Sign language is an effective way to communicate with those special needs, hearing, impaired, and non-verbal pupils. This lesson provides a highly structured way to learn or teach ASL. Included are multiple links to images, descriptions,...

Young Spanish language learners review the names of each planet. Then, in pairs, they work to complete the chart provided. What is the composition of each planet? What is the color? They learn how to describe the planets. 

Talk about technology in the classroom. This plan has all the resources needed to create a non-linear or branching story. Included is a step-by-step tutorial that walks middle schoolers through the project description, a model of a...

Give your class this introductory activity to spark interest in the Japanese language. Learners look at the Japanese vowels and practice their pronunciation. Then the class works to match vocabulary words to their visual representation.

Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...

Teach it, learn it, communicate with it. ASL is at your fingertips with this sign language series. Lesson 20 focuses on classifiers, descriptive vocabulary, and asking questions. Each blue link on the page takes you to an image or video...

Kids love learning about space! In this short plan, your young Spanish speakers read Los Planetas and talk about the nine planets. By the end, they should be able to name and identify each of the planets and add some descriptive words....

A solid description of one way to teach narrative writing, this resource outlines the writing process from concept to completion. Class members create concept maps of moments in their lives and follow the writing process to publish their...

Who are you? Where are you from? Teach young Spanish language learners how to identify themselves and where they're from. They draw a picture of themselves to help develop vocabulary for this activity. 

The goal of this lesson is to have learners come up with a collection of fun and exciting activities they could all try over the summer vacation. Each child is charged with creating his/her own page of a class summer fun book. The page...

Take a journey to India with a read aloud of The Drum: A Folktale from India by Rob Cleveland. Make connections to the story's theme by building and practicing drums, role playing story characters, and practicing skills in phonics, math,...

Lensey Namioka’s Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear provides an opportunity for young readers to observe how writers bring their characters to life. Each class member selects a character to trace through the novel, recording...

A video featuring members of Oregon’s Astoria Native American fishing community launches a study of the oral tradition of poetry, and how traditions are passed down within different cultures. Activities, assessments, extensions and...

"Ode to la Tortilla" and "Ode to Joy"? Sure! Use Gary Soto's poem to introduce learners to the ode format. After examining the descriptive words Soto uses, class members study a poster of Ludwig van Beethoven, suggest words that describe...

Direct your class’s attention to the elements that make their community unique. After examining sample travel brochures, groups select something from their community to use as the subject, and then research, create, and publish a...

Narrative essay writing is the focus of a series of exercises that model for learners how to not only read a narrative, but how to also examine the techniques fiction writers use to create a setting, develop their characters, represent...

Here is an outstanding series of lessons on journalism, writing newspaper articles, and writing editorials. This type of writing has long-been neglected in our schools, so this collection of writing activities is most-valuable. Along...

Class groups assume the identity of one of the primary human characters in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They create a body biography that identifies the most important traits of their character, translate these traits into...

Is trickery ever justified? Is it okay to steal from someone who has stolen from you? Puss, from Puss in Boots, and Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, might have some ideas about these ethical questions. After listening to a series of...

Quotation marks are the focus of this resource. In it, youngsters discover how to correctly use punctuation marks. It is meant to be carried out over a three-day period. You could shorten it, but I wouldn't. The activities are...

Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...

Science and language skills come together in The King of the Birds. After reading, discuss the names and types of birds in the story and write given sentences to portray the difference between comparative and superlative adjectives....

Challenge your pupils with this innovative how-to activity. Instead of simply having learners write an essay describing how to do a particular activity, this lesson has them create an iMovie describing a process.

Groups become experts in one aspect of the six traits of writing, prepare a PowerPoint presentation, jigsaw, and teach others about their trait. Writers then focus on these traits as they compose a persuasive essay about a person they...