Students read and discuss the book, Who Am I Without Him? In this fluency instructional activity, students practice reading with expression and making text to self connections. Students practice writing expressively in their journals.

Students practice reading faster, smoother and more expressively by exercising the strategy of reading and rereading text to become more familiar with word recognition. They participate in reading a page or two of "Pen Pals" to...

Young scholars examine water contamination problems. In this global studies lesson plan, students compare and contrast water sanitation issues on Malawi, Tanzania, and Ontario. Young scholars propose solutions to the water sanitation...

How is Louisiana connected to the Holocaust? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders complete a research report about a survivor of the Holocaust who currently resides in Louisiana. Though the idea is a good way to...

To set the stage for reading Paradise Lost, class members compete an anticipation guide containing statements that connect to themes in Milton's epic poem.

Use this SMART board activity with any short story in your unit plan. The SMART board file contains a step-by-step guide to plot diagrams, including an interactive practice page and an assignment. This resource is beneficial for language...

Students examine different poems from Emily Dickinson. They practice listening for meter in the poems and make connections between the texts. They also practice their own creative writing skills.

Students, who are adult learners, participate in an Internet scavenger hunt in order to assimilate information about the biography of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers. They look at the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers...

Partners identify literary allusions using a provided worksheet and use this knowledge to examine the allusions in Toni Cade Bambara's "Raymond's Run." The class also examines the impact of allusions and slang on the tone of the story.

Writers create an original mystery and have a chance to put it into movie format. The classic elements of a mystery must be present: the crime, the suspects, the motive, the solution and clues. Use iPhoto and Quicktime Movie to integrate...

Students explore contemporary Indian literature. They compare and contrast intergenerational conflict in different cultures. Students explain and clarify their views on marriage and traditions.

Students practice subject predicate agreement through the activities of this lesson. Selecting the correct verb to agree with the subject of the sentence is used in the preparation of documents, resumes, memos, letters, and presentations...

Analyze the central idea or literary theme found in a series of quotes from the Shakespearean play, Hamlet. For literary analysis, learners paraphrase excerpts from the play and then identify the characters' motivations for their speech.

Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...

Discuss movies and movie enjoyment with your middle school language arts class. They interpret movie review information, determine appropriate movies, and then write film reviews to share with the class. Focus on using context clues to...

Explore the dancing prodigy and Depression-era African-American icon Bill Robinson as scholars learn new vocabulary words in context. As you read Leo Dillon's Rap a Tap Tap they listen for six new words: clatter, greet,...

Many of your youngsters have experienced a new baby coming home, and Marc Brown's story Arthur's Baby is a relatable way to cover some new vocabulary terms. Introduce and define the new words before reading the text aloud:...

Join Franklin the turtle at school as youngsters learn new vocabulary in the context of Paulette Bourgeois' story (or apply this strategy to any book). Scholars are acquainted with new words before reading and raise hands when...

Explore vocabulary in context with emerging readers using Leo Lionni's whimsical story Matthew's Dream, which you can find on YouTube if you don't have it. Kids expand their word base as you pre-teach the...

Though the discrete content here is a pair of New York Times articles about a 1998 military strike on Iraq and the coincident impeachment by the House of Representatives of then-President Clinton, this detailed plan for creating,...

Get your kinesthetic learners engaged in a vocabulary study using Karen Pandell's book, Animal Action ABC. They move around as you read, and raise their hands whenever they hear one of the words you are learning. Pre-teach the...

Give beginning readers a chance to practice with unknown words and context clues using the pictuer book Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner. Choose several vocabulary words to focus on as you read the picture book, or use the ones provided...

Explore pond life and action words through Denise Fleming's In the Small, Small Pond, which you can find online if you don't have it on hand. Learners explore the following verbs: doze, hover, plunge, scatter,...

It's the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood retold by James Marshall; scholars listen for six new words as you read: bouquet, charming, escort, horrid, tarry, and wicked. Introduce the words before reading so they can...