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...

Consider how well students' favorite TV shows, movies and video games reflect the diversity of society. The lesson introduces your class to several media literacy concepts, such as how media conveys values and messages, as well as the...

Sail with Christopher Columbus on a biographical reading adventure. Young explorers learn about the life of Sir Columbus as they hone their comprehension skills through guiding questions, shared reading, and fluency practice. Included in...

That is a great word because it starts with the th sound. There are so many words that start with the consonant digraph th. Early readers are going to love this packet of fun worksheets, games, flashcards, and images that were created...

Play a vocabulary game with words from an article about Savion Glover's contribution to the film "Happy Feet." Then, small groups of students design and create original movie advertisements using vivid vocabulary to give Glover the...

A tea party in Wonderland? An East Egg brunch with Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Nick? Breakfast with Miss Havisham, Lady Macbeth, and Abigail Williams? Or dinner with Andre, Hamlet, and Randle Patrick McMurphy? Class members select a favorite...

Leaners will recite "Cross Patch" and examine its related emotions and vocabulary. They chant "Cross Patch", participate in listening games and identify rhyming words. Afterward, they place the rhyme in their "My Very Own Nursery Rhyme...

Look up! Turn left! This activity on giving and following verbal directions will excite your learners. A "finder" leaves the room while you and the class hides an object. When they return, learners must use words on the cue cards...

Ever heard of CTE? A passage about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) provides the text for a reading comprehension check. The subject matter is sure to engage your readers and the questions, based on the passage, assess whether high...

What is theme, and how can you find themes in literary works? These and other questions are answered by a colorful and engaging presentation that not only defines the term but also provides easy to understand examples. The slides...

In the second lesson plan in a series that revolves around the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker, learners practice the skill of answering direct questions from the text while using complete sentences. After a teacher-led review of how to...

Young readers continue to strengthen their fluency skills with a text of their choosing. The teacher first engages the class with an audio recording or read-aloud of a short poem, modeling for children how to read fluently. Next it's...

What do chug and chain have in common? The consonant digraph ch of course. Hold onto your hats – here is a packet of worksheets with enough practice activities to fill a short unit. It contains two lists of ch words, three practice...

Here is an excellent reference list of over 60 recommended book titles for early readers, each of which includes the author, title, number of pages, and brief summary.

Phonemes are the focus of this colorful and engaging presentation. Learners are exposed to a variety of phonemes, and are invited to construct words using them. A fun game of phoneme Bingo appears on one of the slides, and other...

Combat hate online by bringing it into the light. Begin by giving learners a quiz, then lead a discussion based on the issues the quiz brought up. As a class, develop strategies to confront online hate. Assign different venues to groups...

The engaging story Rain School is further explored in the third lesson of a larger unit that explicitly teaches close reading skills by answering questions whose answers can only be found inside the text. Through teacher...

Students explore how interactive Web sites support live sports programming, and then design Internet sites that provide interactive support for a favorite television program. They present their mock ups to the class.

In this language worksheet, students participate in a language game involving twenty-eight sentence starters. Students draw a sentence and complete the thought.

Students prepare for a test on punctuation and characterization by completing practice assignments. While completing the assignment, they note the difference between direct and indirect characterization and explain how punctuation...

Young scholars participate in a game that deals with homophones. They review the rules to the game and work in teams to run up to the board and write two more versions to each homograph called out by the teacher. All team members...

In this language arts worksheet, 5th graders learn the difference between polite, neutral and rude responses to oral requests. Students read 3 situations and 3 possible responses. Students compare them and decide which is the most...

In this language arts worksheet, learners are introduced to the difference between polite, rude or neutral language. Students read the information paragraphs about when it is appropriate to use each type of language.

What is a signal word? Recognizing these words is an important step in both reading and writing formal text. Review a list of signal words (provided and organized into specific categories), and then have your class play a game to...