Scholastic
Lions, Tigers, and Slugs? Oh, My!
Explore the power of words with your class by analyzing the connotations of fictitious sports team names. Learners discuss team names and the mental images they convey. They create logos to illustrate the meanings and connotations of...
Curated OER
What's In a Name?
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. Learners...
Curated OER
Speak Write! Understanding the Hidden Meaning of Words
"Can the connotation of a word or phrase create bias or prejudice?" The activities in this SMART Board lesson plan are directed toward this question, which will be sure to incite lots of opinions and ideas. The SMART Board file guides...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.5
"Timid, scared, terrified." High school scholars examine words, their denotations and connotations, in a series of exercises that use lines from Shakespeare to explore figurative language and word relationships. Participants then...
Curated OER
Understanding Connotation
Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," which is available online, is used in the language lesson presented here. Middle schoolers read through the text for comprehension. Then, they reread the first paragraph and identify all the words with...
Curriculum Corner
7th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists
Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess, and...
K12 Reader
Winter Adjectives: Shades of Meaning
Is wet damper than soggy? Young grammarians consider shades of meaning by ranking a set of winter adjectives from the weakest to the strongest.
Curated OER
Evaluating Accuracy and Adequacy
Evaluate non-fiction works with your English class. While practicing a variety of strategies detailed in the plan, readers compare and contrast the information in three non-fiction passages about the same topic. They then discuss the...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Dr. Seuss in the Classroom
Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...
Curated OER
Using Descriptive Language
Students examine the use of adjectives in a product review, then write their own descriptive review. In this writing and word usage lesson plan, students first analyze the choice of adjectives in a New York Times article about the...
Ereading Worksheets
Figurative Language for Edgar Allen Poe
Are your classes weary of dreary worksheets? Are the learners nearly napping? Thrill them, fill them with delight with an interactive instructional activity that asks them to identify the figurative language Edgar Allen Poe uses to add...
Scholastic
Choose Your Words Wisely (Grades 9-12)
Words, words, words. The function of words in persuasive writing is the focus of a group activity that asks members to analyze how words advertisers use are designed to influence targeted audiences.
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 6 Close Reading
Look back at the third chapter of The Cay with your class. Pupils will conduct a close reading, taking a second look at a chunk of text and responding to a series of text-dependent questions. Wrap up with an analytical writing prompt...
Schools United to Provide Enhanced Resources Network
AP English Project: Journal of Literary Terms and Devices
To prepare for the AP English exams, individuals are asked to create a notebook of literary terms and devices. The terms must be defined, accompanied by representative artwork, and illustrated by an example drawn for a named source. A...
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
A Search for Symbolism in The Great Gatsby
After reading The Great Gatsby, groups return to the text and note passages where Fitzgerald uses symbols and color imagery in his narrative. They then develop a presentation that explains the context, the implications, and possible...
Polk Bros Foundation
Punctuation Signals
Choose any passage that uses punctuation effectively and analyze it with your class. Learners read the passage out loud once, ignoring the punctuation. Then they read it again, but this time paying attention to all of the punctuation....
Curated OER
Expository Journal Prompts
Stuck for a journal topic? Download CAHSEE’s 21 “Expository Journal Prompts” as a pdf handout for yourself or class. A great resource for your writing program, print it up and add it your curriculum library.
Prestwick House
Vocabulary Lesson
Vocabulary instruction works best when taught within a larger context. A vocabulary activity builds connections by using synonyms to help learn the meaning of new words. This helps connect the words to prior knowledge and give them context.
Curated OER
“Self Reliance” Questions
Is consistency foolish? Or is “foolish consistency . . . the hobgoblin of little minds”? Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self Reliance” provides readers with an opportunity to reflect on their own musing about being self-reliant and about...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Greek And Latin Root Words
Students examine Greek and Latin root words. They research the history of the English language, solve word games and puzzles, write paragraphs about the impact of Greek and Latin on the English language, and create flip chart study guides.
Curated OER
Using Analogies to Improve Vocabulary
Ninth graders analyze the relationships for pairs of words in analogical statements to infer word meanings. In this word meanings lesson, 9th graders complete an analogy pre-assessment, study a chart for using analogies to improve...
Curated OER
Adjectives: Forms And Usage
In this adjective forms and usage worksheet, 7th graders review and discuss all the different types of adjective forms and usage and complete one sentences with an article, a noun and an adjective.