computer, zooming in and out to see the details and effects of the technique. They then cover how light and color are...

As part of the study of Japanese cultural history, introduce your class members to Chanoyu, the Way of Tea. After a discussion of the history and key elements of Chanoyu, class groups perform the ceremony.

Judge Learned Hand's "Spirit of Liberty" speech delivered during the July, 1944 "I Am an American Day" celebration is the subject of a close reading activity that models for learners how to approach a dense, difficult text.

What better way for young biologists to learn about invertebrates than by creating their very own? Here, students are assigned a set of invertebrate characteristics and are asked to invent an imaginary ocean animal...

Close up your study of Touching Spirit Bear with any of these assessment options. Each of the four project options is described in detail. Also included is a page that learners can use to portion out their time to make sure they fulfill...

Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw...

The origins, goals, and struggles of the women's movement are the focus of a five-day series of lessons about the accomplishments of the movement and the continuing struggle for women's rights.

As this short story unit comes to a close, provide a day for a full examination of theme and allow some time in class for individuals to work on their various assessments. This final lesson before presenting iMovies and portfolios is the...

In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a...

After experiencing how quick and easy it is to make judgments as part of an opening activity, learners discuss the concept of a stereotype and the need to think critically and question our immediate assumptions.

Learn about conduction, convection, and radiation with an illustrative presentation. It includes slides about atmospheric movement and how it affects the climate, solar radiation, and how latent heat can form storms. 

Youngsters use their imaginations and the story of St. Patrick to design original artwork for the holiday, by portraying where they think St. Patrick would have visited in the United States or illustrating what St. Patrick's Day...

Logical thinking is at the forefront of this jam-packed lesson, with young mathematicians not only investigating geometric concepts but also how they "know what they know". Through each activity and worksheet, learners wrestle with...

Designed as the final project concluding a study of Mississippi Trial, 1955, readers select a character from Crowe's novel and craft a portfolio of six entries that reveal not only aspects of the character, but similarities between...

Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...

Your routers don't seem to be routing correctly. To figure out why, pupils act like routers, talk to their direct connects in order to determine as much information about the simulated network as possible. As they learn more about...

To conclude a study of social justice and tolerance designed to prepare classes for a visit to the Museum of Tolerance, class members brainstorm a safe and peaceful world. They then write about their own vision of this world.

Introduce your class to the layers of abstraction of the Internet with a lesson on the HTTP protocol. Pupils review previous lessons on levels of the Internet, then investigate new high levels by examining the HTTP traffic on...

Triangles, triangles, and more triangles! In this second installment of a 36-part series, your young mathematicians explore two increasingly challenging constructions, requiring them to develop a way to construct three triangles that...

What does English have to do with math? Teach your class the "grammar" of a number sentence. Sentences with correct grammar can be false! Understanding of a number sentence leads to a comparison with equations.