Young scholars research on Internet and in any available law books to find drunk driving laws in their state, including ramifications of refusing breathalyzer or other tests, identify rights of someone arrested and charged with...

An interesting take on teaching prepositions! Instead of using basic sentences, this learning exercise provides pictures, and the pupil must describe the picture using a preposition. This sort of activity would also make an excellent...

Your young historians will square off as Loyalists dedicated to the English crown or revolutionaries fighting for a new nation in a role-play of a colonial town hall debate before the American Revolution.

Middle schoolers analyze the speaker's ideas and tone in the Billy Collins poem "The Lanyard." After identifying how each of the five senses is addressed in the poem, they compare images to draw conclusions about the speaker and his...

Similes and Synonyms are the focus of this language arts presentation. After being introduced to similes and how they work, young writers practice writing similes about the sun by using phrases such as, "The sun is like a golden ring...

While preparing for the end-of-unit assessment, scholars look at Washington's "Atlanta Compromise" speech and identify the terms he used in the argument. They also identify the relationship between the claims presented in the speech and...

Use this engaging and educationally sound presentation to coach your charges on how to identify, and use verbs. This PowerPoint drives home the point that verbs tell what someone, or something, is doing! Colorful photos and graphics...

Elementary and middle schoolers research animal facts and use them in a fable. First, they pair-share to find animal traits to use in writing a fable. They then complete a prewriting worksheet. After going through the writing process,...

Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act II, Scenes I and II) lacks explicit details of the murder of King Duncan, yet the author creates an atmosphere that allows us to visualize the event. Readers interpret the "Dagger Speech" by writing stage...

What are some of life's most tried-and-true lessons? Pupils listen to examples from the book Live and Learn and Pass It On by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. They write down their own life lessons to later compile in a class booklet. As...

Students view the film "Nell" and analyze it for presentation of language pathologies and dialects. They consider the definition of dialect, research phonetic representation of dialects and observe their own communities for speech patterns.

Sometimes it takes a work of fiction to demonstrate nonfictional tragedies and events. George, an escaped slave, describes to Mr. Wilson the hardships of his life in a short passage from Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle...

See the variety of verbs spelled out in these slides. From infinitives to intransitives, each verb is defined and shown with examples. Relationships of verbs to other parts of a sentence are clearly explained. This complex subject is...

Designed as the culminating activity after a unit study of the Holocaust, class members assume the voice of a world leader, write a speech, and participate in a simulation of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust.

Middle schoolers look closely at Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech and use a language analysis sheet to determine if King's sentences use active or passive voice. They then move their attention back to A Mighty Long Way to...

As part of a unit study of Bud, Not Buddy, readers compare Buddy's list of rules to live by with those that Steve Jobs enumerates in his commencement address to Stanford's 2005 graduating class.

After watching clips of presidential candidates during debates and speeches, and researching the candidate's position on important issues, young researchers conduct a role-play debate in which they act as one of the candidates.

Looking for a vocabulary list and exercise to use with a study of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton? Try out this resource, which provides both the list and the exercise. Each of 19 words is paired with a part of speech and definition or...

The positional words up and down are the focus of a language and visual arts lesson. Learners get a paper plate and eight strips of construction paper. They create a spider out of their paper plate, and cut out a circle out of a piece of...

If you're tired of seeing it's instead of its"and who's instead of whose, this could be a great resource for you. Simple and straightforward, it provides eighteen opportunities for young learners to identify and correct words with...

Look it up. Scholars use a dictionary and thesaurus to verify the meaning of the research vocabulary words they defined in the previous activity. They then use sticky notes to write a synonym for each word. Finally, individuals choose a...

Students compare a controversial issue or policy in need of reform in their classroom to the suffrage movement of the 1800's. They research important figures in the suffrage movement, produce written pieces and complete worksheets.

Students investigate the broad range of jobs that can be found in the world of design. Students explore sound design, language architecture, etc. Students design a resource book and post it on a website for others to share.

Use this interactive tool to introduce your learners to prefixes and suffixes. First they use a crossword puzzle to find the opposites of the words provided. Then, they take a list of words and possible suffixes, matching the appropriate...