Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 

Tenth graders complete a variety of activities related to the first two chapters of the book The Outsiders. They define metaphor, simile, idiom, and hyperbole, and take a vocabulary pre-quiz. In small groups, they write a character...

Dating in America is the subject of a focused listening exercised that could be used with language learners as well as native English speakers. The richly detailed packet includes a writing assignment, supplemental exercises, vocabulary...

The New York Times article “Lessons in Internet Plagiarism,” launches a look at how the Internet has increased the prevalence of plagiarism. The richly detailed lesson includes warm-up and wrap-up activities, discussion questions,...

Should school and professional teams test athletes for sickle cell trait? Will it protect them by providing knowledge or lead to discrimination by not allowing them to participate in sports? After learning about this genetic disorder,...

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...

Explore language arts by completing a story worksheet in class. Readers will identify the importance of plot, setting, and character while they write their own short story. They also retell their story to a classmate and participate in a...

Learners participate in a series of demonstrations about Bernoulli's principle. They explain how air pressure varies with air speed. They write a detailed lab report about the activity. This is a great way to explore this concept.

Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson plan,...

Once you've entered effective search terms, how do you evaluate the results of your search? Through the presentation and activities included here, pupils will examine results pages and determine what guiding information is provided. By...

Second graders investigate life cycles of insects by writing a story.  In this butterfly life lesson, 2nd graders create a checklist of the many steps a caterpillar takes before growing wings and flying.  Students utilize...

Students observe and demonstrate the strategy of summarizing the main idea. They discuss six rules of summarizing, and observe the teacher summarizing the first chapter of the novel "The Incredible Journey." Students then read chapter...

Third graders write about a photograph they have that represents friendship. In this friendship lesson plan, 3rd graders also read a book about friendship.

Third graders find the narrator or speaker in a story. In this story elements lesson, 3rd graders listen to the story My Senator and Me and answer comprehension questions. They complete a descriptive writing piece from different...

High schoolers write about the impact of the Underground Railroad. They examine primary documents as they conduct independent research to explore the role of the Underground Railroad during the fight for abolition. They...

Second graders listen to the book, Pigaroom carefully. They create lists of animals that may be on the farm and then write their own books about farm life. They proofread their stories using editing checklists and exchange their paper...

Young scholars, while reading a novel together in class, jot in their journals any connections to their own lives they can make between the text and self, text to text or text to the world. Various themes are connected to open more doors...

Second graders write a personal narrative using webs they created and a story map worksheet. In this personal narrative lesson plan, 2nd graders make lists of ideas to write about and pick one to focus on.

Students summarize a selected piece of nonfiction text as a group. After reviewing the instructors preferred method for summarizing information by identifying the main idea and supporting details, groups write a summary paragraph of a...

Learners paint a symbol representing themselves. In this painting lesson students discuss symbols and view the Interpretive Wall. Learners write a poem to generate their personal symbol.

Students explore acrostic poems. In this interactive poetry lesson, students visit the ReadWriteThink.org website to view characteristics and samples of acrostic poems. Students develop acrostic poems by using the interactive site.

Stella Louella’s Runaway Book launches a study of point of view and storytelling. After reading the tale, class members retell the story from the point of view of another character. The scripted plan, developed by a teacher candidate,...

Introduce budding scholars to the many types of academic plagiarism.  Potential plagiarizers develop a definition of the infringement and determine how it has been committed. The instructor provides the writing examples and...

Explore nonfiction writing with your class. They will identify elements in nonfiction by reviewing elements of fiction. Then they use biographies, memoirs, menus, Time for Kids, and text books to identify elements of nonfiction. They...