Windmills have been around for generations to grind food and create energy. During this challenge, students will use various materials and put their engineering skills to work by creating their own windmills.

Allow your students to explore how stories may change depending on the perspectives from which they're told. Interesting texts and a creative writing assignment make this quite the engaging lesson.

Use this lesson to help your ELs identify and discuss the author's point and the information that supports it. It can be a stand-alone lesson or used as support for the What’s the Point? lesson.

Use this lesson to see how animals can have very interesting relationships. Some help each other, some benefit from others, and some hurt others. Young scientists are sure to benefit from this eye-opening lesson.

Are your students’ persuasive essays seamless and connected? In this persuasive writing lesson, students will learn how to write for a specific audience, linking opinions with reasons. Transition words are the missing links!

Show and prove! Use this lesson plan and say farewell to fiction reading logs of yore, as your students (literally) draw connections across theme, cause, and effect.

Teach your students about the people who decide which laws to pass. Activate the critical thinking skills of your students by having them decide the laws that they would like to modify!

What’s unique about abbreviations and acronyms? In this lesson, students will learn the mechanics of using abbreviations and acronyms, including how they are similar and different.

Keep it simple! Teach your students to write a summary using the Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then frame for analyzing a story.

Comparing and contrasting fiction sub-genres encourages young learners to recognize more intricate details in texts. Use this lesson plan to teach your students to compare and contrast traits within a sub-genre.

Spirituals have a long history in the United States, and often serve to strengthen and motivate people. Students will compare three types of spirituals from different time periods and share their understanding with their peers.

Mindfulness 101! Students focus on the present moment using their senses to observe what is happening right now. They are introduced to the idea that mindfulness is about paying attention to the present.

Give your students practice with inferences using short fictional texts before asking them to apply the skill to a longer text of their choice.

A calm jar works as a visual reminder when teaching emotional regulation techniques. In this lesson, students will practice mindfulness of emotions and create a class calm jar together as a class.

Graphic novels, animated stories, and storytelling videos pop with enhanced meaning, tone and beauty. Use this lesson plan with a mentor text to teach your students to note how such features contribute to the reader’s experience.

In this lesson, students will create a paper chain based on their greatest strengths and attributes. They will also work with peers to share and identify each other's strengths.

It's as easy as one, two, three...four! Introduce your students to subtracting decimals in the tenth and hundredth place using a four-step process.

In this lesson students will complete an activity called "Raise Your Hand If You..." and be able to define the word “assumption.” This lesson supports the practice of compassion for oneself and others.

According to research about growth mindsets, certain kinds of praise can stifle growth, while others promote learning and achievement. In this lesson, students will be able to identify and use praise words that support growth mindset.

Idioms are not always a piece of cake! Use this fun activity to teach your students the difference between the literal and figurative meanings of common idioms.

What if Cinderella’s stepsisters weren’t really evil? In this engaging lesson, you will introduce your students to multiple points of view and discuss how these different perspectives can change a reader’s experience.

Your ELs will practice drawing connections between illustrations and relevant text in a story in order to make inferences. This lesson can be a stand-alone resource or it can be paired with the lesson Analyzing Visual Elements.

Frederick Douglass was an influential black man in U.S. history. In this lesson, the historical context is set for students so that they can conduct their own research on Frederick Douglass, using a graphic organizer and multiple sources, before writing an informational essay on him. Ideal for fourth and fifth grade students, this lesson plan not only gives students practice in research and essay-writing skills, it also has them exploring a fascinating part of our country's history.

Help students decode tricky language in the Declaration of Independence with an integrated vocabulary and history lesson. After reviewing vocabulary as a class, students will rewrite the Declaration of Independence in kid-friendly language.

That’s right! The theme applies to everyone! Use this interactive lesson to teach your students how to find the theme of a fictional text.

Help your EL students find and record quotes as evidence in nonfiction texts with the help of introductory phrases and sentence frames. This can support the lesson Making Inferences in Nonfiction Texts.

Walk, sleep, run, eat! We're constantly using energy, whether we're moving or not. In this lesson, students learn how their bodies are constantly converting potential energy into kinetic energy and kinetic energy back to potential energy.

Mae Jemison was the first African American female astronaut to enter space! Use this lesson plan to help your students get to know this prominent scientist, and determine what makes her an influencial person.

In this great grammar lesson, your students will practice using the eight parts of speech to complete sentences.

Get a workout with repeat reading activities! Use this lesson plan with your students to practice reading fluency and build comprehension and summary details using fiction classics.