Discover the rules of fishing. Pupils read chapter five of World without Fish to discover ideas about the rules and laws of fishing. They use sticky notes to annotate text as they read about fishing in other countries. They focus on...

Affixes can change the entire meaning of a word! Pupils practice with three prefixes and three suffixes in this scaffolded word meaning resource. There are affix cards here you can display in a pocket chart as you review. Learners first...

"Can the connotation of a word or phrase create bias or prejudice?" The activities in this SMART Board lesson are directed toward this question, which will be sure to incite lots of opinions and ideas. The SMART Board file guides them...

Young learners develop a deeper understanding of target vocabulary. In pairs, pupils independently complete a series of word clue cards, asking them to find information about key terms, including their definitions, synonyms, antonyms,...

Readers use context to determine the meaning of words found in a short article about earthquakes and the movement of the earth's crust.

Young readers demonstrate phonemic awareness in words and blends, and recognize 100 high-frequency words. Use a nursery rhyme to point out rhyming words, and change the words by putting a new letter at the beginning. Each learner will...

Writers explore vocabulary and expressions used in the English language. They use visual word maps to become aware of the different uses of words which will allow them to more readily interpret texts. Then they listen to/read excerpts...

Scholars gain interest in the case of Brown v. Board of Education by watching a video clip and completing a quick write. They then independently read excerpts from Brown v. Board of Education and work through a Steps for Getting the Gist...

For this language arts lesson, 8th graders verify the meaning of a word in its context, even when its meaning is not directly stated. After a class discussion on how to use context clues, students pairs are given a worksheet of "mystery...

Word roots, prefixes, and suffixes can hold the key to determining the meaning of a host of different words. Included here are five pages of prefixes, roots, and suffixes paired with their meanings and example words.

An interactive online quiz checks mastery of the Latin roots fin, sed/sid/sess, and fer with 12 true/false items. Pupils agree or disagree with the usage of intermediate level vocabulary in context. Part of MyVocabulary.com which offers...

You bathe in a bath, and you might advise someone by giving advice, but how do you tell the difference between these commonly misused words? This page provides 10 sets of words that sound or look similar, but have different meanings....

In 1941 FDR spoke out on the events at Pearl Harbor. The class will get to analyze word choice,  word meaning, author's craft and structure by analyzing an actual draft of this speech. They will look critically at the words used,...

Learners read a variety of word problems and find the mode, median, range, and mode from a given set of data. If calculators are not desirable, provide the class with notebook paper to work out the equations. 

Explore the process of simplifying square roots through an analysis of perfect squares. The fourth instructional activity of 25 expects individuals to find the perfect square factors in each radicand as a means of simplifying. The...

The power of a picture. During the events surrounding World War I, propaganda posters were widely distributed in American society to sway the emotions of its citizens. By analyzing World War I propaganda posters in the first installment...

Encountering a new an unfamiliar word can stump even the best readers. Third graders learn how to assess the base, prefix, and suffix of words to help them determine its meaning. The class works together to go over a series of common...

Here is a vocabulary worksheet in which your scholars determine the meaning of 10 words using context clues from short readings. They choose from among four words and write their answers on the blank lines at the bottom of the page. They...

Understanding a word's etymology can really help with decoding and building vocabulary skills. Readers compare and contrast words of similar origins but with different difficulty levels. They focus on prefixes, suffixes, and affixes....

Engage young learners in expanding their vocabulary with a fun game. Scholars learn how compound words provide clues about the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. Pairs take turns reading a definition, locating its corresponding compound...

Practice vocabulary skills with this word analysis lesson. Middle schoolers examine the roots of unfamiliar words and use their knowledge of roots to discern meaning through word analysis.

No wonder the ship was called the Titanic. An investigation of Norse, Roman, and Greek Mythology provides insight into mythological characters and corresponding words in the English language. A close look at roots, prefixes, and suffixes...

Give mathematicians some guided practice in calculating mean averages. They use examples as guides before completing four different sections to build on this skill. First, learners determine the mean of eight pairs of whole numbers....

Beyonce's "Halo" and Bruno Mars' "Grenade" provide eighth graders with an opportunity to consider how a writer's choice of words can create a very different tone even when the subject is the same. After a close reading of both lyrics,...