How do you describe a jellyfish? Individuals write adjectives for Nomura's jellyfish, take notes, and check understanding with a formative assessment. Notes include the definition for adjectives, guiding questions to help writers...

A fun and quirky painting is analyzed for details in an art/literacy instructional activity. Youngsters look for colors, shadows, and details and then describe them using vivid language. They use the words from discussion to complete a...

Young learners develop a deeper understanding of target vocabulary. In pairs, pupils independently complete a series of word clue cards, asking them to find information about key terms, including their definitions, synonyms, antonyms,...

The easiest way to learn how to use adjectives is through practice, practice, practice! Print out pictures of people and various objects, and have pairs attempt to describe the items together. This plan suggests providing laminated index...

Can schools ban t-shirts picturing musical groups or bands? Your young citizens will find out with this resource, which includes a summary of a United States Supreme Court case from the 1960s about a similar dispute over students wearing...

Should democracies include hate speech as a protected right? Scholars analyze the rights found under the First Amendment to the Constitution through researching evidence. Freedom of expression becomes the focal point of the...

"How can a few good words save a pig's life?" Posed with this question, your ELD students explore E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in a meaningful, valuable way. By analyzing specific word choice from the book, especially the excerpts...

As part of their study of the 1963 March on Washington, class members do a side-by-side comparison of the original text of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" with a transcript of the speech he delivered. The take away from the...

Kids learn about the concept of nouns. They practice identifying nouns by sorting words into categories. As the teacher holds up each word, the class reads it in unison, then they take turns identifying it as a noun or non noun word....

Stop ... grammar time! Pupils complete worksheets to practice using the correct verb tense and identify correlative conjunctions. Next, scholars apply their new grammar skills to edit their draft opinion speeches.

Replacing a gift can end up in an awkward moment—but not when replacing a noun with a pronoun! Watch the most effective ways to use subject and object pronouns, as well as direct and indirect object pronouns, with an entertaining...

Book goes with it and Sarah goes with she... but what about the rest of these nouns and pronouns? Challenge your pupils to match the nouns and pronouns to each other correctly during this memory-style game.

Combine a lesson on the elderly with grammar instruction. Before viewing a series of provided video clips, class members brainstorm a list of words related to senior citizens and organize these words into categories that correspond with...

Judge Learned Hand's "Spirit of Liberty" speech delivered during the July, 1944 "I Am an American Day" celebration is the subject of a close reading activity that models for learners how to approach a dense, difficult text.

Few children's books convey the message of conservation as well as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. Read the story aloud, emphasizing the interconnectedness of plants and animals in an ecosystem and discussing different ways people can help...

Looking for a performance assessment that asks individuals to demonstrate their competency in writing about informational text? Use Frederick Douglass' essay "On the Dred Scott Decision," and an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's 1857 speech...

Young Spanish language learners review the names of each planet. Then, in pairs, they work to complete the chart provided. What is the composition of each planet? What is the color? They learn how to describe the planets. 

A SMART board is a great way to get kids engaged and excited about grammar. Using this SMART board lesson and worksheet, pupils study the rules of conjunctions, clauses, and complex sentences. After they have worked on the exercises, a...

Help your writers eliminate "dead words" (words that are overused) from their writing. This lesson includes a SMART board presentation that will guide them through identifying, eliminating, and substituting "dead words" from sample...

Identifying the tone of a piece of writing or the author's attitude toward the subject matter can be difficult for learners. Simplify the process with a lesson that begins with skits, moves to songs and their lyrics, and then to passages...

The focus of the lesson is rhythmic speech and 4/4 time. The topic of the lesson is trades common in Old Salem during the colonial period. Learners will practice keeping time with their voices and body percussion. They will then research...

Looking for an assessment that reveals how well readers understand complex text? Check out an assessment module based on "The Gettysburg Address." Pupils are asked to craft an essay that demonstrates their understanding not only of...

Popcorn is a tasty part of a culminating activity designed to motivate readers to share important literary elements. The popcorn fills the inside of a white paper bag that is transformed on the outside into a presentation tool with the...

As your class finishes the novel Dragonwings, use these culminating projects. A vocabulary list is given for chapters eleven and twelve and either an epitaph or letter activity concludes the book. The final project consists of creating a...