Syracuse City School District
Greek and Latin Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes
How can adding a prefix or suffix to a root word create an entirely new word? Study a packet of resources that focuses on Greek and Latin roots, as well as different prefixes and suffixes that learners can use for easy reference.
Curated OER
Word Square: Ender's Game
Ansible. Hegemony. Candor. Readers of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game create word squares for vocabulary words drawn from this award-winning science fiction novel.
EngageNY
Understanding Douglass’s Words: An Escape Attempt
Make a match! Scholars play a matching game after looking at excerpt five from Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass. Learners match types of figurative language with example sentences, and add to their powerful language word wall...
Curated OER
Biopoem: Ender's Game
Here's an activity designed to encourage character analysis. Readers craft a biopoem for a character in Orson Scott Cards' popular science fiction novel Ender's Game.
Teachers.net
Figurative Language
When is a staple remover a fanged monster? In your ELA classroom when you're teaching this fun figurative language lesson, of course! Get your young writers using figurative language by making a game of it. Give groups a paper bag full...
Curated OER
If Paintings Could Talk: Art and Language
Middle schoolers learn about the artist Canaletto, play a vocabulary game, and create a landscape using collage technique. Background information on the artist is provided along with instructions for the game and vocabulary words to...
EngageNY
Contrasting Evidence: “Games Can Make a Better World” and “Video Games Benefit Children, Study Finds”
Anecdotes, analogies, testimonies, statistics. The most powerful arguments rely on multiple types of evidence. Scholars explore the topic as they read contrasting evidence about the benefits of video games. They complete Venn diagrams to...
Curated OER
Planning and Drafting a Personal Narrative
Bring your learners together to write a class narrative about the first day of school. Start off by teaching them about sequence with a quick oral activity. Then, work together to fill out a story map. Finally, compose the class...
Curated OER
Discussion Web: Ender's Game
Designed to encourage readers to consider both sides of of the question of whether Ender is responsible for the death of all the buggers, individuals search for examples from Orson Scott Card's popular science fiction novel, Ender's Game...
Curated OER
Ready Set Go Woah: KWL for Ender's Game
Readers of Orson Scott Card's award-winning science fiction novel, Ender's Game use the provided KWL worksheet to list what they already know about war, what they think they will learn in reading the book, the new information they...
EngageNY
Identifying Main Ideas and Supporting Details: What’s Going On in the Teenage Brain?
What's going on in the teen brain? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading an informational article about the topic. While reading, they use a Thinking Log worksheet and an anchor chart to track their understanding of...
Curated OER
Word Games
Want to build your class' vocabulary through a fun learning game? In this activity learners explore new words and their meanings and usages using Word Attack 3 computer software. They unscramble words, develop vocabulary words, navigate...
Curated OER
Sense, Sensibility and Sentences: Examining and Writing Memorable Lines
Involve your readers in finding works of literary genius. Have each individual write down compelling sentences that they read or hear, whether in a newspaper, advertisement, book, movie, song, or any other place! Once each person has a...
ESL Kid Stuff
Pets & Possessions
Language learners engage in a series of games and activities using pet vocabulary and the verb "have" to show possession or ownership.
Curated OER
Vocabulary Game
Help scholars discover new ways to build their vocabulary. Groups create a game involving their vocabulary words. Using the jigsaw model, the groups shuffle and play the games of the other groups. Save the games and use them for other...
ESL Kid Stuff
Past Tense Activities - Irregular Verbs: Part 1
As part of a series of resources designed for English learners, a language arts lesson prompts kid engage in activities and exercises that focus on the past tense of irregular verbs.
EngageNY
Finding Relevant Information and Asking Research Questions: The Benefits of Video Games
Video games may not be so bad after all. As scholars read the text "The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games," they summarize the gist in their researchers' notebooks. Next, pupils draft supporting research questions based on...
EngageNY
Paraphrasing and Evaluating Sources: “Gaming Can Make a Better World”
Explore how gaming might make the world a better place. To dissect the statement, scholars watch video clips about the benefits of video games. While listening, pupils make notes in their researcher's notebooks, attempting to discern the...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Excerpt 3 of “The Digital Revolution and the Adolescent Brain Evolution”
It's time to level up and discover how video games affect the brain. Pupils explore the topic as they continue reading excerpts from an article about adolescent brain development and the digital revolution. Scholars also participate in a...
Curated OER
Lyddie: An Instructional Unit Resource Guide
Katherine Paterson’s young adult novel Lyddie is the foundation of a differentiated instruction unit that not only explores the rise of industrialization and labor but women’s rights issues as well. After learners read the novel, they...
Vocabulary A-Z
5-Day Vocabulary Teaching Plan
Reinforce important reading skills with a set of vocabulary lesson plans. Middle schoolers complete sentences, play word games, finish analogies, and build their growing vocabulary with a packet of helpful and applicable graphic organizers.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Three Skeleton Key
Encourage your students to interact with the text as they read. While reading "Three Skeleton Key," class members note predictions, define words and study their meanings, take notes on how the suspense builds, and jot down ideas...
Curated OER
Sex, Guise, and Video Games
Students examine the portrayal of women in action-adventure video games and in other forms of entertainment to assess whether or not these portrayals perpetuate positive images of women in today's world. They develop new female video...
ESL Kid Stuff
Describing Things (Adjectives)
Describing things using adjectives is the focus of this lesson designed for language learners. Class members play games, draw pictures, and sing songs, adding adjectives to describe animals.