Students read a multicultural book called "This Is the Way We Go to School" by Edith Baer and Steve Bjorhman. They become culturally aware of the different nationalities around the world and different ways that they may do things on a...

Introduce your language arts class to connotation, denotation, and diction. Middle schoolers identify and differentiate between the connotative and denotative  meanings of words by analyzing the fictitious sports team names....

Students identify and portray specific character attributes through uprigth movement, creating a portrayal of an animal. They use vibrant, upright movement to convey the characteristics and temperament of specific animals. Finally,...

In this career categories worksheet, students complete a chart the requires them to add specific jobs titles under the appropriate headings. Students also research career options and fields they are interested in.

Fourth graders explore ballet. In this dance and music humanities lesson, 4th graders practice ballet positions and play a card game using French ballet vocabulary. Students count beats in rhythm patterns and listen to classical music...

Dedicate one or two class periods to creating a class glossary of geometry terms. Many geometry terms also appear in our every day vocabulary, but they have very different meanings. For example, the word gross in geometry is very...

Explore primary and secondary sources in this historical analysis lesson. Young researchers define the terms primary source and secondary source. They read a primary source document provided by the teacher and answer questions about...

Students explore economics by creating a budget. In this financial goal setting lesson, students investigate their use of time by completing a worksheet. Students identify financial goals they would like to achieve in the next several...

Explain a natural phenomenon in an original myth. After researching the phenomenon they have chosen, young readers use factual information to include in their myth.  They find synonyms and new phrases to create vivid images as they...

Can colors help to convey a mood in writing? Explore this question with your class using the songs "Grey Street" by the Dave Matthews Band and "Blu is a Mood" by Blu Cantrell. After analyzing the effect of the color words in these songs...

Research the interrelationship between math and science. Search the Internet to discover the history of several branches of mathematics and make text-to-world connections between the concepts covered in each branch with related...

Compare and classify 2-D shapes! Kindergarteners inspect the attributes of plane shapes and examine shapes in everyday life. They label the circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles they find. This is the website where you can find the...

What is an idiom? Learners identify and read common idioms. They discuss what idioms are, and are given a black line master embedded in the plan that has 100 common idioms. Next, they complete "The Daily Idiom" worksheet, which is...

What a great way to discuss European immigration in the 1700's to 1800's in America. Learners identify regions where immigration occurred, list the reasons people moved to the United States, and interview an immigrant about their...

Narrative or expository? That is the question readers face on a two-part comprehension instructional activity that asks kids to read a short passage about these two different types of writing, and then to answer a series of comprehension...

Provide an opportunity for scholars to play around with words. They start with 12 root words and add prefixes to them to create new ones. There are five prefixes here, and learners list the new words beside each. Consider reviewing the...

Here's a list-group-label vocabulary activity for The Catcher in the Rye that will knock readers out, it really will! Groups sort, label, and define a list of words taken from Salinger’s novel. Complete directions for the activity, the...

Help your class use critical thinking when it comes to unfamiliar words. With vocabulary from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer, and find its category, comparisons,...

"i before e. . ."  Spelling is easier if kids know the eight basic spelling rules  contained in this resource packet.

Discover alliteration found in picture books by Pamela Duncan Edwards. Then, dive into a read aloud of Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak. This practice sets the stage for budding poets to create their own acrostic poem,...

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is one of the most fascinating pieces of literature from the 20th century, and its rich vocabulary is one of the reasons it has endured for over a century. Help learners of all levels work...

Bingo! Practice vocabulary from William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a fun matching game. As you call out the definitions, class members mark the new vocabulary words that match and try to get five in a row.

Wicked is not just a Tony Award winning broadway musical. It also makes for a strong base to teach character education, specifically anti-bullying. Scholars listen, discuss, role play, and show what they know through a group...

"Bullying and Prejudice" and "Do You Cyber Bully," two lessons from a complete Bully Free program, serve as samples of the approach used in a unit designed to bring awareness to and to combat bullying. Each lesson asks class...