A fabulous Samurai suit of armor is the inspiratoin for a creative reseach project and presentation. Kids research the symbols found on the Samurai armor, describing the symbols meaning or significance in Japanses culture. 

Which is better for a harvest party, apple juice or apple cider? Are there many black bears in your state? How soon in advance do you need to plant pumpkins in order for them to be ready by October? Find the answers to these questions...

Give your emerging poets a topic (or have them choose one themselves), and have them play with different poetic devices. They work on alliteration, rhyme, metaphor, personification, simile and onomatopoeia. Consider having them choose...

Participate in writing poetry as a group. Focused on a given theme, young writers compose a popcorn poem using sensing verbs and adverbs. They write popcorn poems, onomatopoeias, collective poems, and diamond poems. You could introduce...

How do you find appositives? Why you look for clues, those words or phrases, set off by commas, that tell readers more about nouns. Young grammarians can practice finding them with this instructional activity.

Which word is correct: he or him? Your pupils can practice determining if a sentence needs a subject or object pronoun by completing the 12 sentences on this worksheet. For each sentence, they are given an object pronoun and a subject...

Many informational texts are written as factual, but can your learners determine when an opinion is presented as fact? Have your kids read several articles on the same topic and record the statements that contain either facts or...

Construct from a canvas of words, lyrical expressions that your budding poets can share and post.  Based on refrigerator magnet poetry, creative writers can develop their poetry independently, or from a given prompt from their...

Based on the bestselling series, this worksheet details seven habits of highly defective teens, and prompts young learners to consider their own social and emotional tendencies. What kinds of experiences do your pupils have...

After reading a text, one way to find out how much your class comprehended is to ask your pupils to summarize. This worksheet helps class members prepare for writing a summary of a nonfiction text. They note down the topic, up to eight...

Use a character or person's motivation as the basis for a prediction of that character or person's next action. Pupils select an individual from their reading, copy a quote, write down an inference about that character's motives, and...

Looking for a vocabulary list and exercise to use with a study of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton? Try out this resource, which provides both the list and the exercise. Each of 19 words is paired with a part of speech and definition or...

Ensure that your pupils keep their coordinate adjectives separated with commas. For this practice exercise, learners determine if five sets of adjectives are coordinate or not. They rewrite the necessary sentences to include commas.

Pique your pupils' interest before reading Peter and the Starcatchers with an anticipation guide. Given a list of 10 statements, learners choose true or false based on what they think the book is about. They then discuss in small...

Have you ever wanted to tell a character what you really thought of him or her? Use a lesson based on Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter to encourage learners to write a letter in response to a character's actions. 

It can be difficult to find the theme of a book or story if you don't know the questions to ask. Teach your kids to discern the universal theme in works of literature with a set of activities that promote critical thinking and...

What do you think of when you hear the word adult? Or friend? Learners brainstorm with a group of peers to list the words they think of when they hear seven words from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.

Considering using Robert Cormier's young adult novel, Tunes for Bears to Dance to for book circles or as a whole-class anchor text? Check out this overview of the key concepts and issues raised by the novel.

Use a vocabulary asssignment as a quick activity between reading chapters of Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Young readers choose their favorite words from the vocabulary word list to describe Sal, Phoebe, or any other character from...

An ecosystem is really just the flow of energy through many different living organisms. A study of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book leads to an environmental science activity in which learners study how various factors can affect...

In order to truly understand The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, you'll need to provide middle schoolers with background information about the Holocaust. After contributing as many words as they can associate with the Holocaust, such as...

Take a dramatic trip to the beach with a narrative writing prompt. Kids examine a picture of a seagull stealing food from a man at the beach, and write a short story from either the seagull's or the man's perspective.

Who do the kids in your class look up to? Have them describe their heroes with a writing prompt. The prompt encourages kids to explain why this person is important to them, and what actions the hero has done that make him or her a...

Begin your unit on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with an anticipation guide that addresses the novel's themes. Kids read ten statements that discuss love, friendship, and growing up, and determine whether or not...