Learners listen as a teacher models how to read a poem using The Negro Speaks of Rivers. They use the How to Read a Poem anchor chart to help guide their thought process on how a poem requires different reading than other text. While...

Google, Yahoo!, Bing ... so many choices, so little time! Using the resource, scholars explore how different search engines affect the way they find information. After reading a handout on the topic and engaging in small group...

Perspective is everything. Using a graphic organizer, pupils determine Laurence Yep's perspective of the police in his novel Dragonwings. Additionally, scholars complete anchor charts to identify connotative language in the text.

Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...

Need a prereading activity in line with the Common Core Standards for Language? Although designed for grades 11 and 12, the procedure detailed in this resource could be used with most grade levels. Prior to reading, select 20 – 25 words...

What do all those chairs and pencils do in the classroom once everyone leaves? Allow imaginations to run wild with frighteningly short poems!

Don't you wish you could use passive voice? Be careful what you wish for! "The Monkey's Paw" is the focus of a grammar and language usage lesson about active and passive voice. Readers identify examples of active and passive voice in...

In this language arts worksheet, 5th graders complete multiple choice questions about punctuation, parts of speech, research process and more. Students complete 25 questions.

Katherine Paterson’s young adult novel Lyddie is the foundation of a differentiated instruction unit that not only explores the rise of industrialization and labor but women’s rights issues as well. After learners read the novel, they...

Do monsters really exist? Find out what your class thinks with these discussion questions prior to reading Beowulf. Incorporate music and a video clip into the anticipatory set to engage your learners. Take a day to search online...

Work on narrative writing with this lesson plan, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view of the...

Your class can learn about Amelia Earhart and practice important comprehension skills here. Learners answer questions about cause and effect, compare texts, and discuss similes and metaphors after reading Amelia Earhart: Free in the...

Young writers needn't be self-involved to craft a conceit. Directions for how to craft this form of extended metaphor, models, and a worksheet are all included in the packet.

Students identify the basic symbols of the English language and identify written languages as sets of symbols. For this symbols lesson, students study a hieroglyphic message and pictures of other languages. Students try to interpret the...

The story Once in a Blue Moon by Nicola Morgan is full of figurative language. Second graders choose one idiom from the story and create an illustration of its meaning. Handouts and structured vocabulary practice is included...

Students research Prince Harry's upcoming deployment to Iraq as a British soldier. They write reaction papers expressing their opinions about it. Students choose from two points of view - should he be deployed, or will his deployment...

Young scholars read an autobiography of a peace corps volunteer studying Chinese. In this cultural acceptance lesson, students compare the dialects of Chinese with English dialects. Young scholars discuss the differences in learning and...

"TH" is for "Thursday." Language learners practice pronouncing the English names for the days of the week, write these names on cards, and then place the cards in order.

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,...

Students examine the experiences of a Peace Corps volunteer learning to speak Chinese. They read and discuss an essay written by the Peace Corps volunteer, analyze a map of China, and discuss the author's difficulties in learning the...

Students record themselves saying basic biographical facts about themselves: : what their names are, where they live, how old they are, what languages they speak, and what activities they like to do. They practice their presentational...

Students read the poem "Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes" and analyze the form, figurative language, and mood. They complete a T-chart containing what they have learned about Pablo and the evidence from the poem supporting their conclusions.

Use this lesson to study similes and metaphors and the inferred meaning. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders write their own similes and metaphors. A worksheet is provided for extension work or to check understanding as homework.

Aesop’s Fables offer young learners an opportunity to study figurative language. After reviewing theme, simile, alliteration, and metaphor, model for your pupils how to identify examples of these devices in the fable. Class members then...