Curated OER
Georgia CRCT Online: 8th Language Arts Quiz
Review word choice and grammar skills with this practice test for the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). Fifteen multiple-choice questions prompt eighth graders to recall writing strategies, grammar skills, and...
University of North Carolina
Gender-Inclusive Language
In the past, if writers weren't sure of a person's gender, they simply used masculine pronouns. Today, however, as a handout on gender-inclusive language explains, writers must choose pronouns carefully. To promote the use of gender...
K20 LEARN
Use Your Noodle: Avoiding Comma Blunders
Young grammarians will go to town with a lesson that doodles with macaroni! Scholars cook up sentences with the addition of commas, which makes all the difference in their meaning.
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: The Dinka Tribe (“Loss of Culturally Vital Cattle Leaves Dinka Tribe Adrift in Refugee Camps” Excerpt 1)
Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Sentence Variety and Fluency
Students are able to identify, create, and evaluate three kinds of sentences: simple, compound, and complex. They are able identify the purpose of various sentence types: declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory, and...
Curated OER
Eliminate "To Be" Verbs
Learners remove to beverbs from their writing. In this verb usage lesson, students write strategies from eliminating to be verbs, then locate the verbs in their writing and eliminate as many as possible.
Curated OER
Organizational Patterns: Comparison and Contrast Writing
Learners write an essay comparing and contrasting their school experiences. Through guided practice, they create an outline of their elementary school experience and middle school experience. Using their outlines, students synthesize...
Curated OER
Putting it On Paper
Learners locate and print samples of two different business letter formats. They write rough drafts of business letters inquiring when, where, and how math is used.
Curated OER
Delicious Words
Fifth graders work together to make simple menus more interesting by adding descriptive words. This plan works well with the Six Traits of Writing as it covers the trait of word choice. This is a really fun way for students to practice...
Curated OER
FCAT Writes! Frenzy
Fourth graders experience a dress rehearsal of timed demand writing. This lesson allows students to prepare for a timed writing test in which they don't know the prompt. This lesson includes writing prompts and rubrics imbedded in the plan.
Curated OER
The Visual Thesaurus and the SAT
Demonstrate strategies for tackling unfamiliar vocabulary words in preparation for the SAT. Using Visual Thesaurus computer software, middle and high schoolers interpret contextual clues, solve sample sentence completion questions, and...
Curated OER
Proofreading: Lesson 4
Examine the key strategies to proofreading a piece of writing for errors in sentence structure, usage, mechanics and spelling. Eighth graders practice putting into correct passage commonly confused words (too, two, to) when writing to a...
Curated OER
What Kind of Ladybug Are You?
As a class, read different sentences prepared by the teacher, identifying the punctuation that is needed for the appropriate expression. In small groups, have each child assume the role of one or more character in The Grouchy Ladybug by...
Curated OER
Finders Keepers: Vocabulary Instructional Routine Guide for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Like Oskar, the curious boy in Jonathan Safran Foer’s story, class members journey through other “stories that the mouth can’t tell” to find another sentence that uses a word found in novel. Individuals create their own vocabulary list,...
Curated OER
Persuasion and Parallel Structure
Discuss the definition of parallel structure with your high school class. In small groups, they read a section of "The Declaration of Independence" to identify examples of parallel structure. Each learner writes an essay explaining the...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
After going over the five steps of the writing process, pupils fill out "Getting to Know You" worksheets. They trade papers with each other, and have the task of writing a descriptive paragraph about the person whose worksheet they...
EngageNY
End of Unit Assessment, Part III: Storyboard Draft, Section 4
Reflection is the best teacher. Using the resource, scholars complete the final part of their end of unit assessment, the fourth section of their storyboard about an invention. Next, they track their progress using a self-reflection...
Curated OER
Introduce Reading Connected Text
Get your scholars ready to read their first story...with a little assistance, of course. Projecting the short story (included) for all readers to see, point to each word so they can sound it out together. The strategy here is not to have...
BW Walch
Creating Linear Inequalities in One Variable
Just when a young mathematician starts to feel comfortable turning word problems into linear equations, shake things up and throw inequalities in the mix. This excellent, instructive presentation takes the steps for solving an...
Curated OER
Novel Character Study
Students complete a character study using a database to compile information from a novel. They design a five slide presentation highlighting the character's reaction to different situations in the book. They write an acrostic poem using...
Curated OER
Word Pair Analogies 8
Working on analogies in your language arts class? Use this straightforward worksheet to address common techniques and strategies used to solve analogies. This activity is a great way to review vocabulary and to reinforce logical thinking...
Curated OER
Modals
Verbs can be tricky, especially those modal verbs of probability. Take a look at a wonderful 16-page workbook that uses think-pair-share, critical thinking, skills practice, and discussion to assist learners in using the correct modal...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Third Grade Skills Unit 5: Adventures in Light and Sound
Light and sound are the themes of a unit focused on third-grade skills. Scholars practice spelling patterns, grammar—adverbs, adjectives, synonyms, writing sentences with conjunctions, and listening and responding to read-aloud. Over...
English Enhanced Scope and Sequence
Identifying Synonyms
"Let the hunt begin!" As an introduction to synonyms, second graders generate a list of word pairs that have similar meanings. The words pairs are written on sentence strips, cut apart, shuffled, and distributed to class members who must...