Combine a study of Native American history and art in this lesson. Learners discuss the importance of fetishes in Native American culture, the history of necklaces, and create their own works of art. Your class will find this to be both...

Although this lesson is based on “Final Word,” Craig Wilson’s USA Today column, the strategies could be adapted to any local columnist. After reading three articles independently, groups share observations about content and style used by...

Provide pupils samples of different types of poems including haikus, narrative, nonsense, shape, and rhyming poems. In groups, class members read the poems, establish their general meaning, identify poetic devices, and rate the poems,...

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

Use this poetry analysis worksheet to help your learners understand a poem of their or your choosing. This resource asks class members to summarize the poem and analyze it by looking at voice, word choice, imagery, and theme. The...

After reading the essay "Killing Chickens" by Meredith Hall, provide your class with these thoughtful questions. After answering the four questions listed, your writers attempt to write their own descriptive essay. Challenge them to...

There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts lesson presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The pictures...

While this resource was originally made to be used in conjunction with John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, it could be used for any literary text. A reference sheet for readers, the resource includes terminology related to figurative...

How do you assess what your pupils have learned over the course of the year? Find out how competent they are at reading and analyzing age-level literature with the ideas presented here. Included in this resource are two suggested...

Eight graphic organizers to choose from? That's right! Each of these organizers relates to writing or reading. From narrowing a writing topic, to responding to literature, to planning a writing project, you'll find many purposes for...

Brighten your third grade classroom with this series of colorful Common Core displays. Including all of the English Language Arts standards and substandards, each with supporting illustrations and examples, this resource provides clear...

Designed to be used with an independent reading book, this activity provides practice with identifying and explaining literary terms. While they read, individuals find instances of literary devices and elements in use in their books....

After reading "The Bullet," a particularly intense chapter in Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members listen to the Spanish and the English versions of "Dimelo" by Enrique Iglesias. They then discuss how the...

Readers of Crispin: The Cross of Lead are asked to identify the type of figurative language used in lines drawn from Avi's novel. 

As part of a study of figurative language Avi uses in his book, Crispin, individuals define the 10 terms listed on the activity and then locate severals examples of each in the text of the novel.

Regional dialect can make a lovely poem even more beautiful. After translating the Scots words in "A Red, Red Rose" into modern English, class members identify the two similes Robert Burns uses in his poem.

Readers of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are asked to craft an essay in which they compare how Maya Angelou uses figurative language to depict herself and Mrs. Flowers. 

As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the...

Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...

The logic, rhythm, and beauty of math sometimes get lost amidst numbers and variables. Amplify math's lyricism with a poetry project that uses metaphors and similes to compare mathematical concepts to other images.

As part of a study of how visual metaphors are used in set design, class members examine an image of designer Josef Svoboda's 3-D scale model for the opera Idomeneo, re` di Creta. They then find another example that employs a visual...

Follow poetry instruction with a four-category rubric designed to guide budding poets' writing of free verse poetry. 

Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...