Finding engaging ways to help your middle schoolers build their vocabulary is not easy to do. The lesson presented here offers a great way to motivate them to build vocabulary by making it into a game. Teams of pupils use a dictionary...

Explore the relationship between U and I with a video and related activities. First, pupils have some fun with the alphabet and discuss text message language. Next they practice coming up with words that have the same sound a I and...

For this language lesson, scholars use Greek root meanings to determine the meaning of words. After being shown how Greek roots are used in many words, such as, photosynthesis, pairs are given two excellent black line masters...

Discuss art and read Matthew's Dream.  In this visual arts lesson, students recognize that there are different styles of art, each with its own techniques.  Use simple techniques to understand art and work at stations to...

Just like in real life, characters in short stories show their true personalities through their words and deeds. Decipher the character development in Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with a set of activities...

Focusing on a specific inquiry and area of investigation, ninth graders continue their research projects and portfolios based on Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation and their questions. The activity guides readers through the...

What was life like for William Shakespeare's sister, Judith? Scholars continue reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own to find out. They complete a Quick Write to explain how Woolf's comparison of the siblings develops a central...

When it comes to love and midsummer nights, confessions are tricky. Learners place themselves in the shoes of a character from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and explain how a character manipulated another character in...

Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...

A lesson challenges learners to ask and answer questions about the life cycle of a frog. With a class read-aloud, partner discussion, and notebook reflections, scholars complete a three-page worksheet to prove their understanding of the...

Students investigate different painting techniques by studying classic works of art.  For this art history lesson, students observe the famous Madonna and Child with Saints painting and describe the texture and images they notice....

Werner Herzog's film, Lessons of Darkness is the topic of this lesson on art, politics, and culture. Learners discuss the concepts of utopia, dystopia, detournment, and Scorched Earth then compose a paper which describes dystopian reality.

As part of a series of resources designed for English learners, a language arts lesson plan prompts kid engage in activities and exercises that focus on the past tense of irregular verbs.

Complete a puzzle one piece at a time. Scholars gather in triads to complete jigsaw activities over a monologue from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies. They read as a group and independently and use sticky notes to identify the gist of...

Big Buddies is a wonderful tradition that has been going on in schools for a long time. Older children get together with much younger children for mentoring purposes. It's a confidence builder for all involved. There are two wonderful...

English language learners celebrate the seasons with games, songs, and readings. 

If you are working on colors, printing names, introductions, and other projects in the first few weeks of school, use a series of activities designed for English language learners. It includes cute ways to wish your little ones...

Youngsters go on a magnetic fishing trip! Use an engaging and clever language arts instructional activity to reinforce the recognition of the letters of the alphabet with very young readers. A fishing pole is made of a ruler and a piece...

Investigate current local elections across the United States with this New York Times reading lesson. Using informational text, middle and high schoolers research local elections and create their own news reports about what they...

What would you ask a presidential candidate if you had the chance? Bring politics to your language arts classroom with this lesson, in which young readers brainstorm questions they would have liked the presidential candidates to answer....

How can understanding the genre of historical fiction help your language arts class with literary analysis? Use this lesson to help young readers learn about historical fiction. After reading a selection from the "Dear America" or "My...

Here is a nicely designed lesson with everything you need to implement it in your classroom. First, pairs of learners get together and each write their own version of a classic fairy tale. They then peer edit each other's stories, taking...

Bring multi-cultural experiences and literature into your language arts class with this instructional activity. Here, young readers explore the points of view of first and second-generation Asian immigrants with a list of various fiction...

Feeling conflicted? Work out those issues with a language arts lesson on internal and external conflict. Using "The Interlopers" by Saki, class members identify the conflicts between the characters before writing their own short...