Newspaper Association of America
A Good Read
Teach your readers strategies for breaking down informational texts. Pupils develop and implement the tools they'll need to decode texts for the rest of their lives with an informational resource that focuses on the structure and...
Odell Education
Reading Closely For Textual Details: Grade 8
Only a thorough understanding of history can save us from repeating it. Practice close reading skills with an eighth grade unit that focuses on 19th century America, including European immigration into Ellis Island and Frederick...
Teachers.net
How to Write a Movie Review from a Pet's Perspective
When would two paws up denote a blockbuster film in your classroom? Only when young writers create movie reviews from a pet's perspective in this imaginative expository writing practice. This engaging topic begins with a class discussion...
Curated OER
Writing Summaries
Practice summary writing with informational texts. Young readers create summaries after reading magazine articles, newspaper articles, or other forms of informational texts. Readers use the GRASP strategy (read text, write what you...
Curated OER
Showdown in the New Wild West
What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs. Radical...
Curated OER
Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) in the History Classroom
SAC is a specific approach to discussing history and controversial issues. Rather than adhering to an either/or debate-style paradigm, it fosters speaking and constructivist listening to enable learners to build consensus through...
Lawrence Virtual School
Context Clues
Considering a lesson on using context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words? This packet includes a brief reading passage about strategies readers can use and 12 very different graphic organizers, including a template for a...
Reed Novel Studies
Jake and Lily: Novel Study
Just how strong is a twins' bond? Jake and Lily, in a novel by the same name, have a powerful bond until they turn 11. Then, everything changes. As scholars read about twin trouble, they learn eight new vocabulary words, create...
Curated OER
Persuasive Elements
Investigate letters to the editor and their persuasive qualities. Break your class into reading groups and give each one a different article. As they read, they complete a graphic organizer to record their thoughts and opinions. There is...
Curated OER
Job Seeking Strategies
Students analyze how successful job seekers got their jobs and consider which strategies they might use. They access stories about young adults who have successfully mainstreamed into the world of work.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Reading Non-Fiction
Students read and view information sent from seven high school students who travel to China. The daily reports that they send back to the weblog section of the site should be of high interest to students in Minnesota.
Curated OER
A New Point of View
Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this lesson. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the term in text....
Curated OER
Dead Word Wall Lesson
Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This activity includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words" from sample...
Curated OER
Strategy for Spelling Success - Proofreading Dictated Sentences
Eighth graders write and proofread dictated sentences. In this spelling lesson, 8th graders practice writing 4 dictated sentences. They proofread the sentences for spelling, written conventions, apostrophes, plurals, "ie"/"ei" spellings,...
Curated OER
We Write to Read
Young scholars are introduced to cursive handwriting as a symbolic language system. In this cursive handwriting lesson, students apply the Peterson sequence approach and practice gross motor patterning and action word rhythm. Young...
Curated OER
Word Roots 5: NAT, TRACT, SEQU Intermediate Puzzle 1, 2, & 3
Build vocabulary with this resource. This online activity breaks up a list of words into words that have common roots. Learners are given the definition of each word as well as the word root and are asked to fill in the rest of the...
Curated OER
Poetry and Our National Anthem
Young scholars express the meaning of the Star-Spangled Banner. In this American history lesson, students read through the national anthem and complete an activities from a list of choices. Some choices include: writing the anthem in...
Curated OER
Fighting the War in Your Head
Young scholars analyze the experiences of a fictional soldier in a war and create a mental health profile for that individual. They emulate psychiatrists and propose treatment strategies for their particular soldier's post-traumatic...
Curated OER
Holocaust
The Holocaust is the focus of this interactive poetry strategy. The classroom will be set-up to remind students of the Secret Annex, with a table, lamp, and various other props. Each participant will receive 3 Saltine crackers and water...
Curated OER
The March Continues
Students explore the Civil Rights Memorial. In this character development and U.S. History activity, students employ reading comprehension strategies while reading a news article about the Civil Rights Memorial. Students work in groups...
Curated OER
Day Eight Lesson- The Whale Rider
Young scholars examine cultural differences through the reading of The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. In this language arts lesson, students work in groups to analyze chapters 11 and 12 of the novel; these chapters highlight cultural...
Ms. McLaughlin's Homework Page
Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences
Find out just how much your pupils know about simple sentences, subjects and predicates, sentence fragments, coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, compound sentences, complex sentences, and more! This review page includes...
Curated OER
Introduction to The Diary of Anne Frank
Get a glimpse of Anne Frank's years in hiding with this activity, which introduces The Diary of Anne Frank. Readers complete a journal entry about how they would keep themselves occupied if they were forced into hiding (without personal...
Curated OER
Multimedia Book Report
Young readers plan and draft a book report focusing on the five key components of a novel: plot, character, setting, conflict, and theme. After completing a story board, pupils then prepare a PowerPoint book report that is shown to the...