This is the create-a-country project which requires students – upper elementary, middle, or high school – to demonstrate fundamental geography skills. I mention it is a scalable assignment. Simply, there are different versions of this two-part assignment here: an upper elementary school assignment, a middle school assignment, and a high school assignment. Of course, you can mix-and-match to fit the needs of your classes. Both parts of this assignment require students to think critically to earn full credit. The first part of the assignment requires them to define their country’s unique characteristics. The second part is a map-making assignment in which they take the displayable characteristics from part one and illustrate them on a blank piece of paper. This can be a very powerful and engaging project! I have used this assignment with success in a few ways. Sometimes, I use only the map-making part of the assignment to determine what my students already knew about map-reading skills. Another time, I used the definition assignment to reinforce an introductory unit on physical and cultural geography. I have also combined both parts of the assignment as a unit-ending project. I find this project asks students to think critically about the many characteristics that make up a country. This packet contains the following: •Two assignments-in-one: a definition assignment which requires detailed, thoughtful answers and a map-making assignment. •There are three versions of the definition part of the assignment. These have been built to scale. Consider using the first version in an upper elementary classroom, the second version in a middle school classroom, and the third version in a high school classroom. •Five lesson extension ideas. •Two rubrics you may consider using to evaluate each part of the project.

This PowerPoint presentation is titled “The Great Wall of China - Let’s Take a Tour!” This is one of a handful of projects I have written about ancient civilizations. The complete assignment includes (1) the PowerPoint presentation, (2) a KWL chart to activate the lesson, (3) 15 questions you can use to guide the lesson or use as a quiz afterwards, and (4) a handful of research prompts you might use to extend the lesson. This particular PowerPoint is chock full of quality information about the Great Wall of China including historical information about the major dynasties that build the walls, details about how the walls were constructed, statistics about its size, and much more. Of course, I have also filled the presentation with high-quality color photos and clickable links to some key vocabulary terms and official Chinese history websites. If you have access to Google Earth and YouTube, you will also find clickable links embedded in the document so you can take your students on a virtual field trip to see the Great Wall of China from above (Google Earth) and to a classroom-safe video (YouTube) offering a first-person perspective so your students can feel what it is like to climb some of the steepest parts of the wall. I envision using this PowerPoint presentation in a handful of ways: as either a classroom instruction tool on a SmartBoard or as a self-guided PowerPoint that students can access as a homework assignment.

This assignment is titled “Twitter Tales: Writing Haiku, Micropoems, & Short Fiction in 280 Characters or Less.” We hear a lot these days about how our students enjoy communicating with one another using social networking services like Facebook and Twitter. This assignment allows students to write micropoems and short fiction within Twitter’s 280-character limit. This assignment requires critical thinking skills and 21st century technology skills. Students must closely scrutinize appropriate language choices and work within Twitter’s character limit to publish their work. Combining short, creative bursts of writing with this technology has popularized a new trend called Twitterature. Demand has even prompted a magazine called 7x20 where writers can publish their Twitter micropoems. The goal here is to create powerful works of literature in only a few words. What would William Carlos Williams – and other Imagists – think of “Twitterature,” a quirky, new form of micropoetry and flash fiction told in 280 characters or less? This is one of several questions I want students to consider as they strive to create powerful images, emotional pieces, and more works of short literature in this project. Is Twitter blocked at your school? Fear not. I have included some printable worksheets that can be used in the classroom as a “work-around.” The template will not look exactly like Twitter for legal reasons, but it should suffice for this project. Remind students that they still must write within the 280-character limit as one requirement for success on the project.

Absolute and relative location are two basic, important geography tools that all students must master. Why not teach students these vital skills in a fun, active way? This assignment will do just that! Absolute location, of course, requires students to use latitude and longitude to give their answers. Relative location requires cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and intermediate directions (northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest). While there are many available assignments to teach these concepts to elementary school and middle school/junior high school students, here’s one with a twist! Students will locate all 32 NFL football teams using absolute and relative location. January 2023 update: Team names and locations have been updated. Also, it’s easier than ever to take the Google Earth tour of NFL Stadiums. This document describes 5 quick, easy steps to get started. Also, all stadiums and respective cities have been updated since last season. This would be an effective assignment near the beginning of the school year, when students are transitioning into autumn and the NFL season opens its newest season. However, its strength will help reinforce skills later in the school year as well. Included, please find the assignment with a chart for record-keeping, an answer key, a blank USA map, a political USA map, and an idea for an extension assignment. Plus, how about this idea for an educational technology twist? You can visit each and every NFL football stadium using Google Tour Builder! There is nothing to install. Simply, follow the link included in this packet and take your students on a virtual tour today.

