Words matter! That's the big idea behind an activity that asks scholars to replace words in FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech with synonyms. They then listen to a recording of President Roosevelt's address and compare his version to their own.

An inaugural address represents the first moments of a new beginning. Using John F. Kennedy's speech as a model for guided practice, groups examine the ingredients of an inaugural address. Individuals then repeat the analysis...

Students engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the creation of The Gettysburg Address set within a modern context. They read the entire speech and then brainstorm to create modern ideas that are similar. Students...

Can your class convince the townspeople to support the rally in Carl Hiaasen's Hoot? Have your young writers exercise their persuasive writing skills in a lesson that prompts them to write a letter or a speech based on Chapter 18...

As Theodore Roosevelt reminded Congress in 1908, corporation one is not corporation two. Readers of this excerpt from Roosevelt's Message to Congress have an opportunity to sharpen their comprehension skills as they study this primary...

Harold Washington forged a coalition of voters and won the Chicago mayoral election of 1983. In doing so he became the first black mayor of that racially and ethnically divided city. Excerpts from his speech are included in a worksheet...

'Tis the season to be joyful, merry, beautiful, and red! Test young learners' knowledge of parts of speech with a festive coloring worksheet. As they identify which words are nouns and which words are adjectives, they color each part of...

I came, I saw, I conquered! Parallel structure, employed by writers even before Julius Caesar, is the focus of a activity that teaches young writers the power of this rhetorical device. Class members analyze speeches by Dr. Martin Luther...

If you stop a student from expressing views that advocate drug use, are you violating their right to free speech? Use the 2007 Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick to discuss a nuanced interpretation of the First Amendment....

Is the right to wear a band t-shirt included in our freedom of speech? Budding historians consider the question by using a video game. After a brief animated video, users drop in and listen to Supreme Court justices as they debate the...

Parts of speech are the subject of an engaging jellyfish-themed learning game. A jellyfish grabs corresponding words to match the part of speech that displays on the screen. Skills include nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and...

Register, establish a platform, make campaign speeches, and design campaign advertisements with a study of presidential elections. Young citizens engage in various activities that mimic the election process.

Adjectives are supposed to describe nouns, but they can actually become nouns themselves! Learners review ten adjectives and transform them into the nouns found in their roots.

Which comes first in an adjective phrase: a word denoting a noun's quality, or a word describing a noun's function? If your elementary grammarians don't know the answer, have them review ten pairs of adjective phrases and circle the one...

Knowing the parts of speech can make you a better writer! Young grammarians use sets of two and three adjectives to write engaging sentences, taking care to use the adjectives in the correct order.

A pop-up video version of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech engages scholars in depending their understanding of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After watching the video, class members select five new things that they learned and research how...

After watching a documentary on the Supreme Court case Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, class members research how the First Amendment and free speech issues influence judicial elections and then conduct a mock judicial election.

Marian Wright Edelman's 2014 Commencement Speech at Lewis and Clark College serves to inspire young scholars to investigate a problem in their community, to determine why the problem is important, and then to develop a plan for one thing...

Placing Ben Franklin’s ideas about a free press next to those embodied in the First Amendment sheds light on both. Learners interpret and compare two primary sources and then examine them in the light of a contemporary survey about...

Prepositions are an important part of descriptive writing. Fourth graders fill in the blanks with prepositions from a word bank, then write ten sentences with the remaining words. 

Review r-controlled words, open and closed vowels, and dipthongs with a set of classroom posters. Each page features one concept with a colorful illustration, an explanation, and a list of applicable words.

Should Juneteenth be recognized as a national holiday? To prepare to take a stance on this question, young historians first analyze the Emancipation Proclamation and compare it to Lincoln's first Inaugural Address. Scholars then read an...

Class members choose a current social, political, environmental, or economic problem presented in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, research this problem and a variety of suggested solutions, before...

Sixth graders use the video of "Grammar Rock", class discussion, worksheets and group work to explore grammar and parts of speech. They produce a film strip displaying their understanding of parts of speech in English.