Regional dialect can make a lovely poem even more beautiful. After translating the Scots words in "A Red, Red Rose" into modern English, class members identify the two similes Robert Burns uses in his poem.

Teach English language learners about the week-long holiday of Kwanzaa that is celebrated around the world during December. It includes holiday-themed reading comprehension passages, phrase matching, fill-in-the-blanks, and journaling...

Sometimes a test page loaded with text can make a student's face go blank. Help them decipher what a text question is asking with a series of tips focused on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language arts mechanics.

How does poetry help people better understand societal issues? Pupils participate in a jigsaw activity to analyze poems from the novel Inside Out & Back Again. Next, they connect the poems to real-life refugee experiences from the...

Why is reading a text closely a helpful skill? Using the 13th of 20 lessons from the Grade 8 ELA Module 1, Unit 2 series, scholars continue reading the informational text "Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison." They work with...

Who? Where? Why? Scholars answer these questions to help identify the gist of Inside Out & Back Again. First, they add text evidence to their research folders. They then begin looking at a performance task in which they write their...

Choose your words carefully. Scholars begin by reading a line of Atticus's closing speech in To Kill A Mockingbird. Readers work independently on their note catchers, then complete a Think-Pair-Share activity with partners. They finish...

Time to revise! Scholars revise their argument essays based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream using feedback from their teacher and peers. They begin their revisions after reviewing a mini-lesson on proper writing conventions.

Verbs are deceptive and like to disguise themselves. Young linguists identify verbals, specifically gerunds, infinitives, and participles when analyzing the third stage of Carlotta's journey in the novel A Mighty Long Way. Bridge...

Writing becomes dynamic in a presentation. Presenters transform a piece of writing they have already composed about the Little Rock Nine into a presentation. The focus is transferring ideas from their writing into short prompts on cards...

Which of Michael Pollan's four food chains from his book The Omnivore's Dilemma would best feed everyone in the United States? Using a thought-provoking resource, scholars learn how to create a Cascading Consequences chart to answer the...

Class members conduct independent research to continue examining the consequences of the industrial organic food chain from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Pupils learn about source credibility and effective search terms, then...

The best sandwiches aren't always edible. Pupils use a Quote Sandwich graphic organizer to plan paragraphs two and three of their position papers about the best food chain. Next, they begin drafting their body paragraphs for the mid-unit...

Focus on a passage about the new year with your English language learners. You can start with reading the passage aloud to your class, and then launch into the related activities. Pupils match phrases, complete cloze-style activities,...

What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb? Encourages scholars to explore the answer to this question while building a foundation of the English language. The lesson comes complete with an attention grabber, notes, and a...

It is rough trying to make your way through Romeo and Juliet with young readers. The language can set up barriers that prevent conversations about the conflicts and themes. Robert Swindells Daz 4 Zoe is similar in structure and theme,...

Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter" offers language learners and native English speakers an opportunity to study adverb, adjective, and noun clauses.

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...

Shake it up! Shake your tablet to bring up a unique writing prompt for journaling or blogging with your class. Shake again and a new one appears. Prompts can come from different categories (sketches, scenes, texts, words, news) to help...

Get your kids thinking about climate change with a series of activities that include creating a ditty box poem for the planet, a poem that identifies concepts or objects they would want to preserve.

Gain greater insight into poems using a poetry analysis worksheet. Here, scholars follow steps and answer questions to dissect any poem. Topics include the poem's meaning, theme, technique, and structure, as well as personal...

Practice using commas with adjectives with a activity highlighting coordinate and cumulative adjectives. After reviewing definitions and examples, learners show what they know by correctly punctuating 10 sentences with adjectives....

What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based...

How is your grandmother related to you? How is your cousin related to your grandmother? Learn about family relationships and pronouns with an activity that guides pupils to write two short narratives about members of their families.