A reading of Brenda Z. Guiberson’s, Cactus Hotel, launches a study of animal habitats. Working with parent volunteers or teacher aides, groups travel outside the classroom to select a habitat, take digital pictures, and incorporate the...

Young readers see that letters represent phoneme sequences in spoken words. They identify the letter "d," and recognize "d" in spoken words by exploring the meaningful representation and a letter symbol. They practice finding the letter...

Students are introduced to a basic characteristic and need of living things-the ability and need to reproduce. They investigate how birds (and people) attract mates. Students discover how to build a nest. They discuss the needs and...

Learners identify obtuse and acute angles in comparsion to a right angle. They identify obtuse, acute, and right angles. Pupils use "Shape Measure" to construct obtuse, acute, and right angles. They review line segements to locate right...

With the help of the Area Officers and Perimeter Patrol, you learners will develop a better understanding of area and its relationship to perimeter. First, they view a video clip from Cyberchase, and then they visit a website to...

A beautifully written lesson plan delves into a beautiful topic: stellar population. Engage aspiring astronomers with activities that examine human populations and then transition onto the stars of the universe. Data and photographs for...

Students investigate the concept of agriculture and how it is part of the ecology and economy of the United States. They participate in a number of different classroom activities intended to raise agricultural awareness. The activities...

Students brainstorm all the possible scenarios that would help them tell a story in detail with the whole class and with partners. They create web outlines to create a name story and then illustrate it with creative grammar usage and...

What was your age the first time you lost a tooth, broke a bone, or learned to ride a bike? Young mathematicians choose a set of data to examine with an educational activity on statistical measurements. After they collect data...

Students investigate the concepts related to volcanoes and focus upon Mt. St. Helens. They define the difference between an active and dormant volcano. They conduct research using a variety of resources. The information is used in order...

Seventh and eighth graders solve and complete 20 various types of short answer problems. First, they write a brief description of themselves including those as stated. Then, learners categorize the type of sampling used in various...

Young mathematicians explore the maximun area for patio with the added complexity of finding the mimimum cost for construction. First, they maximize the area of a yard given a limited amount of fence and  plot width v. area on a...

Has your Spanish class seen an episode of Extr@? Have small groups write scripts, act out their parts, and record a video project for their classmates. Consider assigning each group a specific topic to ensure project diversity.

Understanding a word's etymology can really help with decoding and building vocabulary skills. Readers compare and contrast words of similar origins but with different difficulty levels. They focus on prefixes, suffixes, and affixes....

Why do readers need to know an author’s purpose? How do you figure out what that purpose is? Guide your pupils through a series of activities that show them how to identify various techniques and structures used in persuasive writing....

Explore figurative language with your secondary class. Extending a language arts unit, the lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine how an author's word choice establishes a story's tone, possibly using metaphors, similes,...

Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation...

Primary readers read books in order to practice word recognition, rhyming, and play reading games. They will "read" simple books to reinforce basic reading skills in order to create a foundation. Readers are available to print out along...

Examine statistical data to recognize the relationship of statistics to real-world issues. Pupils navigate e-stat using the Internet and find data about social issues. They complete a worksheet with their data and create an anti-smoking...

Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...

First graders participate in a guided reading lesson. For this guided reading lesson, 1st graders read David's Drawings by Cathryn Falwell, which is a realistic fiction book on the DRA:16 level. They determine the author's message, and...

Pair learners to define synonyms. They search flash cards to find a synonym partner. Then they chart pairs of synonyms on a synonym tree.

Lead your class to construct a solar still on campus to demonstrate how water can be extracted from the soil. The power of solar energy is emphasized, as is the concept of how capillary water can be recovered and purified by using a...

As a way to combine language arts and science, try this lesson on writing cloud poetry. Begin by showing a PowerPoint presentation and images of cloud types. Take meteorology masters outdoors to explore the sky using the provided "Cloud...