Surprise! is the theme of a unit covering such topics as consonants, blending, short vowels sounds, high frequency words, and number words. The unit's lessons also include teachable moments covering story structure, illustrations,...

Focus on plot and the impact-specific events in The Cay. Class members use their double-entry journals, created in a previous lesson in this series, to record their thinking about the guiding question as they read chapters 15 through 17....

Students focus on sentence structure, and how to construct the necessary elements for a sentence to be considered complete. They practice diagramming sentences, focusing on the independent and dependent clauses.

Test the true meaning of giving - and irony - with this activity about "The Gift of the Magi." Using textual analysis, details, and text organization, middle schoolers make predictions about future events in the story and determine the...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" provides the text for an activity that asks readers to select specific passages from the story, identify the aspect of American Romanticism the passage exemplifies, and then provide an...

You've found the first grade Common Core jackpot! English Language Arts and Math Common Core standards are addressed in a 74-page packet complete with standard text printables, activities, cut-outs for the classroom, and worksheets. 

What are the three types of irony? High schoolers engage in a lesson about the use of irony while reading O.Henry's short story "Gift of the Magi." They'll discuss rising action, climax, and resolution in the text before highlighting the...

Students imagine that they are looking out (or in) a window with four panes and write about what they see using a variety of sentence structures. They create a paragraph about what they see looking through their window on Thanksgiving day.

An infographic is fantastic way for learners to illustrate their understanding of content, express themselves creatively, and teach others in a manner that is both engaging and informative. While originally designed for a lesson on...

Imagine a day in the life of a child who has to work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. After viewing images and reading stories of child laborers, class members select an image and write a richly detailed narrative about a typical...

While reading O Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," your class will define and identify situational irony and allusion. Use a study guide (not included, but easy to produce) to record and discuss examples of allusion as you read. Map the...

Ninth graders review the parts of a plot sequence for a short story. They think of a famous Disney movie and plot the events of the movie in the correct plot sequence. They do the same for a comic strip, labeling the exposition, rising...

Students examine cell structures in depth. They decide what grade they want to work for and do the assignments for that grade. They complete various assignments on cell theory and organelles.

Students explore literary elements, plot structure, and story elements. They read "The Gift of the Magi," and identify its theme and elements of the story. Afterward, students discuss the story and take a test over the material studied.

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

Building upon prior lessons in the series, this reading and writing exercise requires pupils to look back at their own writing, track character development in the novel The Cay, and analyze how Phillip has changed. The reading focus is...

Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

Students read the story of "The Gift of the Magi" and identify the theme and elements in the story. They discuss allusions, situational irony, simile, metaphor, allusion, irony and plot structure. Students share about sacrifices they...

Ninth graders read the story, "The Gift of the Magi" and identify examples of allusion and situational irony. They define and give examples of situational irony. Students plot sequence, structure, define allusion and give examples.

Students develop a comparison worksheet using one non fiction book and one fiction book they have read to be put into a class scrapbook. In their comparison students must have title, author, point of view, setting, characters, and other...

Seventh graders produce stories, poems, and drawings about Weisenborn's 1936 mural and make a comparable collage about Chicago in 2000.

Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Fishing Fun. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer questions, have...

Sixth graders complete the magazine template in the Macmillan "Writer's Journal" available through the basic skills department using word processing, spreadsheet, graphic, and electronic resource (i.e.-Internet) skills