In this alternative to the traditional book report, students respond to a play they have read by creating a resume for one of its characters.

Students must think critically to create comic strips highlighting six important scenes from a book they have read.

In this alternative to the traditional book report, students create book trailers using Microsoft Photo Story 3, a free downloadable software program for digital storytelling.

Students explore familiar literary characters, usually first encountered as adults, but whose childhood stories are only told later. Students then create childhoods for adult characters from books of their choice.

Students explore book covers of a variety of books then create a new cover for a book they have read.

Comic frames are traditionally used to illustrate a story in a short, concise format. In this lesson, students use a six-paneled comic strip frame to create a story map, summarizing a book or story that they've read. Each panel retells a particular detail or explains a literary element (such as setting or character) from the story.

In this alternative to the traditional book report, students report on their novel choices using Facebook-like pages.

In this alternative book report, students identify the elements of fiction in books they have read by creating glogs, interactive multimedia posters, and then share their glogs.

Students select a book to read based only on its cover art. After reading the book, they use an interactive tool to create a new cover for it.

Students make bookmarks on computers and share their ideas with other readers at their school, while practicing summarizing, recognizing symbols, and writing reviews-all for an authentic audience.

Students identify the elements of fiction in a book they have read and share summaries of them by writing and illustrating their own mini-book.

Students write resumes for historical fiction characters. They first explore help wanted ads to see what employers want, and then draft resumes for the characters they've chosen.

Students work in groups to create annotated book reviews with links to topics of interest related to their book.

Students utilize their reading and writing skills as they think critically in order to sort books in multiple ways.

Scammers are sneaky and sly. They can target anyone, from youngsters to retirees. They can also target businesses. No one is immune to fraud. Our group of superheroes has found a way to see through the scams. Their secret is simple: knowledge is power! Read on to find out how you can also become a fraud-fighting superhero. Share this booklet with family and friends and start powering up! Students can become real-life superheros by arming themselves with the information they need to fight fraud and keep themselves, their family and their money safe. Each section includes a secon describing the fraud and valuable "Tips to protect yourself".

This booklet contains 7 chapters on topics related to how to earn, save, budget, spend, borrow, protect and give money. Whether you get a weekly allowance or get paid for walking your  neighbor’s dog, your first step in handling your money well is to think about short-term and long-term goals. Then make a plan to reach them. It takes a bit of practice to master your money, just like it takes time to learn to  ride a bike. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll be ready to tackle all sorts of money twists and turns.

A family moves into an unpopulated area. With the ingenuity of one young girl, a town is established and grows. The idea of supply and demand is evident in this story. The businesses in town grow to include a tanner, a cooper, a miller, a blacksmith and a laundry.

This lesson provides teachers with support for using text-dependent questions to help students derive big ideas and key understandings while developing vocabulary from the biographical text, Boss of the Plains. This biography relates the life of John Batterson Stetson as a hatting apprentice until he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and decided to explore the American West. During his time with the people of the West, he invents a better hat, nicknamed "Boss of the Plains," - the first real cowboy hat.

This excerpt from WGBH's Evening Compass news program summarizes events of the first year of the 1974 Boston school desegregation plan.

The lessons in this issue of Smithsonian in Your Classroom introduce the work of botanists and botanical illustrators, specifically their race to make records of endangered plant species around the world. “Very little of the world’s flora has been fully studied,” says one Smithsonian botanist, “and time is running out.” In the first lesson, students gets to know six endangered plants. They examine illustrations, photographs, and dried specimens of the plants as they consider this question: If a scientist can take a picture of a plant, are there advantages in having an illustration? They go on to consider some of the big questions that botanists themselves must ask: Which of these species are most in need of conservation efforts? Are any of these plants more worth saving than others?In the second lesson, the students try their own hands at botanical illustration, following the methods of a Smithsonian staff illustrator. All that is required for the lesson are pencils, markers, tracing paper, and access to a photocopier.