Roald Dahl
Fantastic Mr. Fox
A fancifully illustrated guide to Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, this series of lessons, activities, and tasks could be used in its entirety or picked apart and used piecemeal. Have young readers investigate the role of dialogue in...
National Park Service
Petrified Forest National Park
Poetry Soup, a reading and writing unit constructed by the Petrified Forest National Park, will have scholars hungry to learn about nature. The cross-content unit contains topics related to history, science, and language arts. Content...
E Reading Worksheets
Character Traits and Motivations
Middle schoolers use this guided reading worksheet to identify the traits and motivations of characters in an assigned text.
Curated OER
Half Man, Half Limping Rabbit
Read your class a folk tale from Romania then discuss it. As they listen they discover how the author sets the mood using English conventions such as foreshadowing, magical elements, and they look for descriptive language while looking...
Curated OER
The "Reading Rainbow" Series
Second graders watch a show to gather information about a career. In this careers lesson, 2nd graders watch Reading Rainbow and participate in a class discussion about the occupation presented in the show. Lesson includes extension ideas.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
It’s Greek to Me: Greek Mythology
It's no myth: this packet on Greek mythology is an excellent addition to your social studies curriculum. With writing activities, such as short answer responses and biopoems, and reading activities, which include creation stories and...
Curated OER
J. Peterman Descriptive Writing Assignment
Twelfth graders hone descriptive writing skills by making a J. Peterman Catalogue. They bring to class a favorite piece of clothing or jewelry item and create their own description of it. They accompany each description with a hand-drawn...
Curated OER
Descriptive Verbs
Students read a piece of literature and locate the descriptive verbs in the piece. In this descriptive verbs activity, students understand the value of using descriptive verbs. Students rewrite a story they've written with more...
Curated OER
Descriptive writing
Fourth graders practice writing with description. In this descriptive activity, 4th graders see the results of a task when the directions are not clear. They come up with descriptive words and write their own instructions.
Curated OER
Plan a Read-All-Day Day
Students celebrate Read Across America Day by holding a Read-All-Day Day. they spend an entire day involved in fun reading-related activities.
Curated OER
Reading and Activity Suggestions for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Students learn about characterization techniques in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. For this Adventures of Tom Sawyerlesson, students write a description of one character through the eyes of another character and identify scenes that...
Curated OER
Reading-Author's Purpose
Students review what author's purpose is by understanding that authors either persuade, inform, describe, or entertain with their story. In this language arts lesson, students bring in junk mail and in small groups discuss what the each...
Curated OER
Language, As Experienced Through Pin-Hole Photography
Students read about and discuss photographic principles and, under the direction of the art teacher, construct individual cameras from heavy black cardboard and thin sheet metal with a hole for the lens and black tape for the shutter.
Curated OER
Unwrapping Reading
Guest readers rip off the holiday wrapping paper and read aloud the book inside! The teacher prepares for the activity by wrapping a variety of books in wrapping paper. Guest readers are invited to unwrap a book and read aloud to the class.
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing
In this writing activity, students color and design an ornament and then describe their ornament on another sheet of paper. Students, after all the ornaments have been hung up on the board, attempt to match the descriptions to the pictures.
Curated OER
Reading Help Wanted Ads
Students explore employment by analyzing the newspaper. In this wanted ads lesson, students identify the importance of job selection and job growth while reading entries in the wanted ads for employment opportunities. Students answer...
Curated OER
Speech and Language Samples
Students tell a story, describe a picture, share about a favorite toy from home and are recorded using an iPod with a voice recorder. They create a playlist of their voice and reading samples to illustrate progression over time.
Curated OER
Lively Read of the Tale of Despereaux
Students create a character map of the main characters in The Tale of Despereaux. After reading the text, students create a character chart based on information they gleaned from the story. They use this information to write a letter...
Curated OER
Reading Basketball
Students learn vowel patterns, homophones, and other tricky reading skills. They have to dribble their basketball different ways throughout the gym to the correct hoop, shoot, and return to their space. Switch with another student and...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Twinning At-Risk Students
Students at-risk in high school and primary grades pair up to read and write together. They create books modeled after authors and illustrators. They hold a parents' day to display their completed books.
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 2 – The Car Thief- Test Your Reading Skills
In this reading comprehension worksheet, students read a short passage about a girl who witnesses a car theft, and the outcome of her actions. They fill in 20 blanks with short answers about the passage.
Curated OER
Rest in Peace, Maniac Magee
Scholars read Maniac Magee and create epitaphs for each of the major characters using precise words reflecting the individual characters personality and nature. They will learn what an epitaph is and practice writing their own. They can...
Curated OER
The Bernstein Bear's Trouble with Money: Financial and Academic Literacy
What do figures of speech have to do with financial literacy? Take an interdisciplinary look at The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money to find out. Young analysts read about the cubs' spendthrift ways and how Mama and Papa Bear...
Curated OER
Getting Hooked, Introduction for a Narrative
How can you interest your reader? Here is a great instructional activity on reading and discussing the characteristics of a narrative. Elementary schoolers explore writing techniques to hook the reader. They identify their hook and share...