Curated OER
Drama: Learn A Lesson from the Lion
Reading is reading, whether it's for drama or English class. Boost reading fluency, accuracy, intonation, and comprehension while fostering creative acting skills. Kids read the provided tale of "The Lion and the Mouse" several times in...
Curated OER
The Cow That Went Oink
Learners complete a variety of activities related to the book The Cow That Went Oink. They role-play the various animals from the story, write a letter to a farm animal in the book, identify syllables of story words, and create an...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Curated OER
Video Game Violence: Explore Possible Impacts
Introduce middle schoolers to the issue of video game violence with a multifaceted approach. Learners complete a gaming survey, as well as read and discuss a news feature about violent video game sales and a handout on stimulus...
Curated OER
Find the Main Idea
Can your class find the main idea for the short passages provided here? Not only do they identify the main idea out of four selections, but they must also write a supporting idea for their choice. The answer sheet provides example...
Curated OER
Malapropisms
What's the difference between an allegory and an alligator? Fifth graders work with malapropisms to determine the meanings of words that sound alike. Five sentences challenge them to find the malapropism and change it to the correct...
Curated OER
Punctuating a Paragraph
Do your fourth graders need a little help with punctuation? Use this run-on paragraph to demonstrate proofreading for capitalization, punctuation, and separating ideas into separate paragraphs. At the end of the activity, learners...
Curated OER
Anticipation Guide for Much Ado About Nothing
Is falling in love easy or hard? Challenge your class to consider seven statements about love and relationships before reading Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Then, as you work your way through the play, revisit the sheet to record...
ESL Kid Stuff
Describing Things (Adjectives)
Describing things using adjectives is the focus of this lesson designed for language learners. Class members play games, draw pictures, and sing songs, adding adjectives to describe animals.
ESL Kid Stuff
Seasons
English language learners celebrate the seasons with games, songs, and readings.
Curated OER
Making the Old New Again
How does a new version of a Shakespearean play change in the adaptation process? Use this New York Times' Learning Network lesson to consider texts that have been produced in different media. Middle schoolers examine the latest version...
Curated OER
Agriculture Awareness Through Poetry
Whether you are viewing a landscape painting of a farm, examining a still-life portrait of a bowl of fruit, or reading a descriptive poem about cultivating food, you can't deny that agriculture plays a major role in visual and language...
Curated OER
Ain't Gonna Rain No More
In this creative writing instructional activity, pupils listen to the song "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More", read the book adaptation titled I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!, and pay close attention to the rhyming scheme, punctuation and...
Curated OER
M.C. Bard: Hip-Hop and Shakespeare
What is poetry? Does hip-hop qualify as poetry? Do Shakespeare's monologues qualify as poetry? Class members grapple with these questions as they examine the poetic elements and themes presented in different texts. Groups of four study...
BBC
The Sound Monster - Words That Make Sounds
There are words in the English language that actually make sounds, such as vroom, and, buzz. Here is a clever lesson which introduces young readers to these sound-making words. They play an interactive game on the computer that has them...
Curated OER
My Community Book
Young learners examine different places in their neighborhood using informational texts. First they identify a place that they like to play and predict if it will be in the nonfiction book Community at Play.They will share their favorite...
Curated OER
Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable Listening Library"...
Curated OER
What Makes Jokes Funny?
Explore how language is used for comic effect. Middle schoolers determine which of the three formulas for jokes (double meanings, unexpected outcome, humorous mental image) make each of 18 classic, corny examples funny. They complete a...
Curated OER
Richie's New Brother by Linda Owens
In this reading comprehension worksheet, learners read a short story, answer five comprehension questions and then write about a baby they like to help take care of.
Curated OER
A Way with Words or Say What?
Students explore the language of Shakespeare. In this literature lesson, students examine words invented by Shakespeare as they interpret their meanings in drawings. Students pantomime the meanings and then write a short story...
Curated OER
Syllable Challenge Ball Game
Toss the ball! Help readers listen for the number of syllables in a word. They play an interactive ball game where they toss the ball to a peer and state a word using the number of syllables called out by the teacher. This is a great...
Curated OER
Mystery Word
Help spellers hear words that have the same beginning letter in them and guess the letter. Each speller has a piece of paper where they are to write down the letter once they have identified it. For instance, the teacher will say, "may,...
Curated OER
Flowers for Algernon: RAFT
Should Charlie undergo an operation to increase his intelligence? A mini-instructional activity for a unit on Daniel Keyes novel Flowers for Algernon uses a RAFT activity, which prompts students to write a letter to Charlie's doctors...
Curated OER
Casting Doubt: "Color-blind" and Nontraditional Casting Decisions
In his article about color-blind casting entitled, "Willy Loman Is Lost, Still Looking for Stimulus Plan and Some Dignity," Charles Isherwood quotes August Wilson as saying, "To mount an all-black production of a 'Death of a Salesman'...