Begin class with a short comprehension quiz and review and then move into a new genre: two-voice poems. The activity provides information about this type of poetry as well as a video example made by eighth graders that you can show your...

Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry instructional activity, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students...

As a way to combine language arts and science, try this lesson plan on writing cloud poetry. Begin by showing a PowerPoint presentation and images of cloud types. Take meteorology masters outdoors to explore the sky using the provided...

Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...

Students read about the four elements of poetry: form, theme, purpose, and mood. They are given several questions to ask themselves about each element as they begin to write their own successful poems.

Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is a literary masterpiece as well as a timestamp of the formative mid-nineteenth century in America. Using a primary source set of photographs, letters, and portraits, readers discuss the ways...

What makes a novel a novel? Class members select a favorite novel, record their impressions on a worksheet, and then come together in groups to discuss the elements common to narrative writing. Next, they identify the characters, the...

Students incorporate their conceptual understanding of proportions to write a creative piece similar to the example poem.

Young scholars investigate the important symbols to Native cultures by writing a poem.  In this animal totem activity, students discuss animal spirits and their relation to the Native American lifestyle. Young scholars write a...

First graders describe the characteristics of a tree. In this science lesson, 1st graders create predictions about a book they will be listening to, Have you Seen Trees. Additionally, students describe their trees using their 5 senses....

When is a staple remover a fanged monster? In your ELA classroom when you're teaching this fun figurative language activity, of course! Get your young writers using figurative language by making a game of it. Give groups a paper bag full...

Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research, art, and...

Students input autobiographical information to apply in a Diamante' poem that utilizes the different parts of speech. Students interact with each other sharing their autobiographical information completed on the database created....

Students explore the field of meteorology. In this meteorology lesson plan, students explore weather-related careers as they research the field of study as well as various weather concepts. Students interview meteorologists, write...

Students examine Passenger Pigeons and why they are now extinct. Through a class discussion, students discover the need to help endangered animals. They consider activities to become involved in assisting animals. Students write a poem...

Students investigate the owl food chain. They discuss owl facts, explore various websites, dissect an owl pellet, create a picture of the owl food chain, read the book, "Owl Babies," and write an owl poem.

Fourth graders complete various activities related to the plant life cycle. They read the book "The Tiny Seed," read and discuss the poem "Five Little Seeds," complete a "Plantenstein Mystery" and other online activities, write and...

Fourth graders explore storytelling by reading a classic story. In this vocabulary identification lesson, 4th graders read the story The Emperor and the Kite and define the different vocabulary terms that appear in the story. Students...

Second graders study rainbows and do an interdisciplinary assignment that includes poetry and a science experiment.

Students explore biology by researching birds in class. In this raven identification lesson, students utilize the Internet to identify the anatomy, habits and habitat of ravens. Students write descriptive paragraphs about ravens and read...

Middle schoolers compare and contrast related two- and three-dimensional shapes, and complete a Venn diagram illustrating the attributes of each. Using a poem pattern from another lesson, students use data from the diagram to write an...

Students examine the paintings of various Indiana artists. Using the internet, they relate the landscapes shown to the history of the state and how it affected Native Americans. Using the information they gathered, they write story...

Pupils spend some time outdoors and record their observations of abiotic conditions, geologic surroundings and living organisms. They reflect and write about the experience of being observant in nature.

Students study self-portraits taken by photographers to explain the technique and symbolism used. They decide what they would like to say about themselves in their images and then, take pictures of each other. They create an iPhoto book.