Roald Dahl
The BFG Lesson Plans
A 55-page unit examines the novel, The BFG, by Roald Dahl. Six lessons pay close attention to friendship, dreams, and believing themes while analyzing interesting characters, writing creative vocabulary, smilies, metaphors, an exciting...
IPA Productions
A Christmas Carol - The Story
Thirty-six pages familiarize scholars with the story and vocabulary of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. After reading and listening to an abbreviated version of the holiday tale learners show what they know about the sequence of...
Echoes & Reflections
The "Final Solution"
Nazi policies shifted from deportation and imprisonment to extermination of the Jewish people in death camps in the "Final Solution." Learners examine photos of artifacts, read poetry written by survivors, analyze testimony from...
Echoes & Reflections
Survivors and Liberators
The end was just the beginning. The period immediately after the end of World War II and the Holocaust is often called "The Return to Life" as survivors looked to reunite and recreate broken families and shattered lives. A two-lesson...
Echoes & Reflections
The Ghettos
Young historians examine primary sources, including diaries, poems, and photographs, to consider the conditions in the ghettos and how they fit into the escalation of the Third Reich's plot against the Jewish people.
Mr. Nussbaum
Abraham Lincoln Reading Comprehension—The Middle Years (Part 2)
Abraham Lincoln's face may only be worth one cent, but the online reading passage and questions about his life are an invaluable resource. Pupils read a passage about Lincoln's experience with the Illinois Legislature, earning his law...
Scholastic
A Reading Guide to A Wrinkle in Time
Accompany a reading of Madeleine L'Engle's classic tale, A Wrinkle in Time, with a detailed guide equipped with 15 informative and useful chapters. Scholars discover who the author is, why she wrote the book, and crucial story elements...
Poetry Foundation
Dream in Color — Middle School
Celebrate diversity with a toolkit designed to inspire young poets to develop their own voices. After examining poems by African American poets, individuals craft their own poetic stories. The packet features poems by Gwendolyn Brooks,...
K12 Reader
If
Rudyard Kipling's advice to his son in the poem "If" is a resounding message that echoes through generations. After reading the famous poem, middle schoolers work on analyzing specific lines, completing activities based on unfamiliar...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Dr. Seuss in the Classroom
Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...
Illinois State Board of Education
Common Core Teaching and Learning Strategies
Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library, whether or not your school has adopted the Common Core. Designed for middle and high school language arts classes, the packet is packed with teaching tips, materials,...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Figurative Language and Word Choice in Bud, Not Buddy (Chapter 5)
Individuals utilize the strategies practiced in the previous lesson to complete a mid-unit assessment on figurative language and how Christopher Paul Curtis uses word choice to create meaning in Bud, Not Buddy.
EngageNY
Analyzing Figurative Language and How the Author’s Word Choice Affects Tone and Meaning (Chapter 3)
How figurative language affects the tone and meaning in Chapter Three of Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy is the focus of a series of exercises that ask readers to locate, record, and analyze Curtis' word choices.
EngageNY
Figurative Language and Word Choice: A Closer Look at Bud, Not Buddy (Chapter 2)
The difference between an average and an unforgettable writing can lie in the author's word choice. The figurative language in Chapter 2 of Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Medal Winner, Bud, Not Buddy, is the focus of a series of...
Curated OER
"I Can” Common Core! 6th Grade Reading
It is much easier for kids to know they have reached a goal when that goal is clearly defined. By providing sixth graders with a checklist of Common Core reading standards written in "I can" format, each child can keep track of his own...
Teachers.net
Figurative Language
When is a staple remover a fanged monster? In your ELA classroom when you're teaching this fun figurative language instructional activity, of course! Get your young writers using figurative language by making a game of it. Give groups a...
Curated OER
Using Words as a Way into Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief
Use the Visual Thesaurus to predict the subject matter of Rick Riordan's book The Lightning Thief. A pre-reading activity encourages middle schoolers to use context clues and word meaning to discover what the book is about. After they...
Curated OER
Poetry Shopping Spree
Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...
Academy of American Poets
Thanksgiving with Richard Blanco's "América"
Traditions, like the times, are a-changin'. Middle schoolers conduct a close reading of Richard Blanco's poem "América" and consider how Blanco's family approached his suggestions for adopting a new approach to their Thanksgiving meal.
Penguin Books
A Guide to the Works of Jacqueline Woodson
The works of Jacqueline Woodson introduce readers to diverse characters and themes. A guide covers many of the author's best-known books such as Brown Girl Dreaming and Locomotion. Dive & Discuss and Explore & Extend activities...
Penguin Books
Educator's Guide: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is filled with secrets. Help readers find the clues, solve the riddles and puzzles, and unwrap the mysteries with a six-page guide that includes before, during, and after reading discussion questions and...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a activity that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as...
Academy of American Poets
The African American Experience
Disrespect can be as subtle as a frown or a turn of a head. To prepare for a study of Toi Derricote's poem "The Weakness" class members create wordless skits that demonstrate subtle or not so subtle signs of disrespect. After a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Theme Analysis in A Christmas Carol
Why does Charles Dickens have Ebenezer go from scrooge to light-hearted and generous? From "Bah, humbug!" to "God Bless Us, Every One!" After rereading Dickens' preface to A Christmas Carol, learners analyze quotations from the tale that...