This is an extensive 12-page lesson plan packet using Star Wars to teach biomes. I have used seven Star Wars films to teach students about biomes with great success. The lesson plan includes a twelve-question assessment that (1) asks students watch scenes from the Star Wars films to identify real-world biomes including temperate deciduous forest, desert, Mediterranean chaparral, tropical rain forest, alpine, tundra, and temperate coniferous forest; and (2) then conduct research on these real backdrops to gain a deeper understanding of the delicacy of our world’s biomes. George Lucas’ Star Wars movies are a delightful mix of heroic stories, wonderful characters and monsters, and dramatic action sequences. Millions of people – including many young adults – love these films. Look closely and you will see vibrant, natural worlds lying beneath the special effects. After all, Lucas chose many real backdrops for the Star Wars sagas – Whippendell Woods, United Kingdom, and Tozeur, Tunisia, for examples. Now, you can use them to teach biomes to your science or geography students. I would suggest your students have at least a basic understanding of the biomes presented in this assignment beforehand. This assignment might work best after you have introduced biomes in your classroom and asked students to identify specific features of each. Included please find the lesson plan, teacher’s scene guide, student identification assignment and answer key, guidelines for the research paper, and a rubric to evaluate the research paper.

The following 25 prompts worked wonderfully in my language arts classes. These prompts will provide narrative and descriptive writing opportunities. For instance, there is a prompt in this packet that requires students to think about a typical Saturday and recount sequential events descriptively. Another prompt will require students to describe a perfect lunch, which will require them to think critically and logically in a creative passage. There are several possibilities here, but the real bonus is the full-color image that accompanies each question to inspire deeper thinking and colourful language choices. I have alternated prompts in this packet to allow for daily or weekly instruction possibilities. Thus, each narrative prompt is followed by a descriptive writing prompt. Why? In my classroom, I passed this assignment out as a classroom packet and one that we would use throughout the school year so students could track progress and see how they had developed as writers from the first day to the last. Please let me know how you use these prompts in your classroom.

This assignment is titled “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Social Network,” an excellent form of differentiated instruction to teach one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. We hear a lot these days about how our students enjoy communicating with one another on sites like Facebook, Foursquare, Tumblr, and Twitter. This assignment is essentially a character analysis assignment in the form of a “mock social network.” Students must imagine that characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream have social networking pages where they post their thoughts, concerns, activities, motivations, and more. There have been many creative ways to teach A Midsummer Night’s Dream over the years including mock newspapers, mock trials, and the like. This particular project puts a 21st century spin on those assignments and allows students to express themselves in a familiar medium.

Would you like a fun, challenging way to teach students the fifty states and capital cities? This set of 25 FULL-COLOR Bingo game sheets will do just that! This packet contains a few components to help you and your students practice memorizing states and/or state capitals. You will find the following items: 1. Clue sheets for both states and state capitals; 2. Twenty (20) full-color Bingo sheets containing state outlines; 3. A full-color map labelled with both states and state capitals. What you will need: markers, coloring pencils, or regular pencils for students to mark the Bingo boxes I have used this packet primarily with middle school 6th grade students, but I believe it can be modified to work with upper elementary school students, too.

A Christmas Carol RAFT Writing Project contains a writing project for the English/Language Arts classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on Charles Dickens’s famous novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

The following 25 prompts worked wonderfully in my language arts classes. These prompts will provide narrative and descriptive writing opportunities. For instance, there is a prompt in this packet that requires students to think about a typical Saturday and recount sequential events descriptively. Another prompt will require students to describe a perfect lunch, which will require them to think critically and logically in a creative passage. There are several possibilities here, but the real bonus is the full-color image that accompanies each question to inspire deeper thinking and colourful language choices. I have alternated prompts in this packet to allow for daily or weekly instruction possibilities. Thus, each narrative prompt is followed by a descriptive writing prompt. Why? In my classroom, I passed this assignment out as a classroom packet and one that we would use throughout the school year so students could track progress and see how they had developed as writers from the first day to the last. Please let me know how you use these prompts in your classroom.

This packet features a set of 100 short writing prompts or what I like to call “daily warm-ups.” I have used these prompts successfully in a few different scenarios including bell ringer assignments, icebreakers at the beginning of the school year, and in long-term writing projects such as writing folders and portfolios. There are two main parts of this packet: (1) a four-page list of all 100 prompts which might be used as part of a writing folder assignment and (2) a set of task cards that can be easily printed, cut, and shared with students.

Absolute and relative location are two basic, important geography tools that all students must master. While there are many available assignments to teach these concepts to elementary school and middle school/junior high school students, here’s one with a twist! Students will locate all 30 NBA teams using absolute and relative location. Absolute location, of course, requires students to use latitude and longitude to give their answers. Relative location requires cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and intermediate directions (northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest). This would be an effective assignment as the NBA season opens its latest season. Included, please find the assignment with chart for record-keeping, an answer key, a blank map, a political USA/Canada map, and an idea for an extension assignment. Plus, how about this idea for an educational technology twist? I used Google Earth and a custom-made kml file to bring the stadium tour to life in your classroom. I have included simple instructions to install the file on your laptop or desktop computer.

