Scholastic
Choose Your Words Wisely (Grades 9-12)
Words, words, words. The function of words in persuasive writing is the focus of a group activity that asks members to analyze how words advertisers use are designed to influence targeted audiences.
Incredible Art
Micrography Self-Portraits
Words. Words. Words. Class members create micrography self-portraits combining a high contrast portrait photo with words that express themselves. Complete directions for the project, student samples, along with links to professional...
Curated OER
Responding Syllables: Reading and Music
Shell Silverstein’s “Sick” provides an opportunity for kids to demonstrate their understanding of syllables and phonemes. The class creates a list of descriptive words used in the poem that have more than one syllable, and brainstorm how...
Santa Clara County Office of Education
The Rainbow Fish: Activities for Parents to Do with Children at Home
The Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister's award-winning story about the joys of sharing, is the inspiration for this resource loaded with fun. Suggestions for language and language arts, math, science, and social studies activities are included...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 5
There's a fine line between madness and genius. Using the resource, scholars complete a mid-unit assessment based on their study of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. They write a multi-paragraph response, analyzing how two central...
EngageNY
Paraphrasing and Evaluating Sources: Pages 112–116 of The Big Thirst
Agriculture and water—it's a fine balance. So how exactly do industry and agriculture currently manage water? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading excerpts from Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst and adding notes to their...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment: Finding Evidence of Laurence Yep’s Perspective on Being Chinese in Dragonwings and Determining Connotative Language
There's a fine line between reality and fiction. As an end-of-unit assessment, scholars complete worksheets to analyze how Laurence Yep's perspective on being Chinese factors into his novel Dragonwings. Next, pupils engage in a class...
Scholastic
What Happened Next? (Grades K-4)
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...
Curated OER
Thrilling Information: Music and Reading
Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...
John Lentine
Butterflies and Bugs
Symmetry, line, shape, art, and math are all connected through a fun hands-on craft. Included are instructions to a classic activity, where learners create butterflies to show symmetry in nature and then discuss symmetry in math. It is...
Energy for Keeps
The Energy Times
Extra! Extra! Read all about past and present energy use in a classroom-made historical newspaper. Useful as a cross-curricular assignment between science, history, and language arts, the project is sure to get young journalists...
Teacher’s Pet Publications
A Common Core Approach to Teaching Of Mice and Men
Whether or not your school/state has adopted the Common Core standards, you will want to add this resource to your Of Mice and Men curriculum materials. The chapter-by-chapter activities ask readers to provide evidence from the novella...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Our Earth: Extra Support Lessons (Theme 8)
Plant or animal? As part of the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic unit Our Earth, learners engage in activities and exercises that provide them with extra support to master the concepts in the unit.
Scholastic
Presenting Persuasively (Grades 6-8)
Teens and pre-teens are a prime target for advertisers, so how are they doing it? An interactive lesson highlights the strategies used by advertisers, such as visual imagery and verbal clues. Then, a short writing assignment puts those...
Contemporary Arts Center
Mughal Miniature Paintings: Pattern Transformations
What is the artist's role in the post 9/11 world? How do artists use imagery to convey meaning in their work? After examining the work of Mughal artist Imran Qureshi, class members create their own work that uses combative imagery to...
American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture
Shapes in Agriculture
It's time to get crafty with shapes! Your future farmers demonstrate their geometric ability by building a farm using triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares. But first, scholars take part in a brainstorm session inspired by their...
University of North Carolina
Writing Anxiety
Oh, the dreaded writer's block! As part of a larger paper-writing series, an invaluable resource discusses obstacles and stresses writers face. Individuals learn to identify feelings associated with anxiety, as well as strategies for...
Poetry4kids
How to Host an Open Mic Poetry Party
Four steps to Open Mic Night! The location, invitations, supplies, and party favors are all part of the process in planning and hosting a fun-filled gathering where scholars read aloud an original poem or one by their favorite author.