What is figurative language? Introduce your young learners to the most popular forms of figurative language: the simile and the metaphor. Start by reading "Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merriam, and identify where similes are used. Then look...

Fifth graders, after reading Island of the Blue Dolphins, explore map making using the Whole Language Approach.

Foreign language learners decipher the meanings of classified ads in the target language. They investigate a large collage created by the teacher of foreign language advertisements and discuss the content with classmates.  Then...

Upper graders will use a reading comprehension worksheet about the meanest teacher to practice comprehension. They will read a 5 page story titled The Meanest English Teacher Ever and answer 4 comprehension questions about it. 

Bring your class to the computer lab or set up computers in the back of the classroom for this online worksheet. They complete 12 sentences using either the past tense or the perfect tense. Answers are easily accessible; all they have to...

These 10 sentences, in which your learners choose the correct of two options for the verb, provide practice with the tricky, finer points of distinguishing when to use the past simple form or the present perfect. Learners click on a box...

In this writing worksheet, students will write about which is most important and which is least important: fame, money or power. Writing lines are provided.

Which is a better sport: soccer or basketball? Upper elementary writers will love arguing over their favorite sports. Consider asking the class what their favorite sports are before assigning this sheet and editing the choices as needed....

In this word use worksheet, students complete a ten question multiple choice on-line interactive quiz about the correct use of "make" or "do".

Does the sentence require the present perfect or the past simple tense? Meant to be an online resource, you could easily print this to complete in the classroom. Learners fill in each blank with the correct tense. Ten questions are...

Young writers needn't be self-involved to craft a conceit. Directions for how to craft this form of extended metaphor, models, and a worksheet are all included in the packet.

In this language skills worksheet, students test their skills on answering forty three questions that deal with the eight parts of speech, punctuation, spelling, etc.

Students interpret figurative language.  In this language lesson, students are read the poem "I Love the Look of Words" by Maya Angelou and are to find examples of hyperbole and personification in the poem.  Students then...

All ages love to engage in cartoon writing –- little do they know that they actually learn quite a bit from it! In an instructional session focused on literacy syntax and vocabulary, your pupils work cooperatively to draw six pictures...

Use a Courbet painting of a cave or tunnel opening to reinforce the importance of descriptive writing. Writers of all ages use sensory details to describe what the scene depicts as they pretend to be in the painting. Then they imagine...

Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...

Kids practice using five types of context clues (definition, synonym, antonym, example, and general) to decode idiomatic language.

Put the fun back in reading fundamentals with an interactive set of lessons about homophones. Learners of all ages explore the relationships between words that sound the same but have different meanings, and complete a...

Bring this lesson into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own piece of writing....

Metaphors open doors to descriptive language for your poets. They read the poem "What is the Sun" and record all the metaphors they find. Then, scholars change one of them to a simile. After answering two more comprehension...

An activity promotes reading comprehension. Readers analyze a text of their choice while activating prior knowledge and asking and answering questions. Scholars enforce multiple strategies to improve comprehension.

Learners read and explore one of Emily Dickinson's nature poems, "A Bird Came Down the Walk-" through interaction with a variety of art forms. Clips of a hymn to hear meter and the viewing of bird images exposes them to the language and...

Combine math and vocabulary in a fun activity based on Lois Lowry's The Giver. Before kids begin the book, they look up the definitions of 16 vocabulary words and complete a puzzle that will give them the same number.

Set your class up for success with writing descriptive settings with these two graphic organizers. On the first page, writers note specifc details about their chosen setting and comment on how each character views the setting. The second...