Having a debate doesn't mean you're fighting. Introduce middle schoolers to debate with a resource which distinguishes between an quarrel and a debate, describes the debate process and format, and presents some possible debate topics.

Be bold and never fearful! Tempt your scholars with an Anticipation Guide for Measure for Measure. Before reading Shakespeare’s problem play, class members label a series of statements as either true or false in their opinion. (It’s okay...

Think about the roles of hunters and squaws in Elizabeth George Speare's The Sign of the Beaver. Whose work is more important? Young writers compare Attean and Matt's reaction to each gender's role, as well as arguing their opinion...

Instruct your pupils to make those simple sentences complex! For this exercise, learners are given eight pairs of complete sentences and subordinating conjunctions. It's their job to transform each sentence by using the subordinating...

Use a series of extension activities to enhance your class reading of Chris Van Allsburg's holiday classic, The Polar Express. From a biography of the author to filmed book reviews and research about the railroad, kids can take...

Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw...

Maestro Magnificent, swimming pool, magic wand. Persons, places, and things are the focus of a worksheet that asks kids to identify the common and proper nouns.

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.

How can you show that an item is colder than something else? Or that it is more beautiful? Use a worksheet to reinforce the concept of comparative adjectives. With fill-in-the-blanks, word banks, and multiple choice questions, the...

If you are reading Judy Freeman's Oh No! or your class loves animals, use a reader's theater exercise to bring the story to life. After assigning 12 parts to your young actors, have them act out the story with a script that will be...

The perfect companion to Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby is a series of printables featuring several different types of activities. Kids can practice handwriting, spelling, matching, and drawing with gingerbread baby cutouts....

Practice printing, matching, tracing, cutting, coloring, and more with a packet full of penguins! Allow these perky winter animals to help your kids out as they work on these skills.

The colors of nature are the most beautiful and vivid colors in the world. Show kids the ways that colors are striking and changing throughout different habitats with a set of images that feature two animals or plants for each color.

"The Road Not Taken," is the focus of an exercise that asks readers to identify the figurative meaning of Robert Frost's poem.

Readers demonstrate their ability to use word endings and word relationships to identify the parts of speech of the nonsense words in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky."

You needn't be an actor to stage this exercise in reading comprehension. Kids examine Jacques's "All the World's a Stage" speech from Act II, scene ii, of As You Like It, and explain the literal meaning of the figurative...

Readers use the antonyms provided within a sentence to help them determine the meaning of underlined words in the sentence. The worksheet is the final resource in a series that provides opportunities to kids to demonstrate their...

After matching 13 words with a list of synonyms, kids craft a short paragraph about the circus using the provided synonyms.

Elephants eat and cheetahs chase in this zany zoo! Kids survey a list of ten animals before adding in an adjective and verb for each to form an alliterative phrase or sentence.

Work with wonderful words within a well-written instructional activity! Kids match alliterative verbs to fifteen names in order to get alliterative phrases.  

Bees buzz, dogs dig, lion laze, and snakes slither! Use alliteration to create sentences about four different animals. 

Cinderella is a classic love story when Cinderella is the protagonist—but what happens if a stepsister tells the story? Focus on point of view with a lesson about fairy tales and story elements. After reading a few familiar fairy tales,...

Did she sell seashells by the seashore, or did Bill buy berries by the ballpark? Practice literary skills with an activity based on famous tongue twisters. Kids replace the nouns, verb, and adjectives in two phrases to create a new...

If you'd like your class to write in varied sentence patterns, use a learning exercise focused on adverb clauses to enhance their writing. After reading a short explanation and example of adverb clauses, young grammarians underline the...