Engage in an activity that focuses on the concepts of formal and informal language use. Middle and high schoolers compare and contrast each style by using a Venn diagram that includes some examples. They read and hear a passage of lyrics...

Review the terms denotation, connotation, diction, and mood in paragraph writing. After defining the terms, middle schoolers practice writing examples of both connotation and denotation. They complete a connotation and denotation...

Start by reading the poem "Everyone Sang" by Siegried Sassoon. The archive also houses an audio clip, so consider playing that instead of reading it aloud. After hearing the poem twice, middle and high schoolers will discuss a list of...

What sound does metal make when you hit it? Kindergartners and first graders conduct an experiment about the properties of metal. First, they draw a line between metal items and descriptions of each. Next, they use a magnet to see which...

After a brief lecture on levers, torque, projectiles, and the five-step engineering design cycle, young physical science learners or engineers build catapults out of craft sticks. This is an open-ended exploration of what works and what...

Bells, bells, bells abound in a worksheet designed for Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Bells." Middle schoolers are asked to identify the various poetic devices Poe employs.

Kirk Beckendorf, a middle school teacher, joined researchers at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica to help maintain automatic weather stations. The lesson plan encourages pupils to track his travels around the region. They connect with...

Students complete a variety of activities related to the /f/ sound. As a class they recite a tongue twister, and identify the words containing the /f/ sound. Students trace and write the letter "F," and in pairs identify picture flash...

Students complete a variety of activities related to the short /e/ sound. As a class they recite a tongue twister, and write the letter E. Students then listen to the book "Red Gets Fed," and identify the words in the story that...

First graders listen to a read aloud of "Seven Fat Cats" matching rhyming, beginning, ending and vowel sounds.

Students examine the percussion sounds used to create percussive sounds and identify the instruments that Bobby McFerrin imitates in his scat vocals. A scat version of the musical piece "So What" is improvised in this instructional...

Students practice the letter sound -er. In this sound fluency lesson, students identify the two letters that make the sound and write them on the board. Students practice making the sound -er and begin to identify 12 other letter sound...

Students explore phonetics by participating in a pronunciation activity. In this word sound activity, students identify words in the English language which contain the "er" sound. Students play a class game in which the teacher uses...

In this music worksheet, students locate and identify various vocabulary terms related to Medieval music. They select the best response for each multiple choice question. Then, students draw some notes the way they were written in the...

Students listen to low, middle, and high pitches of music and identify if they are low, middle, or high. In this musical pitch lesson plan, students visually see low, middle, and high pitches on a mountain.

Invite your kindergarteners to explore sound and hearing. Using film canisters, or containers, filled with items from the story "Are You My Mother?" they will predict what the objects were from the story. Tip: you could create a...

Pupils recognize the short vowel e in spoken language. Through matching activities, they discriminate the short vowel /e/ from other short vowel phonemes. Students associate the phoneme with its letter representation and identify the...

Students study the basic skills of algebraic manipulations. They practice the application of basic mathematics in science and determine the nature of good acoustics. They develop proposals for providing good acoustics and identify...

Students listen to sound bite of producer/director Nick Giannopoulos, and discuss issue of stereotypical portrayals of cultural groups presented in the media. Students then use questionnaires and view popular television shows to observe...

Pupils are introduced to the concept of segmentation and blending of words. As a class, they are shown various words and are asked to determine the amount of letters and sounds in each. To end the lesson, they participate in a guessing...

In this short i worksheet, students circle the word in a pair that has the short i sound, then write the word on provided lines. A reference web site is given for additional activities.

Students focus on the sound of the letter /r/ after listening to Rosie's Roses by Pamela Duncan Edwards. In this letter /r/ lesson, students identify animals in the book that contain the /r/ sound. They sort /r/ words into groups by the...

Old MacDonald had a ... dragon? A shared reading of this funny take on the classic children's song engages beginning readers as they learn about phonemes and alliteration.

Focus in on the digraph ch. Young readers will hear the sound, print the letters, and read A Peach for Chad. Can your youngsters think of any more words that use the target sound?