Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency, Letter-Sound Correspondence, Make a Match
An activity tests the fluency skills of young readers. Scholars match initial sound cards to letter cards. Pairs take turns and work to locate the most matches before the timer goes off. The activity ends with a peer evaluation.
Curated OER
Churches and Taxes
Churches have been tax-exempt since the founding of America, but should they be? Pupils ponder the question as they browse the website in preparation for a class debate or discussion. They research the history of tax-exemption for...
ProCon
Death Penalty
Should the United States continue the practice of capital punishment? Scholars set out to answer the question in preparation for a class debate or discussion about the death penalty. They watch videos, analyze charts about death penalty...
Curated OER
Language Testing Practice: Level 1 & 2
In this language skills worksheet, students test their skills on answering forty three questions that deal with the eight parts of speech, punctuation, spelling, etc.
Curated OER
The Dragonslayers: Skill Test
In this comprehension learning exercise, 4th graders answer multiple choice questions about language skills from the book The Dragonslayers. Students complete 14 questions. This would be great to use after reading the entire book.
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Madison Public Schools
Journalism
Whether you are teaching a newspaper unit in language arts, covering the First Amendment and censorship in social studies, or focusing on writing ethics in journalism, a unit based on the foundations of journalism would be an excellent...
Curated OER
Two Greedy Bears
Improving listening comprehension skills is the goal of this language arts instructional activity. Young readers listen to the story Two Greedy Bears, stopping to have discussions with a partner. They predict outcomes and make inferences...
Shakespeare Uncovered
“Speak, I Charge You”: Macbeth On Your Feet, Not In Your Seat
“Is this a dagger which I see before me . . .” As part of a study of Macbeth, class members engage in a series of activities that get them up and moving. Individuals practice, then deliver, a line from the Scottish play. The entire class...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Dictionary Cube
Young scholars investigate new vocabulary words with a fun, collaborative activity. Given a deck of word cards, pairs of students flip over one at a time and independently look up the term in a dictionary. They then take turns rolling a...
Curated OER
Socratic Seminar Questions/Observation
Prepare participants for a Socratic seminar by asking them to not only design questions for the discussion, but to also observe an assigned partner during the seminar. A great way to encourage student-led discussions.
C.S. Lewis Foundation
Educator’s Guide to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe #1
Perfect for both classroom and homeschool settings, this 72-page resource packet, designed for C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, is a must-have for your curriculum library. Chapter-by-chapter vocabulary lists and...
Curated OER
Shakespeare and Poe Teach Six-Trait Writing
A Six-Trait Writing instructional activity helps your middle schoolers liven up their word choice and shows them how to evaluate their own writing. Class members take a close look at the language used in poems by Shakespeare, Kipling,...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Tell-Tale Heart
Here's the perfect resource for anyone using Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story the "Tell-Tale Heart." The packet includes five worksheets that provide skills practice exercises focusing on spelling with consonant blends, words with...
US Department of Education
A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
Scholastic
Reading Characters
Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass provides the text for a study of how writers bring characters to life. Using the provided character mapping worksheets, readers respond to questions and then write a short character sketch.
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Furniture Goes Up
Work gets done faster when people work as a team. The ninth installment of an 11-instructional activity unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl combines character education with research skills and creative writing activities....
University of North Carolina
Psychology
Psychology, the scientific study of the human mind and behavior, is a popular major for many college students. An informative handout outlines common assignments in psychology courses. Scholars see how to design a research proposal,...
Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
You can't read Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without craving the rich treats described in Dahl's vivid prose. Young writers try their hands at sensory language with a lesson plan that prompts them to write about their...
Curated OER
Mapping Your Identity: A Back-To-School Ice Breaker
Identify the unique personal attributes of your class members. Begin by viewing the Visual Thesaurus and discussing displayed attributes associated with famous American leaders. Using these identity maps as models, pupils generate nouns...
Curated OER
Teaching the Holocaust Through Poetry
W.H. Auden’s poem “Refugee Blues” launches a study of the problems of refugees. Background information about the poem and general information about Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria are provided, as are discussion questions and...
Curated OER
Exploration of Utopias and Dystopias
If you are considering adding or expanding a unit on utopian and dystopian literature you simply must check out this fabulous resource. Packed with plans, activities, project-based and 21st century learning opportunities, the unit uses a...
Library of Congress
A Selection of Stories from The Æsop for Children
Read and incorporate a variety of Aesop's Fables into a fable genre study with an eBook produced by the Library of Congress. The interactive eBook contains 146 fables written by Aesop and includes colorful interactive illustrations by...