This is a challenging set of 22 research questions for a 20th Century American History class studying the decade 1960-1969. The questions are organized chronologically, and there are two questions per year in many 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 22 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 required strong critical thinking skills and better research skills and - above all - taught an appreciation for 20th Century American history.

This is a challenging set of 20 research questions for a 20th Century American History class studying the decade 1920-1929. The questions are organized chronologically, and there are two questions per year in many 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 required strong critical thinking skills and better research skills and - above all - taught an appreciation for 20th Century American history.

This is a challenging set of 21 research questions for a 20th Century American History class studying the decade 1990-1999. The questions are organized chronologically, and there are two questions per year in many 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 21 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 required strong critical thinking skills and better research skills and - above all - taught an appreciation for 20th Century American history.

Here's a fun, challenging way to teach global awareness and one of the five themes of geography: place. The "A-to-Z Countries" and "A-to-Z World Cities" assignments require students to find a country or world city for each letter of the alphabet. These are great, flexible assignments that you can leave with a substitute teacher or to be used on a regular learning day. I have used them both ways. You simply need a world political map (with well-labeled countries) or Internet access for quick reference to sites like Google.com or KidRex.org. I have included the student assignment sheets and two lists of possible answers. Your students will really enjoy this assignment. Mine certainly have over the years!

The Lewis & Clark Expedition R.A.F.T. Creative Writing Project is an excellent assignment to use to wrap up a lesson about this famous moment in American History. This R.A.F.T. is also a great idea if you wish to make a unit multidisciplinary: you can combine social studies and language arts into a fun, challenging creative writing project! What is a R.A.F.T., you might ask? R.A.F.T. is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. R.A.F.T.s provide rigor, flexibility, and variety. A R.A.F.T. 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 or types of writing to create one of several products including a letter, a television commercial, a journal entry, and several more. I define this further in the packet. This packet includes: (1) the R.A.F.T. assignment sheet; (2) a Ready your R.A.F.T. graphic organizer; (3) a Show, Don't Tell graphic organizer; (4) a Planning My First Draft graphic organizer; (5) a Revising My Draft graphic organizer; (6) a Peer Review Checklist; (7) a Grading Rubric; (8) and a Ticket-Out-the-Door summarizing exit slip. Please see the preview! Why are RAFTS wonderful for reading comprehension assessment and writing projects? (1) They require higher-order thinking skills: students must role-play as the character they choose and utilize unique character traits to write a convincing response. (2) They are extremely difficult to plagiarize or copy from the Internet. This is NOT a basic report. Students must synthesize key details and create a brand new piece of writing. (3) As a result, students will emerge from the writing project with a much better understanding of the assigned reading. After all, they must demonstrate mastery in the project. Consider purchasing it today!

The French & Indian War R.A.F.T. Creative Writing Project is an excellent assignment to use to wrap up a lesson about this famous moment in American History. This R.A.F.T. is also a great idea if you wish to make a unit multidisciplinary: you can combine social studies and language arts into a fun, challenging creative writing project! What is a R.A.F.T., you might ask? R.A.F.T. is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. R.A.F.T.s provide rigor, flexibility, and variety. A R.A.F.T. 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 or types of writing to create one of several products including a letter, a television commercial, a journal entry, and several more. I define this further in the packet. This packet includes: (1) the R.A.F.T. assignment sheet; (2) a Ready your R.A.F.T. graphic organizer; (3) a Show, Don't Tell graphic organizer; (4) a Planning My First Draft graphic organizer; (5) a Revising My Draft graphic organizer; (6) a Peer Review Checklist; (7) a Grading Rubric; (8) and a Ticket-Out-the-Door summarizing exit slip. Please see the preview! Why are RAFTS wonderful for reading comprehension assessment and writing projects? (1) They require higher-order thinking skills: students must role-play as the character they choose and utilize unique character traits to write a convincing response. (2) They are extremely difficult to plagiarize or copy from the Internet. This is NOT a basic report. Students must synthesize key details and create a brand new piece of writing. (3) As a result, students will emerge from the writing project with a much better understanding of the assigned reading. After all, they must demonstrate mastery in the project.

The "Endangered Animals Television Commercial" Project allows students to demonstrate their knowledge about endangered animals in a unique way. In small groups or individually, students will select an endangered animal for research. They will then plan, research, write, and simulate a complete television commercial or public service announcement about the animal they have chosen. They will present their commercials to the class. If you have a camcorder handy, this project makes for great fun for recording and sharing at an open house or similar public function!

The Book Thief 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 Markus Zusak's powerful 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.). I define this further in the packet.

This map project is a fun, quirky way to allow students to demonstrate cartography and map reading skills. Let “Pirate Pete” guide your students through a culminating project about fundamental map skills: absolute location, the compass rose, the map key (or legend), and map symbols. The twist, of course, is that students must create their own treasure map, as instructed by Pirate Pete. The assignment might also make a good stand-alone substitute lesson for a day when you cannot be at school. Included in the packet is Pirate Pete’s introductory letter and a set of treasure map-making instructions.

