Prepare your first grade classroom for the Common Core with this series of colorful literacy standard displays. Providing children with clear learning objectives throughout the school year, this resource includes each English language...

Passport photos are notoriously unflattering but here's an activity that encourages youngsters to create a poetic picture of themselves using each category on the passport as a prompt for a poem.

Home in on the quote on this page to explore setting, the author's and character's voices, and plot in Willa Cather's My Antonia. Pupils draw a picture of what is described in the quote, discuss the content, and make connections to their...

Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...

A study of onomatopoeia for 5th graders is here for you. Pupils discover that the use of highly descriptive language makes it possible for readers to picture objects in their minds. After engaging in a class discussion and listening to...

Complete studies of the memorable characters in Richard Peck's novel A Long Way from Chicago. The lesson plan describes three different activities to help your class better understand characters in the story, character development in...

Read this twist on Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Dusty Locks and the Three Bears by Susan Lowell. Kindergartners listen, predict, and discuss the story. They then participate in a dramatization of the story and draw a picture...

Students view a picture of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. For this caring and kindness lesson students read Camille and the Sunflower and explore the feelings of the characters. Students complete worksheets related to Camille's feelings in the...

Cut magazine pictures into three sections, having your youngsters piece the pictures back together. With this fun activity, they discover the importance of sequencing a story. Then they use a fun template (shaped like a burger) to write...

Using a variety of novels about survival, such as Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, pupils create author's studies using wikis. First, learners are placed in groups to study a particular novel. Then, they create a page...

Can your learners fill out an envelope with their personal information? Give them some great practice using this template, which learners will enjoy because it's all about them! First, they write their name and address on an image of an...

Get to you know your new class members with an ice breaker activity that uses their name and creativity. Scholars write their first name in cursive on a folded sheet of paper, cut around the curved lines, open the paper to view its new...

Match weather words with pictures in a weather vocabulary activity. Beginning readers look at pictures of various weather patterns and choose/write the word that describes the weather. They create a map and write about the weather...

To better understand early American literature, which was usually written by Puritans coming to the new world, learners pretend they have just landed on Mars. They compose a letter home describing their experiences, the new landscape,...

Students describe the characteristics of wetlands and identify their ecological functions. They inspect items and use them to create metaphors about wetlands.

Examine the way water moves, drips, and splashes with an expressive dance. Learners discuss the ways in which water moves, then create dance sequences that show or describe water. There are several suggestions to adapt this lesson to...

In this math instructional activity, students color in the verbs that each given noun can do. Students also choose a verb that describes each picture.

Students discuss and write about different feelings they or someone else may have. In this feelings lesson plan, students discuss different ways they express their feelings. Then they get a picture with someone who is demonstrating a...

Read The Napping House and describe the visual characteristics of the illustrations.  In this perspective lesson, learners identify color elements.  They recognize that the text is repetitive and find patterns in the...

Use pictures and manipulatives to develop vocabulary with your beginning language learners. This plan can be used with foreign language learners (although you'll have to provide the vocabulary), English language learners, or a young...

Young scholars create a multimedia presentation. They will complete a verbal versus non-verbal communication chart to create a multimedia presentation which will include the different types of communication strategies. Then answer a...

Learners investigate body systems by participating in a role-play activity. Third, fourth, and fifth graders pretend that they are an organ or system of the human body, and they must write a letter to the body "corporation" discussing...

First graders identify heroes by researching their family history. In this personal heritage lesson, 1st graders define the term "hero" and the characteristics that represent it. Students research family resources and family trees in...

Learners explore British cooking vocabulary. In this ELL vocabulary lesson, learners identify and describe various foods, match foods with adjectives, discuss their opinions about British cuisine, then read food critic reviews. Four...