Curated OER
CTBS Reading Practice #2
This is a basic reading comprehension practice instructional activity. Learners read 3 passages: folktale, Richard Cory, and an informational text about the Roosevelts. They then answer multiple choice questions that test reading...
Curated OER
Primary Sources and Protagonists: A Native American Literature Unit
Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...
Curated OER
Basic Linguistics: Fun Trivia Quiz
Meta-cognition can transform learning. If your syllabus includes linguistics to enhance learners' comprehension and expression in English, here is an interactive online quiz to assess what they have learned. Titled "Basic Linguistics,"...
Curated OER
Personal Information
Can your learners fill out an envelope with their personal information? Give them some great practice using this template, which learners will enjoy because it's all about them! First, they write their name and address on an image of an...
Curated OER
"The Wind" by James Reeves
Inntroduce primary learners to essential critical reading strategies with an activity based on James Reeves' poem, "The Wind." Learners listen as the poem is read, first as a riddle, and then re-read with the title visible. The...
Curated OER
Prefixes and Suffixes
Use this interactive tool to introduce your learners to prefixes and suffixes. First they use a crossword puzzle to find the opposites of the words provided. Then, they take a list of words and possible suffixes, matching the appropriate...
Curated OER
Draw it Yourself
What rhymes with fox? Get learners engaged with rhyming words through this drawing worksheet featuring four single-syllable words for beginning readers. For each, they draw something that rhymes with the word. Challenge learners who need...
Curated OER
Glossaries
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....
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a great story to share with your class, and this lesson focuses on just that story! The eighth in a fourteen-lesson series on short stories, the plan has learners study some vocabulary, read the...
Curated OER
"Declaration of Independence" From Plagiarism
So, what does the Declaration of Independence even mean? Learners of all ages paraphrase the Declaration of Independence in modern terms. They work as a group or class to paraphrase the language of the Declaration of Independence. There...
Curated OER
Advertising Conversation
Are you struggling to get a rich discussion going between your learners? Use these questions to spark a natural conversation about advertising and the media. Learners pair up, and each speaker gets a different set of questions to ask...
Curated OER
Poetry Through Digital Storytelling
Bring digital storytelling to your language arts class! To begin, learners select their own topic, such as a poem that reflects a life experience they had or a historical figure who interests them. Then they work to create a storyboard...
Curated OER
Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?
High schoolers discover the true meaning of karma and the related concept of samsara by reading the Jataka Tales. Learners work in groups to become familiar with one form of Buddhist storytelling and examine how Jataka Tales are used as...
Curated OER
"Lawd! Lawd! Lawd!"
From British accents to Texan drawls, a character's dialect can be an important part of the reading experience. A Six-Trait writing activity guides learners through the analysis of a character's dialect (Daniel Keyes's Flowers for...
Curated OER
What a Character!
Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines...
Curated OER
The News Article and The Editorial
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...
Scholastic
Persuasive Communication (Grades 9–12)
Before your students reached your morning class to learn about persuasive writing, they probably saw dozens of examples of persuasive communication in the form of advertisements. A short, introductory instructional activity inspires...
Curated OER
Connectors Exercise: Transitional Words
Transitional words and phrases make writing smooth and ease oral fluency. This resource gives English learners a chance to practice using common connecting words and phrases like above all, firstly (sic), instead, etc. Answers are...
Curated OER
What is Proofreading?
Is your essay coherent? Does it make sense? Is it formatted correctly? Does it adhere to standard English conventions? This helpful and informative slide-show walks learners step by step through the editing and proofreading process. Each...
Curated OER
Newspapers in the Digital Age
Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...
Curated OER
Comparing Two Stories
Compare new and old versions of the classic story Alice in Wonderland in this comprehensive worksheet packet. Learners read an excerpt from the original, answering several analysis questions. They do the same for a more modern...
Curated OER
Adjectives Worksheet: Puppy
This puppy really wants to get to its bone, but it can only do so by following a trail of adjectives. Pupils make the puppy's path clear by coloring in all the stones that include adjectives. They then write a sentence about what happens...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Words in Context, Ask-Explain-List
Engage young readers in using context clues with this collaborative vocabulary activity. In pairs, children draw from a deck of cards, with each card asking a question about a context involving a specific vocabulary word. After...
Grammaropolis
Grammaropolis - Complete Edition
Allow the residents of this grammar-packed city to teach your pupils the parts of speech with songs, videos, quizzes, and more. Kids can get to know each part of speech and sing along with the catchy tunes!
