EngageNY
Close Read, Part 2: “Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew”
No, not literally. Scholars read Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew to compare figurative and literal language. Readers learn about simile, metaphor, personification, and idioms with a graphic organizer. Pupils then answer text-dependent questions...
Newseum
Bias Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Young journalists use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution) strategy to evaluate historical and contemporary examples of bias in the news. The class then uses the provided discussion questions to...
Novelinks
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Guide your pupils through The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with a directed reading exercise. The teacher asks questions as the class reads a chapter to help lead learners toward making well-supported predictions.
Curated OER
Highway of Words
The punctuation police are here! Dress up as a police officer, and teach your young learners the importance of using correct punctuation. Two poorly written paragraphs are presented to the learners, and they have to correct the errors in...
EngageNY
Getting to Know Esperanza (Chapter 2: “Las Uvas/Grapes”)
Delve into Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan with close reading and evidence-based, text-dependent questions. Part of a unit series, this well-sequenced, Common Core designed instructional activity draws on material from the previous...
Curated OER
Untying the Knot
What are the current trends in divorce? What contributes to this? Examine celebrity relationship trends and how they relate to the general public with this discussion lesson. Middle schoolers analyze the results of a Census Bureau study...
Curated OER
How to Move the Crowd: The Persuasive, Powerful Rhetoric of Mark Antony -Folger Shakespeare Library
Tenth graders explore a close reading of the speeches of Brutus and Mark Anthony in 3.2. They identify the effects of the rhetorical appeals used. Students explore the variety of ways in which Anthony might have delivered the speech....
Curated OER
End Mark Dominoes
For this punctuation worksheet, learners match sentences and ending marks together to make complete sentences. There is a worksheet provided in order to play this game.
Curated OER
Say it with FEELING!
Why should we read with expression when we read? Engage your learners in this discussion and teach them the easiest way to gauge expression: the end mark! Is it a question mark? An exclamation point? This helps you determine how to...
Pearson
Practice Test English Language Arts: Grade 8
As teachers, it is our job to encourage learners to stand up for what they believe in and help them learn lessons from life's events. A set of practice questions designed for the ELA MCAS assessment features passages that teach positive...
Scholastic
Citing Text Evidence
Could you go without your cell phone for 48 hours? Pose this question to your class and then read the article provided here. Pupils mark the text and and complete a graphic organizer that requires the use of textual evidence.
Curated OER
1984 by George Orwell
Readers of Nineteen Eighty-Four engage in a close reading exercise that directs their focus to the key details Orwell provides in the opening paragraphs to introduce his dystopian society. The included worksheeet is divided into three...
Read Works
Columbus Was an Explorer
Get the inside scoop on the European explorer, Christopher Columbus, with a response to reading worksheet that requires scholars to answer who, what, why, when, and a variety of other questions about the word crew.
Curated OER
Annotating Poetry
Use text marking and highlighting to explore the structure of a poem. After listening to Allan Ahlberg read "Please Mrs. Butler," learners locate stanzas and patterns on their copy of the poem using the text marking technique. Class...
Curated OER
The Persuasive Letter
Students explore techniques used in persuasive writing. After studying editing marks and business letters, they complete a business letter activity. As a class, students volunteer to read a business letter and make corrections on the...
Curated OER
Writing Multiple Viewpoints Using Sequoyah
Fifth graders practice using quotation marks and capitalization in writing. In this multiple viewpoints lesson, 5th graders read Sequoyah and write ten sentences stating what they believe the character was thinking. Students write from...
Curated OER
Why Do We Need Authority?
Learners examine the problems created by a lack of effective authority described in Mark Twain's Roughing It. They explain how we use authority to protect our rights, to provide order and security, and to manage conflict.
Curated OER
Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction
Students analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Students read and analyze...
Curated OER
Writing a Story
A terrific and meaningful presentation on story writing awaits your class. This really is a good one! Young writers are led through a series of slides that do a terrific job of teaching story elements, but the slides also stimulate their...
Curated OER
The Big Bad Wolf and the Friendly Letter
A terrific presentation on the teaching of friendly letter writing. Learners engage in a PowerPoint that is part story, part writing exercise. There are lots of great tips on how to construct a letter, and young writers are encouraged to...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Understanding Theme
The ninth in a fourteen-lesson series, this plan marks a sort of midpoint in a unit devoted to the study of short stories. Pupils learn about theme and work on their short story projects by adding to their blogs, checking in with the...
Curated OER
How To Earn Commendable Marks In Fourth Grade
Fourth graders engage in studying the rules of being in a 4th grade classroom. They are given at the beginning of the year and practiced during the first weeks of school along with routines.
Curated OER
Scientific Method Problem Adjectives Worksheet
In this adjectives worksheet, students write 6 adjectives around a large question mark in the center of a graphic organizer. Students describe the scientific method with adjectives. Students write a sentence for four of their words.
Curated OER
Punctuation Lesson Plan
Students discover how to punctuate a sentence properly. In this punctuation lesson, students participate in an interactive whiteboard lesson to demonstrate how to punctuate a sentence. Students demonstrate how to use periods, questions...