Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-instructional activity on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then...

Young poets view a model two-voice poem while discussing capitalization and punctuation. Pupils also complete an end-of-unit assessment about using strong evidence to support a literary analysis. 

The unit offers second graders skills practice in tricky spelling and words, grammar—nouns and punctuation, reading decodable texts, and writing a personal narrative. Lessons begin with a warm-up and go into a concept review, word work,...

Put it to the test. With the cumulative resource, pupils complete the End of Unit 3 Assessment. Using everything they've learned in the unit, they write a draft of an opinion speech about how to prioritize aid after a natural...

The capitalization rules are strict and inflexible—until you experience the fluid beauty of an Emily Dickinson poem. Ninth graders test their existing knowledge of language arts conventions with the many bent grammar rules in "I Felt a...

Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...

Dander from the show Twisted Whiskers and characters from My Little Pony are featured in this three part lesson that explores using story pyramids to scaffold ideas, adding sensory details to enrich writing, and editing using common...

Get ready to review and revise! Scholars peer edit each other's literary analysis essay drafts. Next, using peer and teacher feedback, pupils compose their final drafts. 

Sometimes, it's fun to follow the rules. Using their drafts of an evidence-based essay from previous lessons, scholars write their final informative essays about rules to live by. Next, they choose and share quotes from their essays that...

Time to revise! Using a writing evaluation rubric, scholars participate in a peer editing process to provide feedback on each others' informative essays. Next, pupils begin revising their drafts based on the feedback they receive. 

Using the resource, learners share their essay revisions with a partner. Afterward, they participate in a Fishbowl discussion, receiving peer feedback about their editorial essays. 

Read and discuss "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and the gender issues that the story brings up. Use articles from the time period to analyze, complete with specific discussion questions. After two days, scholars write an essay based on topics...

Introduce your classes to the Art of Rhetoric with a lesson that focuses on Aristotle's persuasive appeals and how they have been used, both ethically and unethically, to influence opinion.

Looking for ideas for your Lunar New Year celebration? Check out an interdisciplinary unit of study that includes lessons in counting, calligraphy, culture, geography, literature, art, and music. Kung-hsi Fa-ts' ai! (May you...

Young scholars examine the rules for the use and formation of adjectives and play a game of tic-tac-toe to determine the correct form of the word to be used.

Students study writing conventions. For this writing conventions lesson plan, students study writing they have already completed and look for conventions they are already using without realizing. In a small group, students discuss...

A reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech launches a study of rhetorical devices such as hyperbole, allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, connotative language and parallel structure. Class members then...

Fourth graders write positive statements about themselves. They brainstorm ideas of what a positive thinker looks like and sounds like. Students compare and contrast positive and negative thinking. They complete a worksheet. Students...

Fourth graders answer questions about being responsible community member. They listen and brainstorm ideas of why it important to be responsible community members. Students are given a copy of "I'm A Star Community Member" game...

Fourth graders work in small groups and try the mediation process, taking turns as mediators and disputants. They discuss and review the handouts over the concepts of mediation. Students volunteer to participate in the class role-play.

Fourth graders (two) enter the classroom arguing loudly. They are asked to tell what they observed. Students look through the mediation packet and begin to brainstorm answers to "What is conflict?" They discuss various conflict scenarios...

Complete personal pronoun practice activities. Pupils use correct personal pronoun form in sentences the teacher writes on the board. They review the function of a pronoun and the various cases and practice placing personal pronouns by...

Third graders read and discuss the selection "Paul Revere's Ride" (included with the lesson). Students imagine they live in one of the villages that Paul Revere stopped. They are awakened by his knock on the door. Students write an essay...

Students locate and print samples of two different business letter formats. They write rough drafts of business letters inquiring when, where, and how math is used.