Why are some people such good story tellers? Help youngsters demonstrate the art of storytelling. They start off by listening to a story and sharing what they noticed about the storytelling that made it exciting. Then, they study a story...

Take it off! Take what off? Take off the suffixes to create new words! Learners build vocabulary and spelling skills as they remove the suffixes from 20 different words. This activity can help learners begin to recognize roots, compound...

Some books are perfect for drawing connections between multiple subjects. The book Hill of Fire becomes the hub for three very different, yet related activity ideas. First the class hones their oral language skills by creating an...

Middle schoolers love listening to music, and they also love to listen to music. So what's the difference? Spell out the nuanced ways to use gerunds and infinitives with a 50-question grammar exercise. Given short sentences and verbs,...

Learners read about Liza's first spelling bee before answering six reading comprehension questions. Skills include identifying similarities, making inferences, drawing conclusions, and answer questions based on explicit information in...

Claudia Kincaid decides to run away to bring some excitement to her life, but she never expects the adventure she finds. A helpful study guide takes readers through the novel From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler....

What does it mean to be courageous? With the study guide for Marie McSwigan's novel, Snow Treasure, scholars answer questions about the text and practice new vocabulary. They also write quatrain poems about courage or another theme from...

Fulfilling a dream requires a lot of hard work. A study guide for the novel A Single Shard shares the dream of a young Korean orphan. As readers work through the guide, they answer comprehension questions about Tree-ear and the...

After watching part of a Club Write Kids video and discussing the editing process, each group of learners writes a letter to a favorite author. They ask for a copy of a page of manuscript that has gone through the editing process. Prior...

Here is a unique and innovative game which will help your charges learn the important skill of proofreading and editing their own writing. The class is divided up into groups, and each group uses actual samples of writing from students...

Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...

Your class hears a Native American Indian point of view of Europeans' arrival in Louisiana. They assess how cultural perspectives (especially an insider's view) and native language can shape a story. Each pupil identifies the...

Learners of all ages discover the importance of reading fluently by viewing celebrities reading children books and telling about their personal paths to fluency. They participate in a fluency reading routine that connects them with a...

Students determine the workings of the Braille alphabet and how people with visual impairments learn how to use it. For this Braille lesson, students study the associated vocabulary, read about Helen Keller, and complete associated...

Fourth graders construct an original booklet that consists of summaries and artwork dealing with their study of the state of Maryland. They work on this booklet after their study of the Piscataways, a Native American tribe in Maryland,...

Applying photography basics they learn for this project, first graders take pictures of an adult at work focusing on the tools used, the work site, and job responsibilities. After making a career book that includes photos and...

Young journalists try their hand at writing a news report. They go through the process of developing ideas, and collecting and organizing their information. The headline everyone works with is, "Mystery Disappearance of English Teacher:...

Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...

Understanding a word's etymology can really help with decoding and building vocabulary skills. Readers compare and contrast words of similar origins but with different difficulty levels. They focus on prefixes, suffixes, and affixes....

Elementary and middle schoolers research a current event using various resources. They participate in a class discussion to evaluate the information they gathered on a particular event. Additionally, they discuss the concepts of common...

Young scholars view video and watch an artist create a potlatch (gift necklace).  For this community and resources lesson, students understand the culture of Northwest Coast Art & Traditions  .  Young scholars...

Knowing the opposite of your chosen word is a great step in improving your word choice. Young readers select an antonym from the provided word bank to complete a series of 14 sentences.

How do your pupils want to change the world? Find out with this writing prompt, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s well-known speech. The resource provides the prompt and lines for writing.

This is a great activity! Upper elementary learners read a dialogue-driven passage. Then, they rewrite lines of dialogue by removing the quotation marks and shifting the verb tense to past. Grammar and great writing skills all in one. An...