Novelinks
Nightjohn: List-Group-Label Strategy
Encourage readers of Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen's young adult novel about slavery set shortly before the Civil War, to develop their categorization and organizational skills with a strategy that asks them to list all the words they can...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 11
Close readers and forensic detectives alike deal with collecting strong evidence. Ninth graders become involved in an instructional activity about Sophocles' Oedipus the King, in which they find connections between Oedipus' stated words...
ReadWriteThink
Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation
I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...
California Education Partners
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
A 3-day exam assesses readers' comprehension. After hearing a passage from the story Kittens First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes, scholars work with a partner to discuss and sketch what they found memorable. Peers share their final products...
Curated OER
A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Use photographs to trigger memories. Writers use a personal photograph as a starting point for an autobiographical writing exercise. They complete brainstorming activities that have them study their photograph before actually putting pen...
Curated OER
Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales for Grades K-3
Have your class explore the art of storytelling through this activity on fairy tales and folktales. Learners interact with a variety of fairy tales and folktales. They practice telling stories out loud as well as writing their own. This...
Curated OER
Fractured Fairy Tales
Through reading and writing, learners explore common elements found in fairy tales. After discussing traditional fairy tales, class members listen to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by John Scieszka, a hilarious retelling of the...
Curated OER
Latin Roots fin, sed, fer: Synonyms and Antonyms
Secondary etymologists assign synonyms and antonyms to six English words based on the Latin roots fin, sed, and fer. MyVocabulary.com ranks this as beginner-level, but the work is challenging. A 24-item word bank provides two acceptable...
Curated OER
Using Prefixes, Suffixes and Root Words to Improve College Level Vocabulary
Grow vocabulary skills with an understanding of affixes and word roots. Included here are a few activities and plenty of materials you can use to support your learners as the focus on building vocabulary.
Curated OER
The 44th and 45th USA Presidents
The transition of power between former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump may be the first political process that your students have followed. Fill out the details between these two leaders with a set of vocabulary...
Prestwick House
Writing Arguments in Response to Nonfiction
Emotional appeal or argument? That is the question. An informative lesson helps your class recognize the difference between a logical argument and an emotional appeal and learn how to craft an argumentative response. Writers develop a...
Little Stones
How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
University of North Carolina
Philosophy
Philosophers ask some of life's biggest questions about the nature of mankind, existence, and time, so what's it like to study the subject? A handout outlines different types of philosophy assignments common in college-level courses. The...
Curated OER
Arkansas Civil War Bandits and Outlaws
Young historians study civilian Arkansas during the Civil War. They look at the many challenges they faced to keep their homes in order while the men were at war. Learners hear stories of bands of outlaws who ravaged the state during...
Curated OER
Forming Open-Ended Questions
Help readers learn to create their own open-ended questions for any text you are working with. Using Bloom's Taxonomy, learners begin on the lower levels and work their way up to form questions that focus on synthesis instead of simple...
Scholastic
Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales for Grades 7-9
Here is a must-have resource for studying fairy tales, myths, and folktales with your class! It includes instructional ideas, activities, and materials to support a month-long review of these three unique genres of writing.
Curated OER
Self-Monitoring Strategies and Vocabulary Games
Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...
Curated OER
Fingerprints
This activity provides an interesting way for learners to review vocabulary and practice comprehension skills. There is a six-paragraph passage about the process of fingerprinting and the role it takes on convicting criminals. Eleven...
Teacher Created Resources
Angelina and Sarah Grimke: Sisters of Social Reform
Who are the Grimke sisters? Scholars find out with a learning exercise that details the struggles and triumphs of the lives of Angelina and Sarah Grimke. After reading an informational text, class members have the opportunity to show...
Curated OER
What is Small Group Interaction?
While all learners need to know the benefits and responsibilities of working in a small group, this presentation and its vocabulary are geared toward a late high school or early college student. Why do we study in small groups? Why do...
PBS
Exploring Parent-Child Relationships Through Letter Writing
The PBS film, Bronx Princess, launches a study of complex parent-child relationships. Using the provided reading guide, viewers respond to clips from the film and compare Rocky and Yaa’s relationship to other parent-child relationships....
Curated OER
The Wednesday Wars: Question Answer Response Strategy
Readers of The Wednesday Wars respond to model "Right There," "Think and Search," "On My Own," and "Author and You" (QAR) questions before crafting their own for class discussion.
Curated OER
Narrative Writing vs. Explanatory Writing
The class discusses the different purposes an author has for writing. The focus of the discussion is on writing to tell a true story and writing to give information about a specific topic. There are writing purpose sorting cards embedded...
Curated OER
Writing a Halloween Poem
A delightful lesson on poetry is here for you and your middle schoolers. Learners are instructed to write a Halloween poem. They get to choose the age range for the audience of the poem. So, it may be scary (for older kids), or humorous...