Students learn about the life and music of John Lennon, write a short story from their lives integrating lyrics from some of their favorite songs, and create a class book of stories.
Songs of Our Lives: Using Lyrics to Write Stories
Rosa Parks was born on this day in 1913.
Rosa Parks was committed to the struggle for social justice and human rights until her death, inspiring millions of people around the world. Today, we celebrate her!
Power of Picture Books, The: Using Content Area Literature in Middle School
Featuring descriptions and activities for fifty exceptional titles, Mary Jo Fresch and Peggy Harkins offer a wealth of ideas for harnessing the power of picture books to improve reading and writing in the content areas.
Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction
In an effort to help motivate students to read nonfiction, students are challenged to use a timeline to help them name the year when certain products were invented.
Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts
Students become "thieves" in this lesson as they use a previewing strategy to "steal" information from textbooks and other nonfiction texts before actually reading them.
Comparing Electronic and Print Texts About the Civil War Soldier
Which side will win as students investigate both sides of the battle of using print versus online text for research as they learn about the lives of Civil War soldiers?
Anne Frank received her famous diary in 1942.
Students learn about eyewitness reports through a lesson that is grade-level appropriate. Then, groups use primary source documents and research an event using eyewitness accounts.
Commercial ice cream is first sold in the U.S. in 1786.
After finding advertisements from the past, students evaluate them and discuss how ads have changed over the years. Students then create an advertisement for a new flavor of ice cream.
The RMS Titanic sank on this day in 1912.
Students use the Internet Workshop model to explore web links about the Titanic disaster.
Today is World Hello Day!
Students study a letter written by a famous author to determine purpose, and words and phrases that make the letter meaningful. They can use the Letter Generator to write their own letter promoting peace.
Celebrate National Library Week!
Students learn more about libraries as part of National Library Week.
Montgomery Ward published the first mail-order catalog in 1872.
Students explore how and why catalogs have changed over the years and compare their findings about printed catalogs with online catalogs.
The first English printer, William Caxton, was born on this day in 1422.
Students consider how the printing press affects their world by completing a printing inventory, comparing lists, and developing a "super" list of all printed materials that they interact with.