What a fun way to explore new vocabulary words! Marjorie Priceman's book Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride offers plenty of new words for scholars to learn in context: amateur, assembled,...

Ask budding readers, "How do you make an apple pie?" You may get many answers, but Marjorie Priceman takes the cake with her idea in How to Make an Apply Pie and See the World, an adventurous tale full of wonder and new vocabulary....

Use Barbara Joosse's heartwarming story I Love You the Purplest (which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it) to practice vocabulary in context with emerging readers. This sensory text is an excellent opportunity to...

Explore pond life and action words through Denise Fleming's In the Small, Small Pond, which you can find online if you don't have it on hand. Learners explore the following verbs: doze, hover, plunge, scatter,...

Lilly is jealous when her new little brother is born; explore vocabulary in context through Kenvin Kenkes' story Julius the Baby of the World. Suggested words for this text are: constantly, disguise, disgusting,...

If you're reading the classic story Over in the Meadow, consider this strategy to cover vocabulary in context with budding readers. After a brief introduction, listeners raise a hand when they hear each word (bask,...

The heartfelt true story of Owen the hippopotamus and Mzee the 133-year-old tortoise will have budding readers engaged as they practice vocabulary in the context of Isabella Hatkoff's nonfiction story. Although you could include more,...

Puff the Magic Dragon remains a childhood landmark for budding readers (and singers), but did you know it also makes an excellent vocabulary study? By focusing on several in-text words (in this case: billow, cease, fearless,...

Have your scholars ever known someone who was a copycat? Approach this issue as you study vocabulary in context by reading Peggy Rathmann's book Ruby the Copycat. Proposed focus words are: recite, murmur,...

Keep your class in conversation with others across the country or across the sea by writing letters to pen pals. The activity calls for students to be pan pals with pupils in Africa; however, the listed steps could be used for any...

A terrific lesson focused on the design process. It begins with a presentation, "Design: Solve a Problem," which lists the steps of the process and then introduces the specific challenge: to build a device that measures wind speed....

Students comprehend the purpose, function, origin, and historical development of the electoral college. They evaluate issues of fairness and representation in the electoral process, both individually and through group discussion....

Develop the writing skills of your high school class. Writers consider their personal style and voice, read selections by other authors, and then write pieces that challenge them to experiment with their own style.

Explore the writing process by reviewing previously written work. First, middle schoolers analyze a handout in which they must read the text and correct the mistakes with an editing checklist. They proofread their editing and share their...

IMRAD isn't text-speak for I'm cool. It's actually the format for scientific reports. As part of a larger series on specific writing assignments, an informative handout explains the nuts and bolts of writing a lab report. First, however,...

Students examine the writing process of Kate DiCamillo, the author of "Because of Winn-Dixie." They read author's comments, watch a slideshow narrated by the author, complete a free-write activity, and discuss Kate DiCamillo's top five...

Students explore what impact the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had on nine different American novelists. They write and share their own thoughts and feelings, then consider the role writing plays in their own lives,...

Readers respond to 25 multiple choice questions about Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun in an online interactive reading comprehension activity. Once they complete the assignment, learners may submit their...

Students create journal entries on-line as part of a "Kidlink Day" activity. Entries are compared and evaluated by their peers. The writing process is practiced in this lesson plan.

In these paragraph writing worksheets, students study the definitions and example sentences for the topic sentence, the body, and the concluding sentence in a paragraph. Students then read a sample paragraph and answer several review...

Third graders generate a written paragraph by following the 5-step writing process. In this paragraph writing activity, 3rd graders practice brainstorming, prewriting, revising, creating final drafts, and publishing an original paragraph.

Assist your pupils with literary analysis by discussing and exploring theme. This plan, the twelfth in a series of fourteen, builds in some time to explore theme as a class. Learners also blog about the main event in their stories and...

Happy birthday! Celebrate everyone's birthday with this writing activity, which prompts seventh graders to research historical events in a country at the time of their birth to create an essay. Working in pairs, they proofread each...

Do your students love movies? Use Star Wars and Indiana Jones to introduce the use of Venn diagrams for comparing and contrasting. A list of words to indicate comparison or contrast are also included to help with the writing process.