This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade ELA.

The selection is about Ghana, an ancient culture that was one of Africa’s great trading empires in the third century A.D. Gold mines, extensive trading, and advanced farming villages all contributed to the rise and success of Ghana. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this history through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments. Includes printable copies of text.

This resource is a Common Core aligned reading passage with textual analysis questions about main idea and characterization.

Selective Highlighting/Underlining is used to help students organize what they have read by selecting what is important. This strategy teaches students to highlight/underline ONLY the key words, phrases, vocabulary, and ideas that are central to understanding the reading.

Some of the most the most essential works of literature in the world are examples of epic poetry, such as The Odyssey and Paradise Lost. This lesson introduces students to the epic poem form and to its roots in oral tradition.

In this lesson, students will learn strategies and activities for learning about economics, civics and government, and U.S. history text through reading, taking notes, and composing a response about capitalism through a claims and evidence based approach.

In this lesson, students will become familiar with analyzing events and ideas using primary and secondary sources. Tasks involve evaluating text for author’s point of view; determining central ideas, reviewing information for cause and effect relationships, as well as distinguishing fact from opinion using political cartoons.

In this lesson, students study issues related to independence and notions of manliness in Ernest Hemingway’s “Three Shots” as they conduct in-depth literary character analysis, consider the significance of environment to growing up and investigate Hemingway’s Nobel Prize-winning, unique prose style. In addition, they will have the opportunity to write and revise a short story based on their own childhood experiences and together create a short story collection.

This lesson from the New York Times offers suggestions for making TheTimes a low-stress part of your classroom routine, followed by literacy strategies to help address the Standards before, during, and after reading Times content with your students.

Suggestions for making TheTimes a low-stress part of your classroom routine, followed by literacy strategies to help address the Standards before, during, and after reading Times content with your students.

In this lesson, students will read a new excerpt of World Without Fish for the gist and then answer text-dependent questions in order to dig deeper into the text and analyze how the author, Mark Kurlansky, illustrates and elaborates on the idea of fish depletion in chapter 1.

In this lesson, students will read a new excerpt of World Without Fish for the gist and then answer text-dependent questions in order to dig deeper into the text and analyze how the author, Mark Kurlansky, illustrates and elaborates on the idea of fish depletion in chapter 2.

Students learn about homeostasis and create models by constructing simple feedback systems using Arduino boards, temperature sensors, LEDs and Arduino code. Starting with pre-written code, students instruct LEDs to activate in response to the sensor detecting a certain temperature range. They determine appropriate temperature ranges and alter the code accordingly. When the temperature range is exceeded, a fan is engaged in order to achieve a cooling effect. In this way, the principle of homeostasis is demonstrated. To conclude, students write summary paragraphs relating their models to biological homeostasis.

In this lesson, students use previewing to activate their prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. Using a strategy called THIEVES, which is an acronym for title, headings, introduction, every first sentence in a paragraph, visuals and vocabulary, end-of-chapter questions, and summary, students are guided through a preview of a nonfiction text. After guided practice, partners work together to use the strategy to preview a chapter from a textbook.

In this lesson geared for ELL or regular education students, the students will develop an understanding of their own experiences from their native home and relate them to the text. This text helps trigger memories, as well as gives students appropritate examples of past tense uses. Students can explore the story further by researching the author before reading and sharing experiences in a similar format.

In this lesson, students will learn general facts about the voting process and its importance in a democratic form of government. They will research and locate information on the U.S. Constitution and the Amendments that altered voting rights throughout U.S. History. They will become familiar with the importance of voter registration and voting rights while understanding the role government plays in a student’s daily life. They will produce a plan of action, boosting awareness of voter participation and create a computer graphic campaign poster to encourage voter participation and voting awareness.

After an overview of the events surrounding Paul Revere's famous ride, this lesson challenges students to think about the reasons for that fame. Using both primary and secondhand accounts, students compare the account of Revere's ride in Longfellow's famous poem with actual historical events, in order to answer the question: why does Revere's ride occupy such a prominent place in the American consciousness?

Explore the traditions and conventions of haiku and compare this classic form of Japanese poetry to a related genre of Japanese visual art.

In this lesson, students visit library websites from a variety of places, including Hong Kong, Kenya, and Scotland, to develop a global perspective and a broader understanding of the types of library services available throughout the world. They discuss services offered in their community and then form questions regarding the availability of library services in other parts of the world. Working in groups, students access library websites to answer teacher- and student-generated questions. When they have completed their research, students share their findings with classmates and compare the services available in distant libraries to their local services.

In this lesson, students identify and analyze folktales. They learn the characteristics of folktales and use them to evaluate existing tales and to create original tales of their own. Students apply the writing process to strengthen writing skills and to develop creativity.