Why do people and characters act as they do? Require your class figure out the motivation of two people or characters they read about in a given text. In the short charts, pupils note down who, what they do, and why they do it. After...

After reading any short informational or fictional text, ask your class to analyze the important events. They note down three important events on a short timeline, describing the events with either words or drawings. After this, pupils...

After reading a text or covering a new topic, have class members fill out the four boxes on this page with facts. Individuals can use words or drawings to represent the facts.

Helpful for your unit on Elizabeth George Speare's Sign of the Beaver, a list of reading questions are a good way to check for understanding after your class finishes a chapter. Each two chapters have three or four questions,...

Why did they do it? Get to the bottom of complex characters and people by analyzing their motivation. Learners select an action and take a close look at that action in order to infer motive. They then explain why they determined that...

How can you tell the author's purpose from just a short summary? Kids read three different summaries of books to determine whether the author meant to entertain, persuade, or inform.

Students identify how and when their country's leaders are chosen. They research information about their country's leaders, past and present. Students record their knowledge about one leader with symbols and written descriptions.

In this language arts exam, 5th graders complete a comprehensive packet of questions.  Students respond to 27 short answer, multiple choice, and reading comprehension questions specific to grade five.

Students read and review the main elements of a story. In this language arts activity, students predict what the story read to them would have been like if the genders of the characters had been different. Students write a new...

In this language arts lesson, students listen to the book "Many Luscious Lollipops," in order to become familiar with adjectives. Students create four comic strip squares, using five adjectives in each square, after hearing the book....

Students, after being introduced to poetry in the language arts class, prepare to produce a product by identifying and writing a variety of different types of poetry. They utilize digital cameras, camcorders, computers and the multimedia...

Your scholoars practice organizing and presenting information through written language. They gather information about a medical condition and share it with someone else. They then use a format where they organize their information using...

Regional dialect can make a lovely poem even more beautiful. After translating the Scots words in "A Red, Red Rose" into modern English, class members identify the two similes Robert Burns uses in his poem.

Sometimes a test page loaded with text can make a student's face go blank. Help them decipher what a text question is asking with a series of tips focused on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language arts mechanics.

Learners read Spelldown, by Becky Mushko and consider how it portrays the Appalachian community. They define and discuss vocabulary presented in the story and write a comparison/contrast paper analyzing two of the story's characters. The...

Take a stand! Even the most reluctant speakers find their voices if the topics are engaging. Use pictures, photos, or word prompts (I think pizza is the best lunch on the school menu. What do you think?) to stir responses. Encourage...

As part of a series of lessons focusing on the parts of speech, language learners engage in games and exercises that encourage them to use adjectives to describe people.

Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...

What is an auxiliary verb? Is that the same thing as a modal verb? Use this reference guide to explain each verb type to your emerging grammarians. While it is intended for native English speakers, you could use it with English language...

Writers explore vocabulary and expressions used in the English language. They use visual word maps to become aware of the different uses of words which will allow them to more readily interpret texts. Then they listen to/read excerpts...

Crispin: the End of Time is the core text for this teaching guide, a valuable resource for those who use Avi's trilogy as whole-class reading, in book circles, or as independent reading.

English language learners celebrate the seasons with games, songs, and readings. 

This mini-lesson about informal letter writing is packed with a lot of information about writing a friendly letter. Class members begin by working in pairs to answer questions after reviewing letter models. Then, take part in a grand...

Aladdin, Disney's Broadway musical comedy, is a magic carpet ride. Prepare your class for a field trip to the show with a study guide that is a treasure trove of activities, cultural connections, and background information.