Middle schoolers use this connotation and denotation learning exercise to develop vocabulary skills. They take notes on the terms, study examples, and choose from pairs of words to find the more positive or negative word choice, as...

Who would you like to see at your luncheon table? After selecting a character from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, young writers re-imagine The Great Gatsby and how it would be different if told from their character’s point of view....

Providing a template for a discussion of Eric Carle and his works, this presentation has empty spaces left specifically for adding pictures and information about this author. This exploration of Carle is only rudimentary, but a novel...

Sing along to with this Hip Hop Humpty Dumpty song. This Nursery rhyme just got an update with a Hip Hop twist, animation, and bright colors. Updated rhymes like this one could insight early literacy and interest in reading. Tip: Have...

Augment argumentative skills with this handout and brief exercise. This resource outlines premises, conclusions, and joining words, and explains how these make up the foundation of logical arguments. After reading through this...

Answers to this quiz are very well cited, so if your class is studying Halloween, symbols, superstition, world cultures, or cats, it could spark spirited discussion about comparative traditions.

Practice sounding out multi-syllable words with this scaffolded lesson. Learners decode words by segmenting them into phonemes and combining the sounds. Your lines are in bold here, but you can easily use this simply as an outline...

Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? After viewing a trailer for the film, Anonymous and reading Stephen Marche’s article “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Shakespeare Wasn’t Shakespeare?” class groups read articles about the Shakespeare...

Assess the spelling skills of your beginning readers with a simple worksheet. Looking at a list of five CVC words, children must correctly match each one to another word with exactly the same spelling. An easy way...

It's the age of technology! The idea of computer literacy and fluency are rapidly gaining importance; can your learners keep up? To keep them interacting with technology, bring them to the computer lab for small group reading...

Which character in Toni Morrison’s Beloved personifies evil? What does Seth overhear Schooteacher instruct his pupils to do? The 50 multiple choice and matching questions on this exam focus on points of plot; therefore, test takers could...

An important and engaging lesson plan on bicycles and bicycle safety that will enlighten and educated your class. Learners are shown the most important bicycle safety rules. After a discussion about what they already know about bicycles,...

Here's a great way to encourage your kids to celebrate their families. A Family Day event is planned. After a big class discussion on families, preparations are made for the big event. Invitations are created, decorations are made, and...

After listening to the story, Arthur Meets the President, 2nd graders create travel posters about Washington DC A discussion about what makes a good travel poster takes place, then pupils are given travel brochures and art supplies so...

Learning how to share with one's classmates is a very important skill to have in school. Here, the technique of sharing is taught. Pupils receive one piece of paper and are put into groups. Each group only has six crayons. They must...

Students discover how to read with expression. By reading and rereading decodable words in connected texts, students study the importance of expressions and how it can make a book more enjoyable.

Explore with your class the purposes and author's intents for poetry titles. First you read several brief poems to the class and discuss how the authors may have chosen the titles. Then small groups read title-less poems posted around...

Eleventh graders study wildlife management and identify the appropriate government agencies that are in charge. They examine different wildlife management techniques. They write a letter showing interest in the activities of one of the...

Learners explore the topics of respect and expectations by discussing attributes of a perfect teacher. After collecting their written responses, the teacher types them in a list, but changes the heading to "The Perfect Student." They...

Young scholars study the life experiences of people who lived in colonial Boston prior to the American Revolution. They define key terms including Loyalist and Patriot. They write a journal entry as Nathaniel Hurd, a silversmith.

Students analyze several of the characters from "To Kill a Mockingbird". They view segments of the film, create character webs based on the most revealing film scenes, write journal entries and participate in class discussion.

Junior high learners discuss Lewis Carroll's classic story, Alice in Wonderland. They observe the image of childhood in his photographs and compare them to present-day images. There is a plethora of ideas and links for discussions...

C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength provides the model for using dreams in narrative writing. After a discussion of the purpose of dreams in Lewis’s tale, class members craft a story in which their dreams play an essential role.

Young writers choose a person from American history, their community, or their family to use as the subject of a persuasive essay. The process begins with a discussion of the characteristics of a hero, the completion of a prewriting web,...