Road to Grammar
100 Ice-Breaker Questions
What if you could ease your English language learners into class with engaging questions? You can do just that with these questions. The questions, designed to prepare learners for working with English, are grouped by topics, such...
One Stop English
A Lesson on Register
The classroom might not be the best place for informal language, but it's a great place to teach middle and high schoolers how to identify the correct language register for their audience. A short lesson on formal and informal language...
Curated OER
Whom, Who, and Whose
Who can tell the difference? Teach your class how to use who, whom, and whose - once and for all! One page provides an easy-to-understand instruction sheet, and the second page prompts learners to practice their grammar with thirteen...
Curated OER
Scary Short Story Writing Lesson
There's nothing like the prospect of writing a scary story to get your middle schoolers' writing juices flowing! In the lesson presented here, pupils listen to scary short stories read to them by the teacher. Then, a discussion ensues...
Curated OER
Use Digital Photos of Scary Things to Inspire Poetry Writing
There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts activity presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The...
Curated OER
30 Writing Prompts for National Poetry Month
A collection of writing prompts are so fun, you'll want to finish them yourself! Learners practice narrative prose and poetry skills with prompts that twist traditional structure, provide wild vocabulary, and encourage pupils to...
Poetry4kids
Simile and Metaphor Lesson Plan
Similes and metaphors are the focus of a poetry instructional activity complete with two exercises. Scholars read poetry excerpts, underline comparative phrases, then identify whether it contains a simile or metaphor. They...
Curated OER
Rediscovering Forgotten Women Writers
Women's voices are becoming more prominent in the world of literature, but for centuries, this wasn't the case. Young historians research a woman whose writings are considered to be lost, out of print, or forgotten. They develop an oral...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing Tips
In this language arts presentation, you will find some excellent tips for your writers who are about to try their hand at narrative writing. Each of the eights slides presents quite a few good tips such as, "Long paragraphs can be...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Glass Eye and the Frog
What do a pair of stinky socks and a toy hamster have in common? The third lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl uses silly objects to teach about figurative language. Zany pranks and role play make...
English With Jennifer
Conversation Pieces: A Verb Tense Activity
Teach your English language learners about conversations by inviting them to participate in a conversation about an interesting object. Through this conversation, learners will naturally use various verb tenses and practice asking...
Catholic Charities
Telephone Skills
The challenge in telephone conversations is that speakers and listeners cannot rely on body language to communicate. This 31-page packet includes a curriculum guide, lesson plans, assessments, and resource lists designed to help...
Poetry4kids
Evoking the Senses in a Poem
Budding poets choose a topic for a sensory-filled poem. Authors describe that topic using detailed language based on the five senses. Then, switch the senses to create a fanciful poem intended to add a touch of fun to the objective.
Poetry4kids
How to Write an Exaggeration Poem
The best poetry writing lesson of all time is here for you! Learn all about the art of exaggeration with a lesson on exaggeration poems, which instructs students to use wild imagery to convey their message.
English Grammar
Gerund or Infinitive – Fill in the Correct Form
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,...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Conversing with an Object
Students sharpen their creative writing skills by writing dialogues with unfamiliar objects while visiting local museums. They select an object in the museum, such as a painting, and create conversations between the people or animals...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Telling Your Story
Students use information from a visit to an historical exhibition to write stories about someone who lived during that time period.. They use handouts to record information to use in their writings. Students choose identities, real or...
Water
Global Water Supply Middle School Curriculum
We take a steady shower stream and clean drinking water for granted, but in many countries around the world, the lack of water or a clean water supply is responsible for higher sickness and death rates. Taking a closer look at the water...
Curated OER
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Freedom
Welcome to America, the land of liberty and freedom. Examine the ways in which the terms liberty and freedom have been used in the United States. After researching and analyzing quotations from the past and present, students create an...
Online Publications
Become a Journalist
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
US Department of Education
A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
The New York Times
Fiction or Nonfiction? Considering the Common Core's Emphasis on Informational Text
Nothing aids in comprehension more than an explanation and understanding of why things are done. Address why the Common Core requires the reading percentages that it established and analyze how this affects your readers. Learners read...
Boward County Public Schools
Hoot Activities
If you're looking for engaging, cross-curricular, inquiry-based activities and projects to support your class reading of Carl Hiaasen's Hoot, you've come to the right place!
Curated OER
Details, Details, Details
Writing can become one-dimensional if authors don't involve all their senses. First, scholars observe a strange object which, ideally, they can touch and even smell. Without using certain words (you can create a list or have the class...