K12 Reader
What Is a Simile?
As fun as a barrel of monkeys, this figurative language worksheet will engage your students in learning to write similes. Asking them to first think of adjectives describing the six nouns listed on the page, this exercise has young...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The First Miracle
As the story unfolds, readers discover Matilda has a superpower. Take part in an activity that has learners talking about what superpower they would have, how they would use it, and how it could help others. Then, after reading the 14th...
Novelinks
Zach’s Lie: Guided Imagery
Close your eyes and picture a time where you decided to tell the truth to someone. What were you wearing? How did you feel? Such prompts begin a guided imagery activity for Zach's Lie. Directions for creating an environment conducive to...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Weekly Test
Readers take the main characters in Matilda and individually describe them through a mnemonic. To get there, group members create an acrostic poem describing the character they were given, and choose one of the words from the acrostic...
University of North Carolina
Clichés
When it comes to writing, cliches are as old as dirt. A handout on tired phrases provides examples of cliches, as well as a description of the negative effects they have on a paper. Writers discover specific words and phrases to avoid,...
EngageNY
Comparing Irrational Numbers
Build on your classes' understanding of irrational numbers by comparing their values. The 13th lesson in the 25-part module has individuals estimate values of both perfect and non-perfect roots. They finish by graphing these numbers on a...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Water Words
Water is an interesting substance that all living things need to survive. Learners focus on the characteristics of water as they create a list of words related to water and then incorporate them into descriptive paragraphs. They then use...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Builder- Using Inspiration to Generate Lists of Descriptive Words
Students discover how to engage all their senses and powers of observation to effectively communicate and idea or emotion. Using Inspiration Software, they create a vocabulary web and practice using descriptive language to clarify and...
Curated OER
Painting with Words
Fifth graders discuss words that are over used in their writing such as good, nice, happy, glad sad, etc. they complete a survey about word choice then hear a story and discuss descriptive phrases used in the story and how they help to...
Curated OER
Primary Picture Words
Students identify high frequency words and recite them verbally. In this high frequency words instructional activity, students use creative pens to trace high frequency words on paper. Students participate in an interactive magnetic...
Curated OER
Word Pairs
Fifth graders practice the trait of word choice and create a narrative writing with appropriate word choices. They work in pairs to write a story using as many word pairs from their imaginations as they can.
Curated OER
Spell, Shoot, Score!
Games are great ways to motivate. The class is split into two teams; each team earns points by correctly spelling given words. To score bonus points, teams get to shoot baskets with a small ball. Tip: This game could be used to reinforce...
Curated OER
My Reading Words in My Social Studies Book?
Connect social studies and language arts using this resource. After studying root words, have learners locate five words from their social studies book that have a prefix, suffix, or root word. This puts a new twist on practicing basic...
Curated OER
"Knot" the Whole Truth: Writing a Modern-Day Story with a Tall Tale's Voice
Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write their own...
Curated OER
Picture This
Elementary writers practice writing descriptive paragraphs by adding adjectives and sensory words to their writing. They use a picture of a monster for their descriptive paragraph. This 12-page lesson should increase your charges...
Curated OER
Hatchet: Vocabulary Strategy
Want your class to use critical thinking when discussing vocabulary? Go beyond the dictionary with a vocabulary activity based on Gary Paulsen's Hatchet. Kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer that also provides places...
T. Smith Publishing
Your Five Senses
Using the five senses is a creative way to write descriptively. Learners read 25 words, both nouns and verbs, and place them into the category labeled with the correct sense.
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Miss Honey and The Trunchbull
As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the class...
Edmond Public Schools
SOAPSTone
Break an article down with a SOAPSTone chart. Class members determine the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone. The chart includes a question for each of these elements, provides some clarifying text for each, and...
Poetry4kids
Onomatopoeia Poetry Lesson Plan
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.
Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas at Austin
Lesson 2 - Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Words
Closed syllable words contain short vowel sounds. A phonics lessons introduces readers to consonant-vowel-consonant words. Guided instruction introduces the words with a series of dictation activities, and then learners practice reading...
TRAIN Educational & Community Services
Multicultural Activities
From catching stars developed by African pygmy tribes to chop stix pick-up or the Hanukkah dreidel, use this list of diverse multicultural activities to help your learners draw connections to unique cultures of the world.
Curated OER
Little Engine That Could Lesson Plan
Students retell the story The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. In this early childhood lesson plan, students identify the various trains featured in the story, focusing on the descriptive words. Students then create their own...
Curated OER
Locating Words
Students locate various basic sight words in an article or a story. They read the word list/worksheet, and independently locate and circle each word from the list on the article.