Absolute and relative location are two basic, important geography tools that all students must master. While there are many available assignments to teach these concepts to elementary school and middle school/junior high school students, here’s one with a twist! Students will locate all 30 MLB teams using absolute and relative location. Absolute location, of course, requires students to use latitude and longitude to give their answers. Relative location requires cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and intermediate directions (northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest). This would be an effective assignment as the Major League Baseball season opens its latest season. Included, please find the assignment with chart for record-keeping, an answer key, and an idea for an extension assignment. Plus, how about this idea for an educational technology twist? I used Google Earth and a custom-made kml file to bring the stadium tour to life in your classroom. I have included simple instructions to install the file on your laptop or desktop computer. Find the link inside this packet. This tour allows students to utilize modern technology in the classroom to better understand the locations of baseball facilities while also observing diverse environments and city structures from the air. There are several other real world benefits and I hope you will share them with your students!

A Separate Peace RAFT Writing Project contains a Common Core-ready writing project for the English/Language Arts classroom.This is a culminating project to end a unit of study on John Knowles’s famous novel. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

Would you like to enliven ancient history with a fun, challenging writing project? Maybe breathe new life into a science or geography lesson about volcanoes? The Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius RAFT Writing Project contains a RAFT writing project for the social studies or science classroom. This project may be used as a creative research project or as a summarizing assignment to end a unit of study on the destruction of Pompeii, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, or Ancient Rome. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that provides rigor, flexibility, and variety. A RAFT can be implemented in all content areas, thus making it an excellent Writing Across the Curriculum resource. Young writers might pursue one of several genres of writing (expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative or persuasive) to create one of several products (letter, television commercial, diary entry, etc.).

This assignment is titled "Let's Explore Mexico! Use a Map to Find Cities, Landforms, States, Bodies of Water and More." This assignment includes 20 questions that require students to analyze a map of Mexico for boundaries and borders, major cities, landforms, and bodies of water. This would make a great introduction to middle school students preparing to study Mexico for the first time in either a World Languages class or a geography class. You might even consider it a "substitute assignment" and leave it for a substitute teacher on a day you are away from the classroom. This assignment works well as an individual assignment or as a partner assignment.

This is a challenging set of 25 research questions for a 20th Century American History class studying the decade 1940-1949. It has a strong focus on events during and after World War II. The questions are organized chronologically, and there are two questions per year in most cases. Here is what is GREAT about this assignment: it's fully customizable! For instance, you might use only 10 of these questions instead of the 25 in the packet. You might choose 5 of the questions and ask students to conduct in-depth research for a full-length report. The possibilities are endless! I decided to make a research assignment that went beyond basic questions like "When did World War II begin?" and "Who was president during World War II?" Instead, I opted for questions that required strong critical thinking skills and better research skills and - above all - taught an appreciation for 20th Century American history.

Consider purchasing this bundle of four 25-question assignments that you can use as a set of daily activities, a set of bell ringer assignments, or as a single research assignment. There are 100 questions to use in your classroom. All answers are included. You will find short research questions related to Ancient History, American History, World History, World Geography, Economics, Government, and more! It is NEVER too early to teach students how to conduct research. This is one of the fundamental skills required of 21st century learners in higher education. I have used these assignments in my classroom, and I have found that my middle school students enjoy them. You might also try to use them in higher level elementary classrooms (5th and 6th grades). Please find each 25-question assignment and an answer key for easy grading in this packet. There are four documents total.

Consider purchasing this quick vocabulary assignment to introduce your elementary or middle school students to some basic geography terminology about landforms and bodies of water. You might even use it as a vocabulary quiz. The choice is yours! I believe this assignment would be best for kids between the ages of 10-14. There are twenty terms found in the complete assignment, with kid-friendly definitions, and an answer key for quick, simple grading. The assignment includes all five themes of geography (location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and regions) and major lines of latitude and longitude (Antarctic Circle, Arctic Circle, Equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Prime Meridian). Additional vocabulary terms include: Absolute Location, Degree, Grid, Hemisphere, Latitude, Longitude, Meridian, Parallel, and Relative Location.

This is a challenging set of 20 research questions for a 20th Century American History class studying the decade 1930-1939. The questions are organized chronologically, and there are two questions per year in most cases. Here is what is GREAT about this assignment: it's fully customizable! For instance, you might use only 10 of these questions instead of the 20 in the packet. You might choose 5 of the questions and ask students to conduct in-depth research for a full-length report. The possibilities are endless! I decided to make a research assignment that went beyond basic questions like "When did Amelia Earhart make her famous flight?" and "Who was president during World War II?" Instead, I opted for questions that required strong critical thinking skills and better research skills and - above all - taught an appreciation for 20th Century American history.