Invite your class to investigate racism and civil rights by analyzing the great Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Your learners will read the words from the "I Have a Dream" speech and analyze the political and racial overtones. They will...

Using Visual Thesaurus software, class members participate in a computer-based spelling bee. Then they work in groups to analyze the words and use deductive reasoning to infer spelling patterns. They then present one of their "rules" to...

Groups use a Venn diagram to compare the theme of love and loss in Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address to Stanford University students and Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy.

United States symbols are the subject of a video brought to you by BrainPop Jr. Hosts, Annie and Moby, begin with a definition of the word symbol, then go on to detail ten American symbols—the American flag, a Bald Eagle, the Liberty...

Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...

Putting word parts together to make compound words is like working on a puzzle; when two pieces fit together, you know! Invite learners to work with word puzzle pieces to create 12 different compound words. They record their findings on...

Here are three guided reading lesson plan templates; each designed to meet the needs of a specific level of readers. Levels in focus are emergent, early, and transitional readers. Additionally, prompts to support your small group...

An affix plus a base word equals what? A new word! Invite your class members to discover words using affixes and base words. Learners then write sentences using the real words that they put together.

Learning to read can be exhilarating for some pupils, but for others, it's difficult to get past the frustration of not knowing how to read a particular word. A tutoring resource provides several ways to guide class members into...

Scholars examine newspaper articles and highlight two sight words to discover which appears more frequently. They then glue sight words onto paper to make flashcards before composing, writing, and creating picture representations of...

Emergent readers use a letter cube to identify, blend, and make words. They roll each of the three-letter cubes, mark down the letters they rolled, then blend the letter sounds together to make a word. They record each word on a...

The power of a word. Readers learn the importance of word choice in shaping a text by using a Powerful Language T-chart to separate strong words and phrases from those that are more bland. They then complete a third read and question set...

Reinforce language and reading comprehension skills with a worksheet focused on context clues. Scholars carefully read twelve sentences, use prior knowledge and sentence clues to define an unknown word.   

Fables can teach us about life's morals, but they are also helpful for reviewing verb tense, spelling, and word choice. Three reading passages feature well-known fables, each with several opportunities for students to circle the correct...

Every word matters. Increase reading fluency with word recognition practice. Scholars continue to practice reading words in each list until they demonstrate mastery. Readers practice both new and review word lists.

To learn more about Frederick Douglass, class members complete close reads of excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. They complete a close reading guide and questions for each excerpt. Pupils then add to the...

Is your class prepared to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Do they have the reading level necessary to truly comprehend the novel? Use the cloze procedure (detailed here) to determine if this text is appropriate for your class. The first...

As part of their study of the vocabulary used in Sonia Levitin's The Cure, class members create a card, filling in words from the novel, and then engage in a bingo game.

Guide class members through Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a series of questions designed for before, during, and after reading. Readers consider Gregor's situation and his options. In addition, they...

If your language arts students think etymology isn't relevant to their everyday lives, show them a presentation that will prove them wrong! The slideshow provides explanation about various words, roots, and suffixes that have adapted in...

Play letter sound detective with your class, and snoop out sounds, onsets, blends, and rhyme. In pairs, children take turns choosing a card from the pile; as they sound out part of the word, their partner attempts to figure out which...

The story of King Arthur is a fascinating one, and this retold excerpt offers an excellent example of narrative word choice in a dialogue. Learners read the text and examine the way the author uses synonyms for said. They write down...