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.

Students will use scaffolding to research and organize information for writing a research paper. A research paper scaffold provides students with clear support for writing expository papers that include a question (problem), literature review, analysis, methodology for original research, results, conclusion, and references. Students examine informational text, use an inquiry-based approach, and practice genre-specific strategies for expository writing.

Students will investigate how different variables (such as type of seed, growth medium, amount of water, amount of light, and temperature) affect seed growth. The activity is designed to take students approximately 10 hours over a 2-week period.

In this lesson, students will learn about the geography and topography of China and surrounding countries, discover how ideas, cultures, and goods were exchanged through the Silk Road, relate the ideas of trade and globalization to today, and then write a travel journal entry as if they were a participant in trade along the Silk Road.

In this lesson, students write a short article for an imaginary music magazine in which they interpret the lyrics of a popular song.

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.

Guide your students in discovering what primary and secondary sources are and how to use them with this interactive lesson from Wisconsin Public Television Education. During this lesson, students watch video clips from the documentary "Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Neenah-Menasha," identifying the primary and secondary sources and how the sources provide evidence for events in a story. They also explain where they can locate primary and secondary sources, such as in libraries and historical societies. As a final task, students create an outline for a presentation telling about an event. They use primary and secondary sources as evidence to support the facts in the event’s story.

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

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.

In this lesson, students read sample essays in order to learn how to write effective expository essays of their own.

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.

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.

Tasha, a thirteen year old girl has to babysit her little 7 year old brother, Junior, because her mom is getting a job over the summer. Tasha really didn't want to and would do anything but babysit Junior. Her mom gave Tasha a long list of rules. Junior basically only had one: he was to listen to his sister. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments. Includes printable copies of text.

Many factors contributed to the eventual success of the American colonies as they revolted against British rule. American leadership, the timely support of international allies, and international respect and recognition played major roles in the struggle for independence. Several documents and engravings held by the National Archives help to illustrate these important factors that led to the founding of the United States.

This lesson focuses on the American Revolution, which encouraged the founding fathers' desire to create a government that would, as stated in the Preamble, insure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense.

Students are asked the question, "What do we need to do to prevent or control an outbreak of yellow fever at our school if it occurred today?" Students will work in small collaborative groups to examine the problem of epidemics in past and modern times. Students will develop their own public health policy that reflects the challenges of a modern day outbreak of yellow fever at school. Students will present their findings in the form of a written letter/report and multimedia presentation to the class and to the Principal. This lesson utilizes documents from the North Carolina State Government Publications Collection.

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.

In this lesson, students write an essay about the governmental issues that surrounded Andrew Jackson's presidency.

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.

Nadia’s parents were recently divorced and Nadia is spending the summer with her father in Florida, where Grandpa Izzy lives. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

Lewis Carroll’s poem tells the tale of a walrus and a carpenter who invite a group of oysters to join them for a walk on a sunny beach in the middle of the night. The walk turns out to be a cruel trick as every one of the oysters gets eaten. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.