Kids practice using five types of context clues (definition, synonym, antonym, example, and general) to decode idiomatic language.

Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing lesson. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The lesson includes several options to complete...

A picture is worth a thousand words, but political art may be worth even more! After examining examples of political cartoons, murals, and other forms of public art, class members create their own pieces to reflect their ideals and...

Explore the structure of narrative writing with this fun, collaborative instructional activity. Start by reading aloud a short story, asking small groups of learners to fill in key events on a large story board prepared on the class...

Explore storyboards with your pre-reader using the familiar story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." They look at pictures as you read the captions in a comic book style. At the end, they try to finish the story based on a resolution...

"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own...

Want your class to use critical thinking when discussing vocabulary? Go beyond the dictionary with a vocabulary activity based on Gary Paulsen's Hatchet. Kids write the word in the center of a graphic organizer that also provides...

Students learn about characterization techniques in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  In this Adventures of Tom Sawyerinstructional activity, students write a description of one character through the eyes of another character and...

Present the class with a slide show that will give them a great head start in writing expository and narrative texts. The information is highlighted for easy note taking, well organized, and presented in a kid-friendly manner. It...

Pre-readers benefit from visual context clues like the ones in this rhyme worksheet. There are two sets of objects here, and scholars connect objects on the left with their rhyming counterparts on the right. Each word has the vowel...

An activity challenges scholars to show what they know about onset and rime. Learners choose from a stack of picture cards and give onset and rhyming clues to see if their partners can guess the word they are holding.

Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...

A picture is worth a thousand words! Young learners use the included templates to demonstrate their understanding of target vocabulary by creating pictures that depict their meaning.

Learners identify the features of fiction books. In this genre study activity, students are introduced to the book Armadillo Rodeo and identify the cover, title, author, illustrator and title page. Learners discuss how the book cover...

Learners use context clues to define words with multiple meanings. After extensive practice with their teacher, learners read through six sentences, they then identify a word with a multiple meaning, and determine its meaning based on...

Story retell is a very important skill. Little learners use a story map and a previously heard story to walk through the retell and story sequencing process. They complete this activity as a whole class and then on their own. 

The skill of prediction as a reading strategy is explored. Learners are shown how to use clues within a story, along with pictures, to make predictions as to what's going to happen in the story. A clever in-class game which uses objects...

For this language arts worksheet, students investigate compound word pairs. In each of 12 word pairs, the same word is missing. Picture clues help the students. Example: saucepan, pancake

Model for emergent readers how to write a story by interpreting picture clues. For guided practice a second book is used, and then pupils work independently or with an adult to write their own stories based on illustrations.

What is an inference, and how can you use textual evidence to create one? Introduce your developing readers to the world of inferencing with this presentation. Terms are defined, and several examples are shown. The class works together...

Students research school room from the past. They create a design for a school desk that is tailored to the specific needs of today's students. They evaluate group work and create a presentation.

Students investigate inferences. They define inference, view a Powerpoint presentation, answer questions about a picture book, and identify clues throughout the story as examples of inferences.

Introduce your scholars to onomatopoeia and alliteration using a language elements worksheet. They examine six sound words and match them to four pictures. Next, learners read two examples of alliteration and write one of their own. They...

It's important to learn how to display data to make the information easier for people to understand. A reading activity prompts kids to use context clues to answer five comprehension questions after reading several paragraphs about...