Need a prereading activity in line with the Common Core Standards for Language? Although designed for grades 11 and 12, the procedure detailed in this resource could be used with most grade levels. Prior to reading, select 20 – 25 words...

Whether new to the KWHL strategy or not readers of Briar Rose will benefit from the detailed procedures and templates designed for Jane Yolen’s novel. Links are provided for research into the Holocaust and activities reveal the many...

Designed for Pre-K to kindergartners, this resource has you take your class on an imaginary bus or subway ride. There are some inventive ideas of ways you can make this imaginary trip come to life in the classroom, as well as a great way...

Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...

After completing Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose, class members assume the voice of Gemma and craft a personal letter to her granddaughter telling Becca how she feels about Becca’s actions and the discoveries at Chelmno. Complete directions for...

Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...

Utilizing computer software, learners demonstrate the color spectrum. They investigate the life of the artist Piet Mondrian and define his style of artwork. Then they use Photoshop to recreate some of his designs while discovering the...

Model for young readers how to make the shift from passive to active reading by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections. After a series of activities that provide guided practice, the focus shifts to making text-to-words...

Knowing how to properly use the colon and the semi-colon is a handy skill to have. Most grown ups don't know how to properly use them! This presentation does an excellent job of showing learners how to properly use the semi-colon. There...

Tall tales are so much fun! Introduce your class to Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Davy Crockett, among others! Learn about their lives before reading some of the tall tales as a class. Then, write some tales of your own!

Definite (the) and indefinite articles (some/a/an) are the subject of a presentation that details the rules for how these parts of speech are used. It offers clear models and notes the exceptions to the rules as well. Viewers are sure to...

The value in this Macbeth study guide is that it asks readers to not only chart events, but to also consider the significance of those events. The worksheets could be used as preparation for a full class discussion or the basis or a...

The chapter-by-chapter questions on a Catcher in the Rye study guide would serve well as a group work exercise in preparation for a whole class discussion of Salinger’s novel. The resource includes a nice mix of fact-based,...

What is the passive voice, and can you identify it easily? Help your class get a better grip on the passive and active voices with this very short presentation. Five slides present the difference between the two voices, and several...

Interactive SMART Board activities provide young grammarians with practice changing singular nouns to plural nouns. Learners then create collages on which they inscribe the singular and plural form of the noun label.

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s well-known fantasy, provides the words for two vocabulary exercises. Readers craft sentences using words from the text and fill in the blanks to make meaning out of a second series of sentences.

What kinds of foods include corn? Corn syrup? Start by viewing a clip of Food Inc. with your middle or high schoolers. Then, study a list of corn-derived ingredients, encouraging your class to see how many food products contain corn. A...

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”  Readers of The Stranger rate Mersault’s moral development (or lack thereof) using Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development scale. Using...

Free speech, privacy, and cyberbullying are the focus of a series of activities that prompt class members to engage in discussions about these interrelated topics. They view a segment from PBS’s series on bullying, read...

This nicely-designed presentation does an excellent job of introducing the comma and its many uses. Each of the slides shows different ways in which the comma is used. Learners are given a chance to practice what they have learned in the...

Posted here are dozens of questions to present when reading The Hobbit. Questions for 19 chapters are available. Either give this guide to your class, or use it to help you develop appropriate, yet challenging material to explore each...

This presentation offers up some of the trickier rules of the English language when it comes to spelling. For example, one slide goes over the "i before e, except after c," rule. The rest of the slides present examples like this one and...

Review some of the challenging vocabulary as your class begins The Hobbit. Twenty vocabulary words are introduced in two exercises. In the first, learners answer questions using some of the target vocabulary. Then, in part two, they use...

Class pairs select a prompt from a provided list and tell (and record) their story to their partner. They then examine linguist William Labov's model for natural narratives, and apply his model to their tale. Next, class members watch...