Achieve3000
Figurative Language
Similes and metaphors make writing more beautiful and detailed, but can be a little harder to decipher during a first reading. Use a passage from The Man Who Loved Words to show young readers how to think through passages that...
Scholastic
Point of View
The point of view in a story can dramatically change the story itself. Focus on finding the points of view in various reading passages with a language arts packet, which includes fiction and nonfiction text.
Walters Art Museum
The Symbolism of Allegorical Art
Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...
Aurora City School District
Do Not Try to Kid a Kidder: The Art of Persuasion
The power to convince others of your argument lies in your knowledge of rhetoric! A thorough packet covers the basics of persuasion, including logical appeals and fallacies, and applies strategies to letters to the editor,...
Road to Grammar
100 Ice-Breaker Questions
What if you could ease your English language learners into class with engaging questions? You can do just that with these questions. The questions, designed to prepare learners for working with English, are grouped by topics, such...
International Reading Association
Children’s Choices 2014
Books for kids, chosen by kids! What could be better? This packet is made up of book lists, each with approximately 30 books included, organized by age group. Kids will enjoy the summer reading materials they choose from this...
Scholastic
Narrative Writing
If you're looking to start a unit based around narrative writing, make sure to consider this resource while you're planning. This book covers five topics: writing personal narratives, writing narratives about others, writing...
Scholastic
A Reading Guide to Sarah, Plain and Tall
Eliminate the hard work of creating an entire literature unit with this reading guide for the novel Sarah, Plain and Tall. From background information about the author and her motivation for writing the story to...
Manchester College
What’s Your Point of View?
Work on deciphering the point of view of various pieces of literature. As readers review the concepts of first, second, and third person perspective, they apply what they know to different passages.
Book Units Teacher
Skill Lessons – Prefixes and Suffixes
Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to break it down. Young vocabulary pupils work with word parts in a hands-on activity that prompts them to connect flash cards with affixes to their root and base words....
Curated OER
Participant-Observer Guidelines Handout
Take your collaborative group work to a higher level with this informative handout about the nature, aims, and tasks of participant-observers. Teaching middle and high schoolers how to improve group process advances collaboration skills...
Nosapo
Writing about a Meal
You don't need to be a food critic to describe your meal accurately! A series of activities introduce learners to vivid adjectives when writing about the taste, smell, and feel of food. After working with word choice, parts of a...
Mythology Teacher
Eros and Psyche: Part 1
With Eros and Psyche, your learners will have the opportunity to combine the art of reader's theater with a study of the ancient Greek gods! This engaging reader's theater script will also serve as a fantastic way for your...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
A Mini lesson on Semicolons
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this...
ProCon
Is Homework Beneficial?
Does homework improve student achievement, or does it increase stress? Scholars use the included debate topics website to prepare for a class discussion or debate about whether homework is advantageous. After reading a brief background...
ProCon
Teacher Tenure
Before the implementation of tenure in 1886, female teachers were sometimes fired for wearing pants or staying out too late at night. Scholars research the debate topic to decide if teachers should get tenure. They review the history of...
Urban Education Exchange
Lessons and Units: The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963 5TH GRADE UNIT
Get ready to read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 with a lesson about historical fiction. Spanning several centuries, the resource prompts learners to guess the historical era of a story based on a word or phrase...
Curated OER
The Kite Runner: Concept Analysis
Considering using The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini’s story of Amir, a young boy from Kabul, as whole-class reading or for book groups? Check out this resource that provides background materials on Afghanistan, a synopsis of the...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 8: Nonfiction Close Reading
As part of their study of Things Fall Apart, class members conduct a close reading of a section of Chinua Achebe's essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Jigsaw groups then compare the voice in the essay...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Diversity in World Literature Lesson 5: The Tragic Hero
Should identifying a tragic hero be based on a universal definition or a definition based on the morals and values of a specific culture? As part of a study of Things Fall Apart, class members read Sylvia Plath's "Colossus" and then...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 8: Propaganda in Visual Media
Visual and print propaganda are featured in a instructional activity that asks readers of A Separate Peace to examine the techniques used in propaganda from World War I, World War II, presidential elections, and in the novel.
ProCon
Olympics
Are the Olympic Games a benefit for their host countries and cities? Scholars decide for themselves in preparation for a class debate or discussion. After reading a brief background and overview of the topic, pupils read the top three...
San José State University
Transition Words
Translate transition words for your class with this handout and brief exercise. Fairly straightforward and informative, it includes sample sentences and a working link to a more complete list of transition words. There are two different...
Jackson School District
An Introduction to Satire
What is satire, and what are its characteristics? A handy handout provides young satirists with all the information they need to analyze a satire or to craft their own.