What better way to prepare learners for academic success than to administer practice tests? With the Comprehensive Examination in English, scholars read informational and literary texts and answer listening and reading comprehension...

Anybody can write a body paragraph! Pupils analyze the development of ideas in a body paragraph from a model essay. Next, using what they've learned, they draft the body paragraphs of their My Rule to Live By informative essay. 

Bring this instructional activity into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own...

Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...

Support vocabulary instruction for any unit with this quick exercise. Class members write down the word, part of speech, and definition. They compose an original sentence using the word, and draw a picture of the word. Four words fit on...

A short film about music is the inspiration for a well-sequenced lesson that includes discussion, group work, and writing. After the whole class converses about music, small groups write narratives about a still from the film. Pupils...

Following and giving instructions are important skills for learners to master. Using this resource, learners discuss types of instructions. Then, they discuss how to write instructions, talk about ways to augment information with...

Choose a side! Pupils watch and read several nonfiction resources about zoos. After gathering their research, they choose a side either for or against closing zoos. Scholars complete KWL charts, anticipation guides, flow charts, and...

To demonstrate their ability to craft an analysis of informational text, class members read excerpts from James Madison's "The Federalist No. 10," from George Washington's Farewell Address, and from Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural...

What's got 60 eyes, 150 fingers, and an endless number of ideas? Your language arts class! Challenge young writers to come up with clever riddles with an online poetry lesson.

Young writers use the four-square graphic organizer to draft their historical fiction narratives' first, second, third, and fourth paragraphs on the wheelwright. The instructional activity promotes discussion and modeling of what makes a...

Ninth graders synthesize their inquiry paths, research process, and claim formulation with a writing assessment at the end of the unit. Learners write a one-page perspective about their conclusions from the research process and outcomes...

How do writers engage their readers in a story? Pupils consider the question and use the informational text, "The Hero's Journey" to justify their plan for their own fictional narrative. To that end, scholars write an explanatory...

Explore the characters in My Antonia by Willa Cather with a biopoem assignment. Pupils use the provided format to write their poems about any character from the book.

Smart Solutions is the theme of a unit created to meet the needs of English language earners. Through a series of lessons, scholars follow a routine—move, speak, and listen— to cover topics including stores, shops, celebrations, pets,...

Your pupils are poets, and now they'll be able to show it with the exercises in this packet. The lessons, designed for beginner, intermediate, and experienced poets, not only feature a variety of poetic forms, but take...

Scholars scour thematically aligned texts to gather a bank of words they can use in an original acrostic poem. 

A lesson begins with a discussion on gratitude—what does it mean, and for who are learners thankful? Scholars share their thoughts and feelings then choose a community worker to which they wish to share their gratitude. Writers compose a...

A simple set of practice sheets deals with sentence structure and patterns. The 117-page packet includes 10 units of skills, varying from identifying parts of speech in a sentence to writing the correct part to make a sentence...

How can you teach a text to a group of readers who struggling with the language? The second in a set of three ESL lessons related to Theme 4: Problem Solvers engages English language learners by introducing vocabulary and grammar...

Sharing is caring! Using the collaborative lesson, scholars engage in a shared writing process with the teacher. Working together, they compose opinion letters about Jackie Robinson's legacy. 

More of a short lesson than a instructional activity, this exercise gives instruction on the definition of nouns. Young writers discover common, proper, singular, plural, concrete, and abstract nouns. Excellent!

Relate literary works and authors to the major themes of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 20th century. Working in groups, high schoolers will evaluate period philosophy, religion, and politics that influenced...

Students examine samples of writing and discuss the score it received. They brainstorm what qualities make a good writer and stories.