Students create an animal with clay and use toothpick to draw or carve features. Students write descriptions of their animal and tell why they created it in a certain way. Students write legends on their own, perhaps using their created...

In this short a word families learning exercise, students answer 6 fill in the blank questions where they look at a picture and finish each word with the word families an, at, or ag.

  Students read and discuss the poem, The Purple Cow.  In this poetry lesson, students discuss the rhyming words in the poem and why this piece of literature is silly or unusual.     

First and second graders explore writing conventions. They add question marks or periods to the end of teacher generated sentences on sentence strips. They locate punctuation marks in poems and write original sentences using appropriate...

It's no fun when it rains! Young readers apply twelve words from a bank to a short passage about rain. You could use this activity as a homework assignment or a class activity to reinforce context clues. An answer key is available for...

Using colorful graphics, this presentation explores the use of the ay and ai spelling in words through an interactive quiz. This is a concept that learners in first and second grades may struggle to grasp. A teacher could add more...

Practice decoding au words with your first and second graders. They state the sound of au when the teacher points to the corresponding letter combination, and remain silent when any other letter combination is displayed. Complete...

Use these inventive strategies to focus on the letter r, forming sound associations along with letter recognition. Explain the tongue movement in making the /r/ sound, asking learners to try it. Draw the r on the board and give...

Use a graphic organizer to get readers thinking about main ideas as they record the who, what, where, when, and why of a story. Consider modeling this process completely before kids do this independently. They fill in five boxes charting...

Prepare pupils for writing a biography by asking them to fill out this graphic organizer. Learners fill in eight bubbles about their chosen person.

Create adorable penguin-themed books and manipulatives with this cool resource. Instructions for use are provided, as are the stars of the show: five warmly dressed penguins who decide to go for a dip.

What do you usually do on Saturdays? What will you do on Thursday? Class members practice the simple future tense and the days of the week with a series of activities and questions. They then share their answers with a partner.

After examining winning entries to the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition, young poets try their hand at this fixed form.

Although designed for those new to teaching phonemic awareness, the strategies and activities included in this 25-page packet are sure to engage kids and help them develop these essential skills.

Over the course of five periods, scholars create a poetry portfolio. They begin with a reading of the poem, Firefly. With a focus on vocabulary, learners reread the poem then look for sight words and other skills. 

How do you spell great? G-R-E-A-T! Ensure that your pupils can spell great and so much more with this effective app.

Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.

Give your guided reading lesson plan a boost with a sample lesson plan designed to reinforce academic content covered in previous assessments. The sample plan describes how the story and activities were chosen and offers the...

Practicing sight words is all fun and games with this app! Users hear, read, and spell words off the Dolch Word List. But that's not all! Players also get to create their own avatar, collect BINGO bugs, view their scores, and more within...

Show young readers how to put some personality and voice into their storytelling with an in-depth assignment. Kids practice saying the same thing, such as counting from one to ten, in different tones and perspectives, and then work on...

Teach your class about the ways they can befriend and understand people who are different from them with a reading comprehension lesson. As youngsters read Taking Down Syndrome to School by Jenna Glatzer, they answer a...

Honor Dr. Seuss on his birthday with a read aloud of the story Oh! the Places You'll Go! and a variety of activities that inspire scholars to dream of their future endeavors. Readers take part in conversations, research the...

Every culture has its own stories to tell. An interesting educator's guide shares a large collection of fairytales and folktales, some from different cultures and some re-creations of classics. A summary and brief teaching ideas...

Do your second graders like riddles? Give them a giggle and a lesson about proofreading at the same time. After reading two riddles, young writers fix punctuation and capitalization errors. They write the answer to each riddle at the...