If learners only use simple sentence structure, their essays can fall flat. Model how to combine short, choppy sentences with appositives to add interest and flow to individuals' writing.

If you asked a fifth grader what went wrong in their day, you may get a more thorough answer than if you asked what went well. Help young learners find moments of gratitude throughout the week with a journal template that focuses on...

You have the right to remain silent—but why? Scholars analyze the nature of what has become known as the Miranda Rights. A short video along with paired group work and discussion opens the issue of the rights of the accused upon arrest....

Whether you are viewing a landscape painting of a farm, examining a still-life portrait of a bowl of fruit, or reading a descriptive poem about cultivating food, you can't deny that agriculture plays a major role in visual and language...

Third, fourth, and fifth graders read the book The Bracelet by Yushiko Uchida and examine the events of Uchida's life. They participate in a guided discussion of Japanese culture, perform a reader's...

How do adverbs enhance the meanings of verbs? Use a worksheet that prompts kids to identify what question adverbs are answering: when, where, or how.

When should you use more and most when writing adverbs? Practice comparative and superlative adverbs with a review activity. After reading through the information at the top of the page, kids decide if they should use the...

After examining a short passage about the Mississippi River system, readers use the provided graphic organizer to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in the article.

Some words are best left unspoken.  Words matter, according to Benjamin Zander, conductor, teacher, and lecturer. To illustrate his point, Zander recounts a story told to him by a survivor of Auschwitz. As a result of her experience...

Prompt your class to examine their own negative cycles with a short reading passage. After they finish reading, they answer two questions about concepts that they can find in the text.

Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...

What does a morally courageous person look like? Discuss principles, peer pressure, and solving problems without violence in a activity about moral courage, and the ways you can be a hero to the people around you.

Encourage healthy eating, cooking, and goal setting with a word search that showcases a variety of fruits and vegetables, and provides a four-step plan to eat more of them. 

Read about the ways that different cultures set up homes with a set of reading activities. Learners read short paragraphs that cover one or more different ideas, and answer four questions about what they have read, including whether or...

Express your wonder at this resource. Middle schoolers solve 10 short problems in the expressions and equations domain. They apply operations with scientific notation, set up and solve equations, and analyze linear equations.

Dilations from the origin have a multiplicative effect on the coordinates of a point. Pupils use the method of finding the image of a point on a ray after a dilation to find a short cut. Classmates determine the short cut of being...

True friendship is priceless. Fourth graders read a short story about two friends who are willing to give up everything for each other — even their lives.

Teenagers get the real information about marijuana use based on the history of tobacco legislation and research. As they read an educational passage about marijuana laws, science, and changing attitudes, they address their preconceptions...

Reading snail mail is a great way to go back into history and to understand others' points of view. The resource, the second in a five-part unit, covers the Dreyfus Affair. Scholars, working in two different groups, read one letter and...

Many of the world's most inspirational sayings are attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Using the No Talking novel study, pupils research and write about one of his sayings. Additionally, they practice alliteration and write a quintet that...

Enjoy solving riddles? Perhaps Sal, a character in Walk Two Moons, is the only one capable of understanding a mysterious message left on her doorstep. On a road trip with her grandparent, Sal tries to make sense of the bizarre world...

Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment by analyzing a narrative text, In the Middle of the Storm. Learners determine the gist of the text, identify synonyms, make inferences, and answer text-dependent questions to demonstrate...

A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...

In this everyday editing worksheet, students correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about journalist Nellie Bly. The errors range from capitalization, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.