With the emphasis on incorporating more nonfiction in language arts classes the question arises about how to design activities that motivate kids to engage with informational text. How about an assignment that asks class members to...

Were you in an accident? How did it happen? Pupils practice asking and answering questions with a language arts slideshow presentation. As they work on describing past events to explain a current condition, individuals take a look...

Cinderella wants to go to the ball and marry the prince. At the end of the story, she does! But how does the plot move from the exposition to the resolution? Teach language arts learners and fairy tale fans about the basics of plot...

Even the kindest friends can become selfish and tyrannical in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Class members complete story-themed exercises in language arts, social studies, and even physical science.

Investigate current local elections across the United States with this New York Times reading lesson. Using informational text, middle and high schoolers research local elections and create their own news reports about what they...

What would you ask a presidential candidate if you had the chance? Bring politics to your language arts classroom with this lesson, in which young readers brainstorm questions they would have liked the presidential candidates to answer....

Students create Inspiration webs using graphics or photographs that depict high and low points in their lives. This technology-based Language Arts lesson plan for the upper-elementary or middle-level classroom is excellent for improving...

Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their own...

A challenging worksheet is here for your learners of language arts. In it, they must find words that convey a more powerful, or more descriptive meaning than the guide word at the top of the list. There are 12 guide words, and nine more...

Introduce your language arts class to connotation, denotation, and diction. Middle schoolers identify and differentiate between the connotative and denotative  meanings of words by analyzing the fictitious sports team names....

Students research the English Renaissance era. In this research lesson, students complete this activity before reading the story The Prince and the Pauper to learn about the history. They pick topics and work in groups to research...

Take writing prompts to another level in this activity, which allows pupils to create scenes of dialogue based on the 1903 silent film, The Great Train Robbery. Useful for a language arts/history cross-curricular activity, the lesson...

Introduce your students to adjectives, adverbs, and the differences between them with this helpful grammar presentation. Though it appears long at 79 slides, note that each slide is doubled, with the first slide asking a question and the...

Start your language arts lesson with this quick PowerPoint that defines symbolism. Following the definition is a sentence describing the American flag as a symbol to the United States. Tip: After reading these slides, have students write...

In this English skills worksheet, students complete 60 exercises in grammar, spelling and language. Included on this page are: onomatopoeia, word endings, root words, word chess, missing vowels and consonants, parts of speech, spelling,...

Young scholars contribute to a classroom art show. For this art appreciation lesson, students research the lives and works of artists from different ages. Young scholars write reports, recreate artwork of their researched artists, and...

Students study the significance of flowers in art from two periods. In this Medieval and Renaissance art activity, students research the presence and meaning of botanical illustrations in twelfth, thirtieth, and fourteenth century...

In this English Schools worksheet, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions, write,...

Students discuss, analyze, and interpret "Portrait of a Dutch Family" by Fans Hals and then create subject specific projects for assessment. This cross-curricular lesson is well-suited for Language Arts or Visual Arts classrooms and...

Young scholars write and illustrate original cinquains based upon the ideas of nobility and virtue. The lesson includes a vocabulary list of key terms and rubric for student reflection and assessment. This is intended for a 4th through...

Tackling gender issues in your class? This online quiz about gender neutral language might be for you! Learners re-write 10 sentences using gender neutral language. When they have finished re-writing each sentence, they can check their...

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. 

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...