Mr. and Mrs. Twit do not treat each other very nicely. The sixth activity in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl explores the way the characters talk to and treat one another. Role play and writing...

Human trafficking has existed in many forms throughout history. Using a novel study of Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell, readers learn the story of a young Native American girl taken into slavery. Reading comprehension and...

Help pupils actively read the Declaration of Independence with a variety of activities in the resource. They storyboard and participate in a skit, an activity where they translate the Declaration of Independence, and respond to...

Mean girls and bully packs are favorite topic for films and TV shows that focus on the destructive power of cliques. High school freshmen are asked to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of cliques by reading a short...

Students create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...

Oh the joys of love! As a special Valentine's Day assignment, budding authors research the life of one of the most romantic poets, Keats. They read the letter, "To Fanny Brawne, 13 October 1819," then compose a love letter of their own....

Get scholars thinking about the scientific process with this fun experiment they can do at home. Learners practice reading directions as they underline each instruction in a procedural paragraph. They create a flow chart and record...

What is the root of the conflict between ranchers and environmentalists? Middle schoolers write their impressions of what an environmentalist is and does. They read the New York Times article "In New Wild West, It's Cowboys vs....

First graders engage in this interesting lesson on letter writing and writing skills. In it, youngsters listen to the Jan Brett story, The Mitten, as a warm-up. They think of other animals of the world they could ask Jan Brett to...

Review story elements with your class. They will use examples from a story to develop critical-thinking questions. Then they use a graphic organizer to describe the setting, character, and plot of the story, focusing on how they...

After processing notes from research or an interview, middle schoolers turn the information into a script or dialogue for narrative, persuasive, or expository text. Use this lesson in any writing unit to reinforce proper writing skills.

Who is Doctor DeSoto? Start by playing a video clip (included). Discuss different methods of persuasion, and then analyze two different persuasive letter examples. What should your class be looking for? Send them off to work in groups...

Young authors write books about themselves using one of the identified types of literature and the writing process. They identify the common characteristics among the books in each group, edit, and gift their books to a younger student.

Get your class to use the scientific process to solve a scientific problem. They utilize the Natural Inquirer magazine to identify a research question which they write an introduction to and collect data to answer. They use graphs,...

Familiarize your class with commonly used editing marks. They apply the use of editing marks to a letter and examine different types of literary tools before making a note card resource for the tools. They add their own examples for each...

You can cover literary elements, writing organization, and proofreading skills in this SMART board lesson. Using student paragraphs from a previous assignment, the class reviews the best examples of writing. A SMART board activity guides...

Students write a letter.  For this irrigation lesson, students review how humans and the environment can interact with each other, learn new vocabulary words having to do with Mesopotamia, learn about irrigation and view maps of...

Need a journal topic? Whether you use these prompts as part of a persuasive writing unit, or reproduce the download as a one-page handout for your class members, the suggested topics make a great addition to your curriculum library. In...

There are 10 classroom words located at the top of this instructional activity. Kindergartners match the word to the object in the picture, they write that word on the line near that object. This is a great way for them to recognize...

After closely examining a Japanese writing box, learners explore writing tools and the importance of written communication. Don't have a Japanese writing box? Not to worry! There are beautiful images of one embedded in the resource. A...

Students read and discuss the "fractured" fairy tale "The Stinky Cheese Man". They imagine that they are in the fairy tale and write a letter of complaint concerning the Cheese Man and how he stinks up the town.

Students participate in an author study about Patricia Polacco focusing on her use of family and friendship as themes in her books. They write a letter to the author and compare her life to that of Beatrix Potter. They examine how their...

What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this activity, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that...

All ages love to engage in cartoon writing –- little do they know that they actually learn quite a bit from it! In an instructional session focused on literacy syntax and vocabulary, your pupils work cooperatively to draw six pictures...