Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Rhyme, Rhyme or No Rhyme
Rhyming is fun, builds phonemic awareness, and is a tried and true pre-reading skill. This activity helps learners identify words that rhyme. Young scholars listen to a song, locate a rhyming word they hear by clapping then draw a...
Curated OER
Breaking News: English Athlete's Hairstyles
Practice vocabulary and speaking skills in this ESL reading comprehension instructional activity. Middle and high schoolers participate in a number of before, during, and after reading activities based on an article entitled "Footballer...
Nosapo
Body Language
When it comes to learning a language and literacy, understanding nonverbal communication is often as important as verbal communication. An interactive body language activity incorporates role play to demonstrate the difference between...
Orlando Shakes
Arms and the Man: Study Guide
Few aspects of life make better fodder for a comedic play than politics. A study guide introduces George Bernard's Shaw comedy Arms and the Man. Along with summaries of each scene and brief biographies of the main characters, two lesson...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Letter-Sound Correspondence, Words Around Us Memory Game
Scholars employ memory and letter-sound skills like the classic game Concentration to succeed at this literacy game. Partners choose from rows of upside-down cards, trying to match letters to images with the corresponding initial sound.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Isolating, Move and Tell
Build phonological awareness with this fun game focused on isolating and identifying medial phonemes. This game board contains an image on each square; when the child lands on a square, they must say the medial sound of the word they...
Curated OER
Scene Writing: Literacy and Playwriting
Drama is ever-present in our daily lives and eloquently depicted on stage. Middle schoolers practice writing scenes based on different prompts and frameworks, and then perform those creative scenes for their classmates. The activities...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phoneme Feud
This is a phoneme feud! A literacy game that is very similar to the classic card game War! has partners challenging each other for the most phonemes. They place one picture card face-up at a time and segment the phonemes aloud. Whoever...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1: Unit 3, Lesson 12
Marc Chagall's painting Romeo and Juliet and Baz Lurhmann's film of the same scene in Romeo + Juliet allow class members to analyze how artists consider the same subject in different media.
Curated OER
Word Play
Students explore the work of Xu Bing. In this visual arts activity, students examine the art piece "Monkeys Grasp for the Moon" and compare it to the Buddhist folktale on which it is based. Students create animated flip books based on...
Curated OER
Macbeth News Broadcast
Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Curated OER
Home Living / Daily Living: Shopping List
Talk with your pupils about the importance of staying focused at the grocery store. Your special education class will discuss how to create and use a shopping list. They will make a shopping list and pretend to use it in a role-play...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Picture Slide
Here is another fun and engaging way to help youngsters build phonological awareness. In pairs, they use the provided picture cards to sound out segments of words. As they slide the picture together they say a segment of the...
Curated OER
Making Words
Young writers identify and generate words using the strategies of phonics on the Making Words computer program. Words are typed instead of having to use tiles or paper. Extension activities such as playing the memory game, drawing...
Curated OER
Play on Words Design
High schoolers create a design of an image that combines two words to create an unusual visualization. They improve their drawing skills by completing a detailed, colored pencil rendering of the "Play on Words" they design. Using...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Drop and Say
This neat idea gets kids to use phonics and puzzle-solving skills. Pairs take turns picking picture cards from a pile, say the name of the object on the card, drop a letter to turn that word into a new word, then look for the new word on...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Word Knowledge
Turn skills practice into a game of Bingo! Scholars listen to words and locate their synonyms on their Bingo cards. The first play to fill their card wins.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Onset and Rime, Quick Pick
What does it begin with? In this engaging phonics game, small groups study onset and rime using picture cards. Groups take turns as one player draws three cards from an overturned pile, placing them face-up on the table. They silently...
Curated OER
Language Arts
In this literacy worksheet, 5th graders practice putting the sentences into the proper grammar structure, using the correct punctuation, and finding the definitions in the dictionary.
Pearson
Rumpelstiltskin
Classic fairy tales are great! They have memorable characters, present interesting story lines, and lend themselves to art projects. Grab a copy of "Rumpelstiltskin" and get ready to participate in several early literacy activities. The...
Curated OER
Modern Minstrelsy: Exploring Racist Stereotypes in Literature and Life
Satires may be designed to expose a bias to ridicule but if misunderstood can they reinforce that bias? Langston Hughes poem, “Minstrel Man” opens a discussion of racist stereotypes, the minstrel tradition, and the musical, “The...
Curated OER
Writing History: From Students to Scholars
An Online NewsHour article about scholarly ethics launches this study of plagiarism. Since historians are supposed to bring original ideas and perspectives to their publications, they must give credit to the ideas of others. After a...
Curated OER
Word Roots 5: Nat, Tract, Sequ Advanced-Context-Story 3
Give your class an example of vocabulary words in a paragraph. Once your learners know the definition of the twelve vocabulary words used here, hearing the words in context can help round out their understanding of how to use the words....