This is a research project about ancient Egyptian pharaohs that requires students to role-play as Egyptologists-in-training. Students may choose one of these eight pharaohs: Akhenaten, Cleopatra, Hatshepsut, Khufu, Ramesses II, Seti I, Tutankhamen, or Thutmose III. Their task is to evaluate their chosen pharaoh’s strengths and weaknesses as a leader and their contributions to Egyptian life and culture. Here are some of the specifics: For students: the role-playing letter introduction, step-by-step directions for implementation (written in plain English for students to easily understand), research logs, and a works cited page to document their sources. For teachers: a list of required materials, a pacing guide, two rubrics, and a list of reputable online resources for students to use when they conduct their research. This project is intended as a cumulative assignment to enrich a unit on Ancient Egypt.

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.

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!

You are about to download a research project titled “Roman Rulers: The Good, the Bad… and the Weird.” Students must research one of the following emperors of Ancient Rome: Julius Caesar, Octavian (Augustus), Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Caligula, or Commodus. They must determine the emperor’s strengths and weaknesses and their contributions to Roman life. In the assignment packet, you will find: For students: a role-playing letter for students to read as an introduction to the project, a step-by-step list of detailed instructions, research logs, and a works cited page to document their sources. For teachers: a list of required materials, a pacing guide, two rubrics, and a list of reputable online resources for students to use when they conduct their research. This project is intended as a cumulative assignment to enrich a unit on Ancient Rome. It would work best with middle school or high school students. You might modify it for mature elementary school students. Additionally, this project demands higher level critical thinking, as students must assess the importance of the emperor they have chosen. (This is not a biographical sketch.) They must also demonstrate teamwork skills, research skills, proper MLA citation, 21st century technology skills, the ability to work against a deadline, and much more.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 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 Mark Twain’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.).

Absolute location is a very important geography concepts that all students must master. Latitude and longitude are two very important tools as well. This assignment encourages students to find 20 American cities on a map using only their coordinates. The assignment includes an answer key for easy review or grading. You may use the Internet, a classroom resource, or the map I have supplied to complete it. The choice is yours. This would be an effective assignment to use when introducing latitude and longitude in your classroom. It will help reinforce skills later in the school year as well.

Would you like to enliven your 20th century American history or science lesson with a fun, challenging writing project? The Apollo 11 Moon Landing 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 Apollo 11. 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 Oregon Trail R.A.F.T. Creative Writing Project is an excellent assignment to use to wrap up a lesson about this famous moment in American History. It is also a great idea if you wish to make a unit multidisciplinary: you can combine social studies and language arts into a fun, challenging creative writing project! What is a R.A.F.T., you might ask? R.A.F.T. is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. R.A.F.T.s provide rigor, flexibility, and variety. A R.A.F.T. 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 or types of writing to create one of several products including a letter, a television commercial, a journal entry, and several more. I define this further in the packet. This packet includes: (1) the R.A.F.T. assignment sheet; (2) a Ready your R.A.F.T. graphic organizer; (3) a Show, Don’t Tell graphic organizer; (4) a Planning My First Draft graphic organizer; (5) a Revising My Draft graphic organizer; (6) a Peer Review Checklist; (7) a Grading Rubric; (8) and a Ticket-Out-the-Door summarizing exit slip. Please see the preview! Why are RAFTS wonderful for reading comprehension assessment and writing projects? (1) They require higher-order thinking skills: students must role-play as the character they choose and utilize unique character traits to write a convincing response. (2) They are extremely difficult to plagiarize or copy from the Internet. This is NOT a basic report. Students must synthesize key details and create a brand new piece of writing. (3) As a result, students will emerge from the writing project with a much better understanding of the assigned reading. After all, they must demonstrate mastery in the project. Consider purchasing it today!

The Boston Tea Party R.A.F.T. Creative Writing Project is an excellent assignment to use to wrap up a lesson about this famous moment in American History. It is also a great idea if you wish to make a unit multidisciplinary: you can combine social studies and language arts into a fun, challenging creative writing project! What is a R.A.F.T., you might ask? R.A.F.T. is an acronym for a powerful writing strategy that stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. R.A.F.T.s provide rigor, flexibility, and variety. A R.A.F.T. 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 or types of writing to create one of several products including a letter, a television commercial, a journal entry, and several more. I define this further in the packet.

Would you like to enliven history with a fun, challenging writing project? The Black Death RAFT Writing Project contains a RAFT writing project for the history classroom. This project may be used as a creative research project or as a summarizing assignment to end a unit of study on the Middle Ages or another aspect of European History. What is a RAFT, you might ask? RAFT is an acronym that stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. It is 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 to create one of several products. In this project, students have four writing options to choose from. They may role-play as a Sicilian authority figure, a Venetian trader, an English nurse, or a French tailor.

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.