Students create an animal with clay and use toothpick to draw or carve features. Students write descriptions of their animal and tell why they created it in a certain way. Students write legends on their own, perhaps using their created...

"Students read "The Island of the Skog." Prior to reading, students observe the book cover, predict the events of the story, and discuss what a skog may look like. Students make footprints in play dough and observe the differences...

Students brainstorm ideas for a teacher selected writing topic. They demonstrate seven steps for writing an academic essay. They jot down words or phrases using different colored pens. They write a thesis statement and create an outline...

Are you teaching a high school language arts class and stumped for writing topics? Five pages of writing prompts for all kinds of writing should help you out. Many of these prompts refer to texts that are not included in this resource,...

Collaborate with another class (or school) and have your learners share ideas about their reading through the use of email. Perhaps you'll create a specific question or a few questions for writers to choose from. Not only will they...

Do you know what a fallacy is? Discuss this term and its meaning with your class. Then, talk about why making generalizations about a large group of people isn't the best thing to do. As a group, study the included letter excerpt. It...

Students investigate the character trait of perseverance and how it is used to help a girl gain independence in a fictional story. The story also has them think about the value of relationships and then write reflectively about...

Students read the story, "The Polar Express." Prior to beginning the story, students predict events of the story and drink hot cocoa. Afterwards, they write a short story about Christmas and create a model train for the classroom....

Explore the U.S.S. Nevada. Researchers use primary sources, secondary sources, children's books and websites to study the naval ship. Their study commences with a class alphabet book on the ship. Intended to be part of a lesson on...

Youngsters participate in interactive read alouds about immigration.As they listen to teacher-chosen books that highlight the concept of immigration, they will be provided with opportunities to interact. They can respond to the...

Read this paragraph out loud to your class to demonstrate pronunciation of and introduce context for the given vocabulary words. You might also use this as a cloze activity and have class members read each vocabulary word or repeat each...

Readers of Shakespeare explore denouement in Macbeth and track the play's falling action in Act IV, Scene 1. They complete a worksheet/table noting the content and significance of each of the three apparitions granted Macbeth by the...

Eleventh graders use technology as a tool to research authors of literature being studied. Then students use a presentation program to make final presentations. This lesson allows them to create an understanding of the context related to...

Class groups examine fairy tales from a feminist and a Marxist perspective, identifying how these tales present gender roles and class/power systems. The groups then script and perform their own tale that uses one of these lenses.

Fifth graders explore the purpose for reading a piece of literature. In this reading instructional activity, 5th graders view the cover of a book and then predict the order of details from the book.  Students listen to the piece of...

Students discover historical value and use of different African masks through research and literature. Students also relate different customs and traditions of ethnic groups to the masks.

Students research the role of women in the Civil War. In this Civil War unit, students research the role women played during the war. This unit includes eight different activities including vocabulary, writing prompts and a literature...

Pupils recall details of nursery rhyme read by teacher, identify main characters, and demonstrate knowledge of poem by creating concept map about story that includes title, clip art, and changes in font and color.

Second graders analyze the proper form of a friendly letter and send flat Stanley letters all over the United States. In this letter writing lesson plan, 2nd graders read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and create their own Flat...

Students explore discussing stories with their children. They read and discuss Clifford's Sports Day and identify connections between the book and their daily lives. They simulate discussing the book with their children and note...

Fifth graders explore sequential dramatization through children's literature. In this drama lesson, 5th graders act out and record scenes using digital and video cameras.  Students create a digital poster using pictures from their...

Students study the concept of geography in a year long unit. In this geography unit, students participate in different activities that explain the spatial sense of the world, the physical landmasses and bodies of water, geographic...