Sixth graders create a descriptive essay and map describing their island paradise. They try to evoke the reader's senses: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. They revise their paragraphs using their partner's feedback.

Fourth graders engage in a lesson which teaches the parts of an expository essay and how to organize and write an expository piece from a given topic. After a lecture/demo, 4th graders utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan which...

Students generate a word bank drawing on vocabulary from fifteen school related topics. They use the word bank to write poetry in the styles of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky.

Young scholars write a sentence using three objects that they have in front of them. They identify where to place commas in their word series sentence, and read them outloud to the class.

Seventh graders locate the Illinois & Michigan Canal and related landmarks on various maps. They explain the challenges associated with building a canal. They access websites imbedded in this plan and watch a video to aid their...

Seventh graders participate in literature circles as they read African novels. They read, work on word studies, and complete comprehension activities. They share their reading with other literature circle groups in the class.

Students research the causes of the Great Fire of Chicago and draw conclusion as to the most probable cause and preventative actions that could have minimized the damage.

Learners conduct a number of experiments involving evaporation and condensation. They view and discuss a video about the water cycle and then design posters about the rain based on the book "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs".

Fourth graders role play as empresarios attempting to bring colonists to Texas in the 1800's. They create an advertisement that encourages the immigrants to come to Texas.

First graders listen to a read aloud of Stephanie Calmenson's, Dinner a the Panda Palace identifying words related to math and writing them on a chart paper.

Students describe how aluminum is recycled. They study a diagram illustrating the recycling path of an aluminum can. They answer questions regarding aluminum. They write letters to recycling firms for information on starting a recycling...

Students investigate the major themes in fantasy maps, expand basic map reading skills, write imaginative narrative essays based on the OZ map, and create their own fantasy map detail based on a core map.

Sixth graders decorate an empty cereal box with information and games showing their comprehension of factual information about an assigned planet. This is a nice, creative lesson about the solar system.

Pupils explain the methods of filing tax returns and the advantages of preparing and transmitting tax returns electronically. They identify the return method that is most appropriate for certain taxpayers.

Ninth graders view the film "Pay It Forward" and discuss what kind of public campaign is needed to move people to positive action. They consider different ways of presenting information (graphs, visual displays, etc.) as tools for...

Twelfth graders simulate balancing checkbooks by applying required mathematical operations. They examine newspaper ads from banks and compare various services they offer. They discuss the uses of credit and debit cards.

Learners study cross sections of trees or tree "cookies" to discover how the rings on tree sections give clues to the climate during the time the ring was produced. They study simulated cross sections of trees to determine the climate...

Students examine and demonstrate refusal skills of smoking and drinking alcohol. They take a quiz, identify alternative activities to smoking and drinking, write a journal entry, and design an anti-smoking and anti-alcohol ad.

Students research which buildings are registered as national or state historical sites, and lobby the community by petition to have another local building placed on the national or state historic register.

Students identify basic pest they find in the school yard. They discover and examine pest control. They also explain the benefits and risks of pests. High school students present a short lesson to third graders.

High schoolers, in groups, read and analyze portions of Keith Gilyard's "Poemographies". They create original visual "poemographies" and participate in a written response activity.

Students investigate three works by the author James Baldwin. They work in groups to research the author and create a website based on the research.

Students examine the spoken work poetry of Abiodun Oyewole. They discuss the West African Griot tradition, listen to spoken word poetry, write and perform a poem, and watch a video excerpt of a poetry workshop.

Students discuss the concept of productivity and participate in an activity in which they test their own productivity in making Origami cups. Teams determine how to improve productivity and then discuss factors that influence...