Teach your class the basics of narrative writing! The resource first describes the Common Core standard for narrative writing in-depth, and then moves into how to apply the standard. Show your class the example essay and quiz them...

How can a screenplay create meaning and drama in ways that other forms of writing cannot? That is the question class members must answer as they compare the cantina scene of the screenplay for George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope...

Ads here, ads there, ads everywhere—but what do they communicate? Pupils discuss this topic and develop a list of personal values. They then work as creative directors at an advertising firm to create billboards that reflect community...

You can use these basic instructions to create a book using the accordion fold. This project can be used alongside nearly any other lesson. Have kids fold a book to create a science journal, chapter-by-chapter book summary, to house a...

Twelfth graders use computers and the Internet to research a specified area, word processors to prepare an essay, a digital camera, a video camera gather visuals, and a scanner to add visuals to a PowerPoint presentation as they discover...

Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main...

Using the paintings On to Liberty and A Ride for Liberty, 10th graders analyze historical perspectives on life after the Civil War. They attempt to determine what the Civil War meant for free slaves, then read a paragraph highlighting...

The book Fortunately provides an excellent opportunity to discuss prefixes and suffixes as they appear in context. The class goes over a list of prefixes and suffixes with the teacher. They then write two sentences; the first...

Using ichat or Edmodo 4th -6th graders participate in an inter-school literature circle. Students from two different schools pair up online through ichat and use a blog to conduct a book circle. This lesson is wonderful; it fully...

Combine vocabulary in context with art history using Jonah Winter's colorful biography Frida. Although there are quite a few words you could teach from this text, four are listed here with connecting questions: ill, imitate,...

Middle schoolers engage in a instructional activity which reminds them that root words indicate the base meaning of a word, and that those roots are found in many different words that have similar meanings. Pairs of pupils use...

Elementary schoolers are given an overview of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern periods of music. They focus on the lives of Beethoven and Mozart; two of the greatest composers of all time. After listening to samples their...

Take the first steps to reading fluency with a set of language arts activities. Kids work on the sight words pretty, ran, so, and out with tracing worksheets and matching games.

Clarify the different types of phrases and clauses that young writers can use to vary their sentence structure. A helpful slideshow presentation encourages your class to fix sentences by adding more interesting phrases and clauses,...

What makes a great poem sound so good? Learn the rhythmic secrets of poetry with an explanatory online lesson.

Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...

Prewrite, plan, draft, revise, edit, share. Scholars complete a worksheet to reflect on how they used the writing process to improve their writing. They also draft plans for their scientific posters that they will display in an upcoming...

Add additional meanings to root words! Scholars show what they know about suffixes and root words with a activity that challenges them to create words and complete sentences. 

Young grammarians demonstrate their understanding of the eight parts of speech by creating a scrapbook that uses personal stories and photos to illustrate each term. After defining a term, individuals relate and illustrate a personal...

Explore the life's work of one of the great children's authors using this ten-lesson author study unit. After first performing some whole-group research into the life of Cynthia Rylant, the class goes on to read six different...

Your kindergartners will be reading before you know it after practicing their sight words! Work on and with an array of fun reading activities, such as bingo, connect-the-dots, and matching games.

Practice sight words with an array of fun activities. Kids focus on like, is, my, and it with bingo games, connecting the dots, and tracing activities.

Master four sight words with an array of teaching tools. As kids work on recognizing away, she, this, and who, they trace letters and match flash cards to improve their reading skills.

Identify four sight words with an extensive reading packet. After kids learn the words under, new, was, and be, they work on tracing and finding the words in fun new ways.