Throw down with a fun language arts game! Armed with a hand of writing-themed cards, learners craft arguments based on the strategies written on the cards, dropping cards as they discuss their claims further until there are no strategies...

What is the best way to compare and contrast viewpoints on the same topic? A persuasive writing unit plan addresses targeted skills, vocabulary, instructional strategies, and suggested resources that would be perfect for developing writers.

When it comes to teamwork, it's best not to drop the ball. Pupils stand in a circle, tossing around a ball of yarn to one another to create a web. Next, they use teamwork skills to keep a soccer ball from falling off the web before...

Craft your own fairy tale based on Momotaro, a Japanese story referenced in Kyoko Mori's Shuzuko's Daughter. A list of nouns guide learners in writing their own story, and predicting what might happen in the novel.

John Knowles' A Separate Peace provides readers with an opportunity to develop their close reading and analytical skills as they look for what Knowles feels are the factors that shape our identity.

Authors use many strategies when writing stories. A series of extra support lessons breaks down those strategies, as well as key grammatical and phonics-based concepts to support struggling learners. The last of three lessons offers...

Here's a clever switch on the tale of Pandora's Box. Rather than lifting the lid and having problems escape, class members write a problem on a strip of paper and place it in Pandora's Problem Box. A student  then pulls a problem...

As part of a unit study of The Hobbit, class members engage in an activity that asks group to practice the skills needed to reach consensus in a discussion.

For decades, the sight of blue books has struck fear in the hearts of collegians. Those books usually signal an essay exam, the topic of one of the handouts in a larger series on specific writing assignments. Using the handout, writers...

Plagiarism, copyright, and fair use are the focus of a three-part instructional activity designed to inform scholars of how to properly cite others' work. First, pupils use a KWL chart to begin thinking and...

How can you tell if someone is happy? The lesson works with elementary and middle school scholars to activate their schema and pay attention to details to make inferences in their daily lives, poetry, and other literature. Cleverly...

Inevitably, whenever you give an assignment, at least one person won't start until the last minute. As the 13th handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series explains, procrastination sometimes brings consequences. It breaks down...

Use essential elements cards to help lesson plan! Each card contains an informational text common core standard for grade levels six through eight and suggestions for activities and supports. Cards address skills such as citing textual...

Negotiating can be a win/win experience if the involved parties apply the skills and techniques offered in a instructional activity about negotiating to settle differences.

Keep the skills of your young mathematicians up-to-date with this series of newsletter worksheets. Offering a wide array of basic arithmetic, geometry, and problem solving exercises, this resource is a great way to develop the...

Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...

As part of their study of the vocabulary used in Sonia Levitin's The Cure, class members create a card, filling in words from the novel, and then engage in a bingo game.

A three-day assessment challenges scholars to read a passage from an informational text then complete two activities that lead to a writing assignment. Day one and two begin as readers independently read a passage and tag the most...

Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.

Art analysis might help uncover some of life's most puzzling questions, such as the mystery behind Mona Lisa's smile. The handout, from the Writing for Specific Fields series, is particularly useful for those interested in pursuing art...

An assessment takes a close look at the story, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, and tests writing abilities. Over the course of two days, scholars read an excerpt, answer questions on a worksheet pertaining to the author's...

In conclusion ... Scholars analyze the model essay Adversity Faced by Townspeople in the Middle Ages to gain a better understanding of introductory and concluding paragraphs. After studying the author's strategies, learners begin...

Prewrite, plan, draft, revise, edit, share. Scholars complete a worksheet to reflect on how they used the writing process to improve their writing. They also draft plans for their scientific posters that they will display in an upcoming...

It's tough for high schoolers to assess what is a credible resource and what is not. A helpful resource prompts class members to research a particular topic and record two facts—and create one lie—while documenting the sources. They...