Inspire creative writing by studying similes. This sheet provides learners with 10 different topics, and they must create a simile for each topic. Example topics include: favorite teacher, the waterfall, a parrot, the first day of...

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...

Students describe to a partner theater experiences they have had in their lives that were memorable, and analyze why. They study about one director's original artistic choices for staging Shakespeare by reading and discussing "Nature's a...

If you are reading works by Walter Dean Myers in your class, this resource might be worth a look. Included here are activities and discussion questions for Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, Fallen...

Where did I come from? How did I come to be in this classroom? Using curriculum from Kidspiration, class members research the homelands of their ancestors, as well as the journeys that began from many parts of the world and ended with...

Investigate the significance of adjectives with a newspaper activity that addresses effective language. Readers probe teacher-provided articles in search of the mighty modifiers, and practice by replacing them with a different word, and...

Des'ree's song "You Gotta Be" is used to model for language learners the forms that can be used to express necessity (must, have to, have got to). After examining the grammar in the song, the attention switches to a discussion of the...

Here's a clever way to introduce language learners to noun clauses. After a brief exercise that provides examples of different types of noun clauses, class members listen to the Association's "Never, My Love" and identify the clauses in...

Students explore the music soldiers listen to before and after battle. They attempt to develop an understanding of the role music plays in this conflict. They create their own lyrics to attempt to construct a pro-war and anti-war song.

In this World Music Day worksheet, students complete activities such as reading a passage, phrase matching, fill in the blanks, correct words, multiple choice, spelling, sequencing, scrambled sentences, writing questions, survey, and...

Students consider the role of rhythm and meter in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry and use their music skills to set picture book poetry to music by creating "singable" poems.

Learners focus on age-related generations to assess how traditional music is transmitted from one generation to another and how music functions for people within a generation. They compare/contrast and explore music in their own...

In 1856 Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts over the head with a cane. This event, which highlighted the acrimonious debate over the expansion of slavery, is the focus of a paper...

Eighth graders analyze lyrics from songs from a variety of genres. For this musical analysis lesson, 8th graders write an essay about their life plans in which they discuss the lyrics of U2's song, "One." They tell how the writings of...

Should the government rate music? Are teen juries a good idea? Is space exploration worth the money? Your learners will think critically to tackle these interesting questions, and practice their ability to form persuasive arguments...

Way before the digital age radio was the medium of popular culture. After listening to excerpts from radio programs (easily available on the Internet), participants return to the radio age by creating a two-minute sketch based on a...

Examine gender stereotypes on television, focusing on fathers portrayed in sitcoms and advertising. Questions on a handout direct learners to consider the types of fathers they see on television and one advertisement is highlighted as...

Do your pupils need extra practice identifying and correcting pronoun reference errors? These off-beat prompts will entertain as well as educate. No answer key is provided.

This lesson is so beneficial it makes any teacher's heart skip a beat! After readers identify words from Words by Heart, they break down unknown vocabulary with a handout detailing various prefixes and suffixes. Once they finish...

Woody Guthrie will capture the imagination of even your most reluctant learners. Using his work, your class will develop their skills in non-fiction reading comprehension, interpreting primary source material, and use of multiple forms...

In this hip hop 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, and more...

Research how seasonal changes in Louisiana affect learners' lives and the folklife of their communities and the state. They investigate differences in the seasonal round in the regions of Louisiana, including celebrations, festivals,...

Middle schoolers study the three types of mass media messages: visual media, written media, and audio media. After a class discussion which has them list examples of each, learners get into pairs and work on analyzing the "Four A's" in...

Consisting of a thorough and straightforward list of poetry terminology, the first part of this presentation would be a good introduction to a poetry unit, or a review for an upcoming poetry project. The list of terms is quite extensive,...