Who cares about manners anyway? According to the New York Times, Mrs. Mason does. Learners read and consider an article which addresses the decline of manners and the impact it has on society. They answer seven critical thinking...

Should the United States provide relief for those who are unemployed? Trace this question back to the Great Depression with your young historians, who will engage in careful reading of historical documents and classroom discussion...

Similes and metaphors make writing more beautiful and detailed, but can be a little harder to decipher during a first reading. Use a passage from The Man Who Loved Words to show young readers how to think through passages that...

Students recognize reasons to celebrate Memorial Day. Students create a map of victims of the VIetnam War. Using the internet, students research information about soldiers from their state who were killd in action in Vietnam. Students...

Students review previous lessons about volcanoes and name the phenomena they think the eyewitnesses of the Mount St. Helens witnessed. They play the roles of reporter, eyewitness and scientists who are serving on a committee...

Who was Vincent van Gogh? Most of the questions can be answered in two or three sentences; however, there is at least one essay prompt and one personal response question that require longer answers. Questions call for a good mix of...

 Young scholars research people who have contributed to making life better for the disabled.  In this advocacy lesson students enter the names of advocates on cards and divide into groups. Young scholars complete...

Third graders play a football spelling game where two teams spell words and gain yardage for each correctly spelled word. This clever spelling game will be highly motivational for your class! Each team gains ten yards every time they...

I wish I had thought of this! This schedule provides a place to put an image of a different person for each day of the week and frame for the person the child will be working with that day. Initially intended to assist an Autistic...

After reading the article "Fun, and Risks, at the Beach in Tel Aviv," learners consider eight related questions. They'll answer who, what, when, where, why, and how about the risks several Palestinian women took as they snuck over the...

Read all about it! Check out this article from the New York Times. Kids read about changes made to the wording used in Catholic Mass. They consider these changes by responding to each of the 10 related questions that ask, who, what,...

What happens when a school is caught tampering with state test scores? Learners find out about the Atlanta Testing Scandal as they read a New York Times article. After they read, they test their comprehension by answering seven who,...

Who is Salman Khan? That is the first question learners will answer after reading a New York Times article about the online math and science educator. They'll read the article and respond to eight questions that ask, who, what, when,...

Clapping out syllables gets more engaging when you're using learners' names. Model some names first, then have the class join you in chanting names with each syllable clapped out. Bring up the difference between multiple-syllable and...

History detectives put their keen observation skills to the test as they closely examine artifacts. Drawing on visual and tactile clues, they formulate a theory about who done it, or in this case who made it, why, and for what...

Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his...

Lead discussion and thoughtful analysis as pupils view Rabbit Proof Fence, a drama based on true story about three aboriginal girls who ran away from Western Australia to return to their Aboriginal families in 1931. Here you'll...

Play a memory game with science vocabulary words to prepare for an upcoming test! Build  both understanding and retention of new vocabulary words by setting up a matching game for your learners to play in small groups of three to...

After a class discussion about where their food comes from learners construct a farm from a print-out (embedded in the plan). They work in groups, and trace a food source from the beginning. For example, they discover how a farmer grows...

As an anticipatory set, biologists listen to the story of Ruth Patrick, a scientist who used algae to detect water quality. They observe a demonstration of osmosis and diffusion. In their lab groups, they place Elodea stalks in...

An excellent way to teach the basics of coordinate graphing is here for you! Young mathematicians take on the identity of one of the two numbers in a coordinate pair, and the entire class must arrange themselves in the proper order. This...

Many teenagers dream of growing up to work in health and safety fields; give them some real-world insight using this research lesson. Although there are just the basics here, you can easily use them as an outline for an engaging career...

Develop an understanding of point of view in your young learners. Read narrative stories to your class and discuss who the storyteller is. Point out different points of view and discuss new vocabulary in order to introduce this concept....