Curated OER
Dressing Pets
Students compare and contrast different careers and life choices. They associate activities with uniforms or other clothing, and apply those associations to the creative personification of their pets. They then use their imaginations to...
Curated OER
The Personal Narrative - Part Two
Does your langauge arts class journal frequently? Extend one of your journaling activities by having your writers choose a journal entry and take it through the five stages of writing. They will use the attached graphic organizer to...
Curated OER
Personification #2
Langston Hughes’ poem, Fall Leaves, provides the text for a personification identification worksheet. Pupils underline examples of this literary device and then write an explanation of how it is used in the poem.
Curated OER
Dear Diary
Work on narrative writing with this instructional activity, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view...
Curated OER
English Skills Worksheet (6.203)
For this multiple English activities worksheet, students complete a variety of assignments: write three onomatopoeia sentences, add ten endings to ten words, give the root words to eight words, play two rounds of word chess, find the...
New York City Department of Education
Peter’s Garden
Watch scholars' understanding of fractions bloom. The resource presents a performance task where the fractions are equal parts from the same whole, and mathematicians must use them to solve problems about a grade level garden. Teachers...
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classics Edition of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine
Imagine being able to travel back and forth in time! H.G. Wells uses that scenario in his novel The Time Machine to comment on what he saw as the flaws in Victorian society and the industrial age. This teacher's guide is one of the best...
Curated OER
Language Arts:Similes That Make Us Smile
Students identify similes and create their own self descriptions using them as examples. After identifying characteristics associated with pictures of the sun, fish, and other items, they discover how those traits can be used as...
Curated OER
Shakespeare's Othello and the Power of Language
Students explore the basis of Iago's persuasive power by analyzing Shakespeare's use of rhetoric and figurative language. In this Othello instructional activity, students analyze Iago's rhetoric in monologues and dialogues with other...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Native Americans and Onomatopoeias
Fifth graders read the Native American tale, "The Frog and the Crane," focusing on the use of onomatopoeia in it. In groups, they brainstorm list of words that are examples of the device. Finally, 5th graders write their own stories...
Curated OER
Using Onomatopoeia to Tell the Story of an Imaginary Field Trip
Young scholars explore language arts by utilizing word choice to compose a paragraph. In this phonetics lesson, students discuss the importance of a "voice" in their writing as they read the book Rattletrap Car. Young scholars write...
Curated OER
Using Onomatopoeia
Students explore onomatopoeia. They discuss the definition of onomatopoeia. Students brainstorm words that use onomatopoeia and they create a words work to use as a reference for poetry writing.
Curated OER
Using Similes, Synonyms, and Antonyms
Children study similes, synonyms, and antonyms and identify examples in the book Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood. They write short stories about themselves using antonyms, synonyms, and comparisons of themselves to animals. They draw...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Awesome Authors Website
Students examine the writing techniques of professional authors and apply them to their own work. In pairs, they email authors to discover the tricks of the trade. Students create their own Website for their work.
Curated OER
Poetry Scrap Book
After your poets have compiled several written poems into a scrap-book, use this grading scale to explain how they'll be graded. The only guiding explanation of the assignment explains that they need to use two of the five literary...
Curated OER
Hyperbole and Idiom
Seventh graders use context clues to determine the figurative meaning of idioms and hyperboles. They practice writing idioms and hyperboles in sentences about real life situations around them. This lesson is a good way to improve variety...
Ohio Department of Education
A Glossary of Literary Terms
If you're tired of defining allusion, onomatopoeia, and satire for your language arts students, hand out a complete list of literary devices to keep the terms straight. Each term includes a definition that is easy to understand and...
Curated OER
Geo Jammin' By Design - Day 7, Lesson 38: Kool Cups
Create geometric cups by interpreting directions, informational text, and mathematical concepts. Critical thinkers apply geometric theory (congruent shapes, patterns, symmetry) to actual directions to create a cup that holds Kool Aid....
Curated OER
Metaphors Are Like Similes...Right?
Build the basis for critical thinking by increasing mastery of metaphors, similes, and analogies. Clear up the confusion that often marks lessons on figurative langauge. A very insightful article, full of great links.
Reed Novel Studies
To Kill a Mockingbird: Novel Study
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American fiction writer whose biggest claim to fame was the creation of Tarzan. Using the novel study for Harper Lee's beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, pupils research and list facts about him or another...
Museum of Tolerance
Developing Media Literacy
To protect young people from questionable content, many schools limit access. This resource suggests that because learners can so readily avail themselves to unrestricted Internet access, it is vital for 21st century learners to develop...
Achieve3000
Context Clues and Idioms
Kids practice using five types of context clues (definition, synonym, antonym, example, and general) to decode idiomatic language.
K12 Reader
Elegy for Lincoln: Walt Whitman’s Poem
Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" is one of the most famous and emotional tributes to Abraham Lincoln. Guide readers through the evocative elegy with a reading comprehension instructional activity, complete with the poem's text and...
Reed Novel Studies
Stuart Little: Novel Study
Author E.B. White once had a dream about a small boy who acted like a rat, and that is how he conceived of his classic children's novel, Stuart Little. Using the novel study, scholars answer some questions based on their reading. Next,...