What makes your pupils happy? Find out with a lesson centered around this theme. Class members come up with things that make them happy and write about them in preparation for quick group project. Learners watch and discuss a short film...

Cover Freytag's Triangle and examine Anton Chekhov's "The Bet" in this third lesson plan in a series of fourteen based around short stories. Learners take a quiz and discuss Freytag's triangle. They apply the triangle to "The Bet" and...

Explore new words and examine an unusual alphabet book with your young scholars. They are introduced to an alphabet book containing many unfamiliar words. They are then guided as they search for definitions in a dictionary. They then...

Do “memories need to be shared?" Are “memories…forever?" Would you give up memory to live in a perfect world? Introduce a unit centered on Lois Lowry’s utopian/dystopian novel The Giver with a series of activities that has groups...

A little bit complicated, but a whole lot of fun. Show your class an episode of the British television game show Just a Minute. After an explanation of the rules (no repetition, hesitation, or deviation) groups develop topics, based on...

Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...

A series of activities based on Elizabeth George Speare's The Sign of The Beaver takes your class through vocabulary, reading comprehension, and literary analysis. A good packet or collection of assignments for a reading circle.

Word roots can be great fun when part of a game! Practice a variety of different roots with this nicely put-together bingo game that comes with plenty of instructional ideas.

The final lesson of a three-part series on Kate Chopin's The Awakening has scholars investigate life as a woman in late nineteenth-century America. They research the role of women in society through the eyes of the characters in the...

Learners demonstrate communication skills in speaking and listening by introducing another student to the class. Working in pairs, classmates interview each other. During the 10-minute sessions, they listen, take notes on an index card,...

Compound words are important for kids to understand. At first, they are a bit intimidating becaue they look so big! However, once they understand that a compound word is just two short words put together, they aren't so scary. Each of...

Looking to teach your high schoolers how to write a resume? A strong plan for doing so is detailed here. Class members examine a poorly written example and then create their own original resumes using an organizer and Word template. Once...

Why do ground squirrels build their homes in the ground? What's so unique about these burrows? Have individuals read about this burrowing animal, and then respond to five short answer questions that assess their comprehension of the...

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...

Empower your readers by modeling for them the steps for retelling a story. Designed as a teacher resource, Dr. Cummins argues that shifting responsibility for retelling to the learners increases their comprehension. The procedure is...

Explore the structure of narrative writing with this fun, collaborative instructional 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...

Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...

Extend learning through summer with these activity ideas! Individuals can choose one or all nine of the activities, which range from a summer reading goal to an examination of local insects (with accompanying story prompt). See the...

President Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech, delivered on June 12, 1987 before the Berlin Wall, provides class members with an opportunity to examine three key aspects of informational text: author bias, the use of facts and...

Your munchkins will be merry for M words! Early readers cut and paste six images of words that begin with the letter M, and then practice writing an upper- and lower-case M at the bottom of the learning exercise.

Mirroring Jerry Spinelli's style in Wringer, chapter 5, pupils use the "counting up/down technique" to recall an important moment in their lives. In the book, the character is being punched, and between blows he remembers details...

To form the letter A, a writer must go up, down, and across. Teach your learners how to put together every letter of the alphabet, uppercase and lowercase, and use this reference page of Zaner-Bloser handwriting as a support.

Provide parents with the tools they need to bridge the summer learning gap with this collection of fun activities. Whether it's creating an alphabet poster with illustrations for each letter, playing a game of sight word concentration,...

Pupils take a well-rounded approach to the traditional vocabulary chart with this graphic organizer, which prompts students to include a sentence, antonym, definition/synonym, and picture for each vocabulary word.