Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...

Students define and explore the term "survivor" through the study of real-life stories of survival. They interview a person whom he/she considers to be a survivor, and share their interviews with the class.

Students consider difficulties involved in students testifying in criminal trials. Through first-hand experience in the position of either a witness to a crime or an investigator, students explain how various factors shape a person's...

Students create a business letter using "Letter Generator".  In this letter writing lesson plan, students use a computer program to learn what the proper business letter consists of.  After the instruction, the students are...

Twelfth graders work on completion of their personal Action Plan. They write down the due date on their Action Plan and view sample Action Plans in order to have a better understanding of what theirs should look like. After assessing how...

It's often confusing which word should be used to complete a sentence. Although this worksheet's title insinuates that idioms will be discussed, the practice section is just about using words like to, who, with, as, and that correctly....

Third graders, in pairs, complete Venn diagrams in the shape of kites displaying the attributes of a smoothly operating home and school. On the tailpieces they write roles and responsibilities for home and school. Once completed, 3rd...

Students discuss that they each have qualities that make them special in their own ways. They listen to the story, "Mrs. Katz and Tush," and discuss how the characters are the same and different. They draw a self portrait with three...

Students discuss their role and importance of being a part of a community. After listening to a story, discuss how an artist's memories affected his pieces. Using the internet, they research the different roles of community members.

Young literary analysts compare two poems by the same author. Readers look for slant rhyme, observe the beat and rhythm of each, and search for repeated vowel sounds. After re-reading, they observe the lack of punctuation and the stanza...

For kids who have already mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on amazing animals, here's a packet of enrichment activities sure to provide food for fertile minds. 

How can you teach a text to a group of readers who struggling with the language? The second in a set of three ESL lessons related to Theme 4: Problem Solvers engages English language learners by introducing vocabulary and grammar...

Here's a packet designed especially for those kids who need extra support with the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on American stories.

Does your class need to work on compound and complex sentences? Consider this learning exercise! This fine learning exercise has learners use connecting words to join 8 sentences, so that simple sentences become compound and complex...

The ambiguity in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre makes the novel a perfect choice for a shared inquiry discussion. Readers respond to open-ended questions with evidence drawn directly from the text. 

If readers don't understand key portions of a text, it may seem more like a foe than a friend. The second resource in a series of three ESL lessons designed to accompany the texts in Nature: Friend or Foe makes the texts easier to...

In this creative writing worksheet, students read a poem about a kitten called "A Serious Question" by Carolyn Wells. Students rewrite the poem, filling in the blanks with different words on their own.

This nine-page packet, the first in the series of support materials for the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on journeys, contains enrichment activities for learners who have mastered the basic concepts of the lessons....

How does propaganda influence our vote? Through grand conversation, scholars gain information about what is and how to identify the different ways propaganda is used in a presidential election. Using their new-found knowledge, citizens...

Challenge learners who have mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on animal adventures with the activities and exercises suggested in this packet packed with ideas.

Fourth graders read and respond to the poem, "When I Am Angry." They complete surveys by analyzing the most common feeling and draw a bar graph of their behavior, using different colors to identify the duration of various feelings. ...

As a teacher, it's likely you're seeing bullying at your school in some capacity. Use three activities as a refresher course for junior high schoolers on what bullying is, the severity of its consequences, and how they can make a...

Read the story Green Eggs and Ham to practice phonemic awareness, rhyming, and writing skills with emerging readers. They will match oral words to printed words, create a graphic organizer, and the use rhyming words in an...

Surprise! is the theme of this series of challenge activities. The surprise comes from the information your scholars will discover when researching topics such as alligators and crocodiles, living in other countries, becoming a...