Curated OER
Is That Movie OK?
Discuss movies and movie enjoyment with your middle school language arts class. They interpret movie review information, determine appropriate movies, and then write film reviews to share with the class. Focus on using context clues to...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: August 2017
Reading and comprehending a poem is a lot different than doing the same for a piece of fiction or an informational text. As part of a sample English language arts examination, readers put their skills to the test by reading passages in...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: January 2018
Excerpts from classic novels make great material for standardized tests. A sample English language arts examination, part of a larger set of assessments, mixes excerpts from classic novels and more modern texts. The test includes three...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: June 2018
Is graffiti art? Writers explore that question as part of a source-based argument within a set of questions from the NY Regents examination. The assessment from June 2018, part of a larger set of standardized tests, consists of three...
New York State Education Department
English Language Arts Examination: June 2015
Many teachers and districts want to give their pupils test-taking practice before state standardized testing occurs. Here's a resource that features a complete exam with numerous passages, a variety of item types, a conversion chart, and...
Curriculum Corner
Beach Write it, Read it, Draw it!
Challenge scholars to unscramble eight words in order to create a sentence that reveals a fun activity at the beach. After the unveiling, class members write the sentence and draw a picture that reflects the activity.
Curated OER
Vocab-u-lous! Build a Fabulous Vocab
In this vocabulary building worksheet, students enhance their personal vocabulary by learning words that begin with the FR-blends. Students are allowed to use dictionaries.
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: Personal Phrenology Chart During Reading Activity
Phrenology, the belief that parts of your brain control certain aspects of your personality, is described in Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. While we now know much more about the brain, learners use this...
District 186 Springfield Public Schools
Tone, Mood, Theme, and Motif
It's all well and good when you're asked to identify a speaker's tone using his or her body language, facial expression, and pitch and emphasis. Identifying the tone of a written passage is another challenge entirely. Check out an...
EngageNY
World Café about Pygmalion
Round and round you go. Scholars participate in a World Cafe to discuss Pygmalion. As they circulate around to different groups, they talk about three main questions that pertain to the actions of Eliza and Higgins. After circulating,...
Curated OER
Faces of the community (the): Art from the Heart
Students understand the selflessness of the artists Gauguin and Van Gogh. In this art lesson, students produce art work that reflects the diversity in the their school community. Students share their artwork to explain how they show...
Curated OER
Rhyming Words, Phonics
First graders understand why words rhyme and how to form rhyming words. In this rhyming and phonics activity, 1st graders complete a worksheet to show words that are spelled as they sound and not spelled as they sound.
Curated OER
Double Jeopardy-Homophones
Second graders identify homophones as words that sound alike but have different meanings. They, given a pair of homophones, are to explain the meanings of the words using gestures, role playing, or drawing a picture with their partner.
Novelinks
The Giver: Reading Road Map
Sometimes it's helpful to read certain passages in a novel slowly and carefully, and to read other parts more quickly to move the plot along. Learners tread carefully through Chapter 20 of Lois Lowry's The Giver, noting which...
Writing Educators Symposium
Asking the Right Questions
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...
Prestwick House
Teaching Shakespeare: Sonnet 73
It's that time of year to consider how Shakespeare selects his images and structures his Sonnet 73 to develop the meaning of the poem. Class members examine the rhyme scheme, the indented lines, the conceit, and the images used in each...
Prestwick House
Edith Hamilton’s Mythology
Where is the Oracle? Who brought fire from Olympus? What creature is half bird, half horse? Review details from famous Greek myths with a crossword puzzle that focuses on Edith Hamilton's Mythology.
K12 Reader
Proverbs and Adages: What’s the Meaning?
Your kids have probably heard these idioms before, but do they know what they mean? Help them learn that haste makes waste, an ill wind blows no good, and that ignorance is bliss with a list of popular expressions.
Curriculum Corner
May Writing Ideas
From Cinco de Mayo to Endangered Species day to National Hamburger Month, May is full of ideas to write about. Give young writers prompts that have everything to do with the month of May. Topics include writing a story, conducting...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Mural / Poster Campaign
Every piece matters. A creative lesson provides an opportunity for scholars to create murals or posters that represent their views on social justice. Academics work on smaller posters or pieces of a mural that will ultimately be...
Novelinks
The House on Mango Street: Biopoem
Young poets demonstrate their understanding of a character from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street by crafting a biopoem that captures the essence of this person.
Curated OER
Press Review
How can word choice affect a political speech? Middle and high schoolers examine the text of the 1999 State of the Union Address, and then determine how newspaper articles and television reports describe and analyze the event. Use this...
Curated OER
Music in Words
Your class can build strong, well-represented opinions about the music they hear. They listen to, and share thoughts about, a piece of classical music. Then they write a piece of music or a poem, and analyze their peers' work and their...
Curated OER
Spelling List 28: Sight Words, R-Controlled Vowels, and Academic Vocabulary
In this spelling list worksheet, students practice spelling words that are sight words, r controlled vowels, and vocabulary. Students practice spelling 21 words total.