High schoolers explore the relationship between video games and actual population. Example: A 2005 study showed Latino youth play at higher rates than other groups, but there are no Latino playable characters. They watch a brief video...

Young learners explore gender roles in advertising by taking an ad campaign they have seen which is specifically directed to one gender, and redesigning the campaign to target the opposite gender. After leading a guided discussion about...

An introductory instructional activity shows learners how pervasive and influential advertising is in our culture; particularly, how teenagers are actively targeted by advertisers. As teenagers, your students already have all the...

Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...

Do your scholars know that the letter g sometimes steals the j phoneme? Explore the letter g using these strategies combining pronunciation, recognition, letter sound, and word examples. Scholars examine the letter...

What is this letter? Once your class is ready to explore the letter n, use these strategies to combine word examples, pronunciation, and letter recognition. First, can they identify the letter? Make the /n/ sound, explaining...

Explore the letter h using these strategies combining pronunciation, recognition, letter sound, and word examples. Scholars examine the letter shape and listen to you pronounce the /h/ sound. As you explain how this sound is...

Are your scholars reading Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee? If so, use this textual analysis packet and lesson guide to drive deeper thinking about the characters, create personal connections, and apply historical...

Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

Encourage more pun-derstanding of word play in your literary scholars as they explore Brian P. Cleary's book Rhyme and Punishment: Adventures in Wordplay. Although this isn't suggested, consider beginning this study by simply showing...

What is a proverb? This is the leading question of this resource. First, explore proverbs and their meanings. Then, read aloud The Hidden Feast: A Folktale from the American South by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss and partake...

Who would have thought to explore the concept of race through children's literature?  After reading Bell Hooks' picture book, Skin Again, and chapter sixteen of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members...

It's time for pupils to read, examine, and contemplate literature to explore the difference between vivid and generic verbs. Pupils distinguish between the two types of verbs as they read the ghost scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet. They...

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...

Explore the structure of narrative writing with this fun, collaborative activity. Start by reading aloud a short story, asking small groups of learners to fill in key events on a large story board prepared on the class whiteboard....

Support young learners' exploration of the alphabet with this series of picture flash cards. Each card includes both upper- and lower-case letters, as well as a picture and corresponding word that begin with the letter. This fun resource...

How can you turn an adjective into an adverb? Explore adverbs of manner with a worksheet that includes a table to complete, fill-in-the-blanks, and rewriting sentences.

Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....

What does a dentist do? What about a farmer? Explore different jobs with a set of picture word cards. Each card in a set of 12 features the name of a career with a picture of the person who has that job. 

Beep beep! Zoom! Honk honk! Explore the world of transportation with a set of transportation picture word cards. Fifteen cards show trucks, planes, trains, boats, and many more types of transportation, complete with pictures and...

Explore legends and storytelling with your learners. After listening to some legends, pupils work collaboratively and then individually to come up with original legends about animals.

As brave as a scarecrow, as silly as a book? What will your youngsters compare themselves to? Here is a creative and fun way to explore the world of similes that your class members will definitely enjoy!

What is the author's purpose in writing a joke book? What about a book about the digestive system? Explore author's purpose with a worksheet that challenges kids to identify whether ten books are meant to entertain, inform, or persuade.

Explore the characters in My Antonia by Willa Cather with a biopoem assignment. Pupils use the provided format to write their poems about any character from the book.