While the French had kept their end of the bargain by completing the statue itself, the Americans had still not fulfilled their commitment to erect a pedestal. In this lesson, students learn about the effort to convince a skeptical American public to contribute to the effort to erect a pedestal and to bring the Statue of Liberty to New York.

This article emphasizes the importance of focus on composition in the writing process.

Mr. and Mrs. Lacey and their daughter, Doris, are stranded at home following a severe winter storm. Doris notices an abandoned puppy on the snowy road and brings it indoors. Doris forms a bond with the puppy and is heartbroken when the time comes for her father to take it away. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students construct a necklace in order to visualize a plan for including a central idea, supporting facts, and a clincher sentence in a written piece.

Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group.  

Summary: Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group. 

Summary: Students will receive a choice board of different activities and will have to choose one.  After choosing their activity, students can be placed into small groups to work collaboratively or can work independently. Each team/student will be presenting to either the whole class or their small group. 

In the summer of 1988, fires raged out of control in Yellowstone National Park. Though it seemed like total devastation to outsiders, the fires burned in only one-third of the park, and the new growth that resulted promoted the flourishing of certain birds, animals, and plants. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Students will evaluate the information from chapters 1-3 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, particularly how the Logan children are treated by the white students and the bus driver. They will then decide if they agree or disagree with the decision made by the Logan children to seek revenge. Students will defend and provide support for their opinion.

Mary Whitebird is about to turn eleven and take part in the Sioux coming of age tradition of Ta-Na-E-Ka. Literally translated as, flowering of adulthood, Ta-Na-E-Ka is a test of survival where participants are sent into the wilderness to survive for five days. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students select a teacher whom they feel should be named Teacher of the Year, then drafts a paragraph explaining why.

This resource includes five different models for teaching thesis writing, as well as some extra tips at the end.

Students will explore how an artist emphasized the narrative in a work of art that depicts a single moment from the story. They then write a newspaper article, using visual clues in the painting to imagine how the narrative depicted many have unfolded.

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 focuses on the concept of the afterlife and the importance of pleasing the gods and goddesses, the significance of tombs and tomb building, and the burial customs and traditions of the ancient Egyptians. After learning about all of these concepts, students will design a tomb, create a model of it, and complete a short written assignment explaining the design and contents of the tomb.

To become a member of the ship’s crew, Charlotte Doyle must pass a test of climbing to the top of the mast. She faces physical and mental challenges to prove her worth to herself and the crew. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

For this lesson, students write a draft of a persuasive essay to the principal addressing the issue of whether or not their school should adopt a uniform policy.

In this lesson, students will create cascading consequence charts about two different opinions concerning the use of DDT.

This lesson helps students "hear" some of the diverse colonial voices that, in the course of time and under the pressure of novel ideas and events, contributed to the American Revolution. Students analyze a variety of primary documents illustrating the diversity of religious, political, social, and economic motives behind competing perspectives on questions of independence and rebellion.