NASA
Let's Investigate Mars
Take your science class on a hypothetical field trip to Mars with an engaging astronomy lesson. After first learning about NASA's Mars rover missions, young scientists plan their own scientific investigations of Earth's nearest neighbor.
Curated OER
Using Opening Lines as Writing Prompts
Help your writers get started with these hooks! Twenty-five opening lines from the "Lives" column in the New York Times Magazine act as prompts for creative writing. Have your learners choose one prompt and write an original essay....
Curated OER
Publishing History
Students create an issue of a magazine. They work collaboratively to write articles for the magazine, design a cover and develop advertisements. Students complete their page layout, and create the magazine using information form each...
Curated OER
Henry Luce: Turn Me Luce
Learners research the life of Henry Luce, Time Magazine's founder, and examine the impact his magazine has had on the way American's see the world. They create a photo-essay, magazine or video to present their research.
Curated OER
Environmental Issues in the Polar Regions
Pupils list environmental problems they are familiar with and check the ones they think affect the polar regions, and they research and answer questions about environmental issues affecting the polar regions. Students discuss their...
Curated OER
Magazine Sales Talks
Students role-play to determine the best types of magazines that should be purchased for their media center. They create a sales presentation for a particular magazine in small groups. As they listen to each presentation they evaluate...
Curated OER
Hometown Travel Journalism
Steinbeck’s witty memoir, “Travels with Charley: In Search of America,” inspires kids to investigate their neighborhoods as local travel journalists.
Curated OER
Covering the Issue
Examine how art and music can be powerful tools for conveying a political or social message. After considering the issues surrounding rapper Paris, students design their own album covers that reflect their political and/or social...
Curated OER
Collage Self-Portrait
Here is a beautiful art instructional activity which has young artists make a collage self-portrait using images of food. Pupils create a two-dimensional self-portrait using pictures of food and food-related items cut from magazines. A...
Curated OER
It's All About Vitamins
The fascinating topic of human skin color is examined in this article from Muse magazine. It highlights a study done by a pair of scientists on the relationships among strength of sunlight, vitamins, and melanin in the skin. The results...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Connecting Africa: A Project-Based Learning Adventure
Mission Possible: Your task is to design a new highway route from Tunis, Tunisia to Cape Town, South Africa. If you accept the challenge, you must create a small map of the route that has already been rejected, a rationale for rejection...
Curated OER
How to Write a Biography
Looking for a great lesson on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...
Curated OER
Whittling Out Haiku
Inspired by magazine photos, your young writers hone word choices to create a meaningful haiku. Charged with brainstorming 100 words associated with a photo of their choosing, they whittle their list to the top 10%, make three sentences...
Curated OER
For the Love of Publication!
What is a ‘Zine? Although the referenced PBS video that launches this study of self-published magazines is not available, the activities detailed and the step-by-step directions for creating ‘Zines would engage young writers. This...
Federal Trade Commission
Ad Creation
How would someone market a new cereal to space aliens? Using the third lesson from a four-part Admongo series on advertising, pupils learn about persuasive techniques companies use to convince consumers to purchase their products. As a...
Curated OER
Basic Visual Language Ii: How To Analyze a Visual Text
Students identify techniques used to communicate visually. They compare and contrast different visual techniques found in mass media. They apply their understanding by creating photographs that use a variety of visual literacy techniques.
Curated OER
The Impact of an Image
Participate in National Photo Month by creating newspapers with an emphasis on photography.
Curated OER
Dream Home Mathematics
Explore the concept of budgeting with sixth graders. They will pick a career on note card made by the teacher. They then use the information on the card such as salary, expenses, and career to create a life for themselves. They also...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Down on the Farm: Challenge Activities (Theme 8)
Down on the Farm is the theme of this series of challenge activities. Extend your scholars' learning experience with engaging activities such as designing a farm, creating collages, writing poems and to-do lists, and playing dominoes.
Curated OER
You've Gotta Have a Gimmick!: A Lesson in Junk Food Advertising
Learners examine marketing techniques used in television and magazine snack food ads. They analyze and discuss Internet kids clubs, complete various handouts that examine ads for food, and create a commercial for a food product.
Curated OER
The Journey of the Spirit
Students discuss Scholastic Art Magazine issue on 'Artists Today' . They participate in a class discussion & watch a demonstration on the use of 'found objects' and ordinary materials (i.e. paper towels, leaves) to create surface...
Curated OER
Tour Of South America
Young scholars explore South America. In this geography lesson, students research landmarks of historical or national significance and use their findings to create slideshows.
Curated OER
Transition Words in Writing
Transition words in writing are the focus of the language arts lesson presented here. In it, learners cut out the word-sort cards (embedded in the plan), and put them into four categories: time, examples, space, and summary. They find a...
ReadWriteThink
Alliteration in Headline Poems
Poetry is everywhere you look! Create found poems using headlines from newspapers and magazines. Young poetry focus on creating alliterative phrases with words they find in headlines, tying their poems to a central theme.