Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library, whether or not your school has adopted the Common Core. Designed for middle and high school language arts classes, the packet is packed with teaching tips, materials,...

How figurative language affects the tone and meaning in Chapter Three of Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy is the focus of a series of exercises that ask readers to locate, record, and analyze Curtis' word choices.

The difference between an average and an unforgettable writing can lie in the author's word choice. The figurative language in Chapter 2 of Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Medal Winner, Bud, Not Buddy, is the focus of a series of...

The logic, rhythm, and beauty of math sometimes get lost amidst numbers and variables. Amplify math's lyricism with a poetry project that uses metaphors and similes to compare mathematical concepts to other images.

Take a break from reading to find the magic number with this vocabulary game using words drawn from Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee.  Participants match the definition to the word in each numbered square of the puzzle, then add...

Why did they say that? What did they mean? How did they feel? Using the six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, challenge your young readers to answer the comprehension questions about chapters 41 and 42 of Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Each...

Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of Maniac Magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in Jerry Spinelli's novel, readers...

Readers demonstrate their ability to use word endings and word relationships to identify the parts of speech of the nonsense words in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky."

In this comprehension exercise, readers compare Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" to a description of the city from Upton's Sinclair's The Jungle.

Use this packet as a companion to your study of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. The resource breaks the novel up into several chunks, and for each chunk provides activities, background information, vocabulary, graphic organizers, and response...

Are your middle schoolers able to identify the literary devices featured on this worksheet? They must demonstrate their understanding of figurative language by matching the terms with their definitions and label the devices...

You will learn how to use context (e.g., cause and effect or compare and contrast organizational text structures) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or multiple-meaning words.

Discover how literary techniques like figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the overall meaning of a poem. Explore how a poet establishes and builds on a theme and the difference between tone and mood. Through a close...

Work through links to activities, assessments, websites, and videos to learn about connotation and denotation.

Explore the difference between tone and mood in this animated video [2:28] from WNET through definitions and examples from poetry and prose. Discussion questions below help students to further apply their understanding before analyzing a...