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.

How well do you know your affixes? Find out how proficient your learners are with a game that requires them to define various affixes and use them to create words that will go into sentences.

Scientific terms can be difficult to remember. This resource suggests developing analogies as a way to make energy terms memorable. After listing new terms on the board, groups develop analogies based on restaurant words, and then share...

It's all connected. Scholars use pages 24-26 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World to identify the relationship between the plants and animals in the rainforest. They answer and discuss questions about the relationship with a...

Alike or different? Scholars compare and contrast the research methods used by Meg in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. They record information about her research in a three column note catcher before answering text-dependent...

Take inventory. Scholars analyze pages 28-31 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World and use a note catcher to model how Meg Lowman took inventory of the species in the rainforest. Learners then take a close look at the vocabulary...

Did you the message? Scholars listen to a read aloud of The Wings of the Butterfly to summarize and determine the message of the text. They discuss the folktale and vocabulary in groups, then use a double bubble map to compare the story...

Challenge scholars to identify and use heteronyms in a sentence with a two-page worksheet designed to boost grammar skills. 

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...

Assist pupils as they learn to separate base words and affixes and combine them to determine the meaning of words. Partners practice with cards that include words with affixes.

Invite learners to determine which affix and base word combinations create new words. This activity allows pupils to play around and create words that match specific meanings.

Support children with finding meaning in unknown words using this graphic organizer. While reading a piece of writing, learners identify unfamiliar words, using context clues and reference materials to find and record definitions before...

Upper elementary schoolers examine the concept of synonyms and how using a variety of vocabulary through synonyms can expand their writing skills. They revise a paragraph using synonyms located on the Visual Thesaurus and participate in...

Celebrate Opposite Day by using a Visual Thesaurus to match words to their antonyms. They match a list of vocabulary words to their antonym counterparts using the Visual Thesaurus, and then they play Antonym Bingo with the words from...

What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...

Familiarize linguists with antonyms as they examine examples and match up opposites. First, scholars read a short description of antonyms, writing as many antonyms for big as they can. Then, they match up pairs of words that are antonyms...

Separate compound words into their respective parts to help scholars with vocabulary and spelling. They read a brief explanation of this type of word and then combine five word pairs written out in expanded form. Learners then match...

Pair learners to define synonyms. They search flash cards to find a synonym partner. Then they chart pairs of synonyms on a synonym tree.

Introduce your budding readers to the dictionary. They read a brief introduction on dictionary features, observing pictures and examples of one-syllable words they could find in a dictionary. Using the word list, they determine which...

Explore text structure with a focus on the glossary feature in informational texts. Learners read a brief introduction before examining a glossary from a text about plants. They reference it while completing four comprehension questions....

There are eight homograph riddles here: can your scholars figure them out? For each, there are three definitions and a picture. Learners use the picture and multiple meanings as clues, recording a word that matches all three. They read...

This detailed overview of a curriculum unit suggests using travel literature to engage and stimulate your third graders’ interest in reading. The suggested reading list includes fiction and non-fiction materials and offers urban children...

Eighth graders participate in a variety of activities to examine the meanings and roots of word derivatives and the meanings of words. Using context clues, they determine the meanings of words omitted from a passage and complete a prefix...

It's just a figure of speech, but this app is, in a nutshell, bursting at the seams with idioms. In just two shakes of a lamb's tail, learners can study, search for, and test their knowledge of the included expressions.