Engaging narratives blend the forms of expository writing with the tropes of creative writing. Introduce class members to narrative writing techniques with a 28-lesson unit that not only uses The Autobiography of Malcolm X as a model of...

Researching to Build Knowledge and Teaching Others: Inventions That Changed People’s Lives is an eight-week, three-unit module designed for fifth graders. In the first unit of the module, scholars examine and discuss a graphic novel,...

In Unit 2, students continue to build their reading and writing skills and their understanding of how new or improved technologies are developed to meet the needs of society through a case study of Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of...

The literacy focus of this three-unit module is on reading scientific and technical text and writing to inform and explain. In Unit 1, young scholars build background knowledge of the rainforest and the scientists who study them. Kathryn...

Fifth graders continue their investigation of the process scientists use to research by reading Kathryn Lasky’s The Most Beautiful Roof in the World: Exploring the Rainforest Canopy, the story of Meg Lowman, and the research methods she...

The 15 lessons in Unit 3 focus on the reading and writing skills scientists use while observing, researching, and recording information in field journals. The unit begins with young scientists learning how to observe and to write precise...

Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption serves as the central text of a three-unit module that examines Japanese-American relations during World war II. In Unit 1, middle schoolers build...

In the second unit of Module 3A, eighth-graders continue their study of forced invisibility by reading a case study of the American soldier, Louie Zamperini, imprisoned by the Japanese and Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American interned in the...

In Module 4, sixth-graders research the question of whether the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences. Unit 1 challenges investigators to read a novel, informational text, and watch videos to gather evidence about DDT’s uses,...

The search is on for information about DDT, its benefits, and harmful effects. Over 15 units In Module 4, young researchers conduct a WebQuest to find informational texts about the pesticide, learn how to paraphrase information, cite...

The first unit in Module 4 introduces sixth graders to the central question of the module; do the benefits of DDT outweigh its harmful consequences? Jean Craighead George’s novel, Frightful’s Mountain, is the module's anchor text and...

The topic of ocean conservation and the impact of human activities on ocean life is the focus of three units in Module 3B. The first unit challenges sixth graders to read Mark Kurlansky’s illustrated book, World without Fish: How Kids...

How does an author’s culture influence their perspective and point of view? Moreover, how does an author’s purpose affect their point of view? These are the questions middle schoolers investigate in a three-unit module that uses works by...

The 12 lessons in the second module unit examine how an author’s point of view and perspective is influenced by his or her geographic location. Florida resident Carl Hiassens’s young adult novel, Flush, about a young man whose father...

The first unit in this three-unit module has sixth-graders read Mark Kurlansky’s illustrated book, World without Fish: How Kids Can Help Save the Oceans. They study how Kurlansky introduces, illustrates, and develops his ideas to convey...

In the second unit in the 3A module, scholars examine how an author’s purpose affects point of view. They compare excerpts from “Comprehending the Calamity,” Emma Burke’s informational text about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, to...

The first unit in this three-module set introduces sixth-graders to a study of how authors’ culture influences and is evident in their writing. Laurence Yep’s novel, Dragonwings, and his biography The Lost Garden serve as the core texts....

In the second unit of Module 3A eighth-graders continue their study of forced invisibility by reading a case study of American soldier Louie Zamperini imprisoned by the Japanese and of Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American interned in the US...

In this three-unit module, juniors examine literary and nonfiction text, observing how authors develop their central ideas. In Units 1 and 2, scholars practice close reading, annotating text, and evidence-based discussions and writing....

The first unit in Module 1 uses The Autobiography of Malcolm X as the core text. Scholars practice close reading, evidence-based writing and discussion, critical analysis of narrative texts, and narrative writing techniques. Marmon...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the anchor text in a three-unit module that has eighth graders examine how Shakespeare develops the theme of control. Young scholars look at why and how the characters seek control and the results of...

Where does our food come from? Eighth graders research food chains and the consequences for stakeholders affected by those food chains. Using Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as a core text, the three units in this module teach...

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States takes center stage in a three-unit module that focuses particularly on The Little Rock Nine. Carlotta Walls LaNier’s, A Mighty Long Way, and Shelley Tougas’ photo essay, Little Rock Girl...

Eighth-graders develop their ability to read and understand a complex text as they consider the plight of refugees. The first unit uses Thanhha Lai’s novel, Inside Out & Back Again, as well as informational text, to build background...