Students experience and practice their writing skills during the holiday season. They express themselves in a variety of ways including writing about a favorite part about the holiday break, what's the best gift you've ever gotten and...

Don't be left out in the cold, ensure young learners are prepared for the winter weather with this clothing activity. After introducing them to different clothing items using the provided picture cards, students sing a song before...

Small groups learn about a present-day nomadic culture in Mongolia and the threats to its existence by exploring a photo essay. The resource includes thoughtful discussion and writing prompts about cultural sustainability, the...

What is special about summer (fall, winter, or spring)? Using a bag filled with season-related items (for summer items like sunglasses, a swimming suit, etc.) the class take turns taking out one item. A discussion of how each item might...

Thanksgiving is a cherished tradition in the United States and Canada. Introduce the beginnings of the Thanksgiving celebration with a resource that features reading comprehension activities, vocabulary exercises, and a short...

Young scholars explore winter weather. In this winter weather lesson, students examine and define 22 weather-related terms. Young scholars determine the words that have to do with winter weather.

Students develop a creative snowman using step-by-step stickers. They write a short story about the snowman they have created, explaining the sequence they used to create their snowman. Students present their completed story in front of...

Bring language arts and U.S. history together in this lesson plan, which prompts middle and high schoolers to gather biographical information about Abraham Lincoln. They compare and contrast information written about his childhood and...

What makes a place safe? What makes a setting effective? Explore the safe spaces and descriptive language with a prereading activity for Willa Cather's My Antonia. The teacher describes his or her own safe space and then prompts pupils...

Third graders write, type, and print imaginative stories about any phase of winter.

Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson plan,...

The ultimate legacy of Emmett Till's violent death is its role in the non-violent roots of the Civil Rights Movement. A lesson compares contemporaneous articles with the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "The Death of Emmett Till" and prompts...

Twelfth graders go through the peer editing process by reading each other's work and talking about it. They realize revision is part of the process of writing poetry.

Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...

A lesson spotlights the poem "Tamales on Christmas" by Christian Robinson. Scholars discuss their favorite foods and then examine a lively picture of a family preparing tamales. After listening to the poem twice, learners participate in...

Students compare and contrast the attributes of winter birds. In this winter bird lesson, students examine the physical attributes of Black-capped Chickadees, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Flickers, Juncos, Nuthatches, and Tufted Titmouses as...

Although the lesson is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area, it's good enough to be adapted to any local region. Children research what the landscape in San Francisco was like prior to settlement, they consider the types of...

Pupils examine how they greet the holiday season and participate in a class discussion to explore the ongoing debate on how best to celebrate the holidays. They read and discuss an article, and write a personal essay.

Do any of your budding readers have parents who work the night shift? Eileen Spinelli's book Night Shift Daddy, which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it, examines this family dynamic in a positive light and is an...

Students examine a variety of ways that families celebrate winter holidays. They complete a graphic organizer comparing Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and write a five-sentence paragraph about one of the holidays discussed. Students...

Students explore a variety of objects which represent the various seasons as a preparation for writing about their birthday and the season in which it is located.

Twelfth graders explore the power that a single word or line can have by focusing on specific imagery in the poem "Those Winter Sundays," by Robert Hayden.

Students analyze different weather conditions before creating their very own first-person report from the eye of a storm. They use maps to analyze different weather conditions, record an online weather script and write a first-person...

A instructional activity encourages mini scholars in setting goals. Peers share their hopes and dreams and discuss how each one adds to everyone's unique character. Class members draw themselves in a scene achieving a goal. A follow-up...