Make sure your class is aware and informed of the various types of stimulant drugs that exist. Here, they can learn their alternate names and some of their harmful effects. While this is a very basic direct-instructional lesson, the...

Here is a quick and easy guide to help a new teacher build phonics lessons for students with dyslexia. It stresses the importance of fundamental basics while also providing clear and direct instructional practices that will help you...

Imagine a day in the life of a child who has to work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. After viewing images and reading stories of child laborers, class members select an image and write a richly detailed narrative about a typical...

Here's a great idea for writing portfolios. Kids decorate all four sides of their portfolio, introducing themselves, their families, goals, dreams, and favorite things. Detailed directions for all four panels and a rubric are included in...

Here's a instructional activity that not only provides readers with information about crafting step-by-step directions for a science project, but also serves as a reading comprehension exercise.

Following brief instruction about the Iran Hostage Crisis during Jimmy Carter's presidency, small groups read three-page sections from the diary of hostage Robert C. Ode. They write editorials from the perspective of either U.S. citizens...

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

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...

Use this CTBS mechanics worksheet to reinforce the correct use of commas, punctuation, italics, letter writing, and capitalization. Middle schoolers are given information on each of these areas and then answer a total of thirty multiple...

Young scholars write step-by-step instructions for tasks. In this factual writing instructional activity, students complete an online activity. Each group also writes directions for completing a task. A worksheet is available for more...

In this solving a puzzle by reading and following directions, students start with the phrase "A Famous Canadian", and delete, switch, move, add, double and reverse letters of the alphabet to solve. Students write 11 answers to solve.

If you're looking to set your class up for writing effective arguments, try out this idea. While originally created with freedom as a guiding idea, the activity could easily be adapted for other themes. As a class, create a chart of...

Balance scales create a strong visual of how an individual prioritizes one's self alongside their commitments to the community, school, and home. Scholars complete a graphic organizer then discuss their findings with their peers. A...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth novel in the series by J.K. Rowling, is the focus of a directed reading instructional activity that begins by asking readers to examine the book cover and chapter titles and to predict what...

This mini-instructional activity about informal letter writing is packed with a lot of information about writing a friendly letter. Class members begin by working in pairs to answer questions after reviewing letter models. Then, take...

Looking at literature through a critical lens helps readers connect the text to the larger world. An essay examining the theme "There is no ill in the world without a remedy" forms the main part of a sample comprehensive English...

Build your classroom community with an activity that uses apples to examine oneself and their classmates. Participants draw four large apples on blank paper then exchange them within a small group. Group members write a character trait...

What exactly does make life worth living? In preparation for a fishbowl discussion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, readers of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel highlight sections that show a character grieving, coping, or suffering...

Vladek's attitudes are difficult for many young learners to understand. Prepare your class for the events represented in Art Speigelman's graphic novel with a pre-reading activity that has them read articles about and interviews with...

Instructing learners on how to craft a good paragraph, a skill required of all writers, is the focus of a 23-page packet that includes directions, graphic organizers, exercises, and worksheets for guided practice. 

Class members create literary mandalas for two characters from Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s experiences with the Holocaust. After finding quotes that reveal three good traits and three bad traits of each...

Engage young learners in practicing their counting skills while teaching them about the Japanese writing system with this printable book. Using the included key that shows the kanji characters for the numbers 1-10, children...

How do Supreme Court justices interpret amendments to the Constitution? The resource helps answer that question by discussing how people use explicit and implicit language to interpret the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Learners...

Who was Sennedjem and how does he relate to ancient Egypt? The resource describes the artisan's life as well as the village in which he lived, called Set Ma'at. Learners view where the people who built the tombs for powerful Egyptians...