Here's a richly detailed unit, designed for second graders, that focuses on decoding figurative language, including similes, metaphors, personification and idioms.

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Did you know that honey bees dance to communicate information? Do you know why bees use hexagons to build their hives? The Honeybee Man, Brilliant Bees, and Show me the Honey provide background information on how honey bees communicate....

Whether it's in a tiny town or a fabulous feast, alliteration makes what you're saying more interesting! Practice figurative language with a worksheet that prompts class members to replace the adjective to make an alliterative phrase.

Did she sell seashells by the seashore, or did Bill buy berries by the ballpark? Practice literary skills with an activity based on famous tongue twisters. Kids replace the nouns, verb, and adjectives in two phrases to create a new...

Elephants eat and cheetahs chase in this zany zoo! Kids survey a list of ten animals before adding in an adjective and verb for each to form an alliterative phrase or sentence.

How can you tell if a sentence has alliteration? Use a short worksheet to help kids identify examples of alliteration, complete sentences to create alliteration, and use nouns to write their own alliterative sentences.

Create poetry with a instructional activity based on alliterative phrases. After reviewing ten nouns, kids add an adjective to each based on the first letter of the noun. They then rewrite five sentences to involve more alliteration.

Bees buzz, dogs dig, lion laze, and snakes slither! Use alliteration to create sentences about four different animals. 

Practice alliteration with a fun game! Kids match names to a best friend's name, and add something they both like. 

Work with wonderful words within a well-written worksheet! Kids match alliterative verbs to fifteen names in order to get alliterative phrases.  

Use a West African folktale to practice several different skills in your first grade classroom. Learners read The Clever Monkey Rides Again and focus on rhyming words, reading comprehension, measurement, art, movement, and word...

Prepare to teach Jan Brett stories by taking a look at this teacher resource, which includes text-based questions, writing assignments, discussion ideas, and vocabulary practice for 18 different stories.

Full of activities for Jan Brett's story "Gingerbread Friends," this resource will get your kids in the mood for some snacks, fortify their need for vocabulary, and fill their minds with story elements.

If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities...

Turn your classroom into a farmers' market! Reading Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson or Monica Wellington’s Apple Farmer Annie, launches this investigation of apples, farmers' markets, and the people selling products. The class...

Why are farm animals important to the community? Expand young farmers' knowledge of furry and feathered friends through stories and a video. There are several books recommended; however, you could use any book about farm animals. A video...

Ask your learners to complete activities related to Oklahoma's agriculture, berries in particular. The lesson is cross-curricular and has class members investigate an article about berries, write an acrostic poem, and discuss new...

Pizza is the inspiration for the cross-curricular lesson detailed here. Start out with a poem about pizza and move into a discussion about balanced eating. To close the language arts portion of the lesson, ask your pupils to write...

British poet Josie Whitehead shares many of her children's poems in both print and in audio on her Listening Page. Whitehead was a career teacher and provides information for teachers and parents about sharing poetry with children.

This site features an extensive list of poems and songs for every event during the school year. Explore the seasons, colors, holidays, and more.