+
Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Free Verse Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Budding poets compose an original free verse poem. Encouraged to use personification and alliteration, scholars read over three tips and examples then try their hand at drafting a poem of their own style.  
+
Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Onomatopoeia Poetry Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Two exercises boost scholars' knowledge of a onomatopoeia with excerpts from famous poems. In exercise one, participants circle onomatopoeia words. Exercise two challenges writers to choose three words to use in an original poem.
+
Activity
Poetry4kids

Creativity Exercise - Describe the Sky

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Scholars stretch their writing muscles with an exercise that asks them to describe the sky using similes and metaphors. 
+
Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Alliteration and Assonance Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Scholars analyze the poem My Puppy Punched Me in the Eye by Ken Nesbitt in order to locate examples of alliteration and assonance. After reading the poem, alliterative words are underlined and assonant words are circled. 
+
Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Alliteration Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Learners follow five steps to compose an alliteration poem. They choose one consonant and brainstorm as many nouns, verbs, and adjectives they can think of to create rhyming sentences that come together in a poetic fashion. 
+
Activity
Newspaper Association of America

Celebrating Women’s History Month

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Examine the lives of four women—Blanche Stuart Scott, Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Evans Price, and Sybil Ludington—in a 23-page activity packet. Each profile comes with a set of vocabulary and reading comprehension questions. Further...
+
Unit Plan
Penguin Books

An Educator's Guide to the Works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...
+
PPT
Chandler Unified School District

Frankly Speaking: Exploring Benjamin Franklin's Aphorisms

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Benjamin Franklin famously had an aphorism for every situation—most of which we still use in modern vernacular. Introduce class members to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack with a presentation that details the characteristics of aphorisms.
+
Activity
Scholastic

What’s the Good Word? Etymology Project Guidelines

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Who named the shapes, or the days of the week? Should words be removed from the dictionary if they're no longer commonly used? Are there too many words in the English language? Language arts students explore these and additional...
+
Activity
Orlando Shakes

Pericles: Study Guide

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Everyone loves a great riddle, right? Everyone except for the characters in Shakespeare's Pericles, who will be killed unless they answer the king's riddle correctly. With the study guide, scholars use words coined by Shakespeare to play...
+
Activity
Orlando Shakes

Merry Wives of Windsor: Study Guide

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What does the character Falstaff mean when he says "I was beaten myself into all the colors of the rainbow"? Using the Merry Wives of Windsor curriculum guide, scholars unlock meaning by paraphrasing lines from the play. Pupils also...
+
Activity
Orlando Shakes

Henry V: Study Guide

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Shakespeare did more than write timeless literary works—he coined words such as moonbeam, fortune-teller, and even eyeball! A study guide for Henry V introduces key words the Bard first used with a fun vocabulary activity, part of a...
+
Unit Plan
Louisiana Department of Education

Out of the Dust

For Teachers 6th Standards
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
+
Lesson Plan
California Department of Education

Me and My Career

For Teachers 6th Standards
Your career search starts here! Sixth grade scholars begin their journey toward college and career readiness in the first of a five-part series of lessons. Individuals identify where their interests lead them using the Holland code, then...
+
Lesson Plan
American Press Institute

Newspapers in Your Life: What’s News Where?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...
+
Lesson Plan
Roald Dahl

The Twits - The Wormy Spaghetti

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
What do spiders' legs and an octopus's eyeball have to do with metaphors? The fourth lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl uses disgusting foods to teach about metaphoric writing.
+
Lesson Plan
Roald Dahl

The Twits - Dirty Beards

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
The problem with beards is that they collect a lot of food. The first lesson plan in an 11-part unit related to The Twits by Roald Dahl explores the hairy jungle that is Mr. Twit's beard. A concluding project has learners create their...
+
Lesson Plan
American Press Institute

In the Newsroom: The Fairness Formula

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Reporting the news is easy, right? Think again! Show young scholars the difficult choices journalists make every day through a lesson that includes reading, writing, and discussion elements. Individuals compare the language and sources...
+
Unit Plan
American Press Institute

High Five: Media Literacy and Newspapers

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Teach the five different types of media with the first of three in a media literacy unit. Learners create and propose a final newspaper project, which must address information covered throughout the unit. 
+
Lesson Plan
Roald Dahl

The Twits - The Glass Eye and the Frog

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
What do a pair of stinky socks and a toy hamster have in common? The third lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl uses silly objects to teach about figurative language. Zany pranks and role play make for...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

Chief Executives Compared: The Federalist Papers

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Delve into the responsibilities of the president by looking at President Hamilton's opinion of the presidential office in his own words. The second in a three-part series, the resource also offers an interesting compare-and-contrast...
+
Lesson Plan
Student Achievement Partners

Eleven

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Turning 11 comes with a range of emotions. Explore those emotions by reading the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. Readers analyze the main character's reactions to the events of her day. Then, they write an essay describing what...
+
Unit Plan
McGraw Hill

Study Guide for Tuck Everlasting

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is a classic novel that readers have enjoyed for years. Resources within the study guide such as discussion and guided reading questions, extension activities, and graphic organizers aid comprehension...
+
Unit Plan
McGraw Hill

Study Guide for Bridge to Terabithia

For Students 4th - 7th Standards
Bridge to Terabithia is a story about friendship that brings magic into ordinary life. Study guides may not be magical, but the guided questions, graphic organizers, extension activities, vocabulary, and discussion questions help...