Gertrude Stein once said, "Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." Learners break their silence by engaging in discussion and making lists of what makes them grateful. Next, pupils write and illustrate a thank you letter to a chosen...

Where's the evidence? Scholars practice ordering the evidence and reasons for their class opinion papers by physically sorting them. Next, they work collaboratively to write a body paragraph, using linking words to connect their ideas...

Persuasion, when used effectively, is a powerful and effective tool. In groups, young writers develop a persuasive letter about something that they would like their parents to allow them to do. Then, independently, they use proper...

Harriet Beecher Stowe's plea for abolition is not only laid plain in her acclaimed novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, but in her written correspondence as well. High schoolers read a letter written by Stowe to Prince Albert and Queen Victoria to...

Have your class create acrostic poems for characters in The Hobbit. First, define acronyms and work together to complete sample acronyms for their own first names. Learners then research specific characters in the novel and create...

Young writers complete a timed persuasive writing assignment in which they argue for a club they would like to see established at school, and are then provided with real student samples of responses. 

Supercharge beginning readers phonics skills with this extensive collection of worksheets. With exercises on long and short vowels, consonant blends, rhyming words, word endings, and much more, this resource is a primary grade teacher's...

Is Hester Prynne a virtuous woman? To conclude a unit study of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter class members craft an argument essay in which they use the standards listed in Proverbs 31 from the Bible to judge Hester's virtues.

Students discuss meaning of symbols associated with Statue of Liberty, read and analyze Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "The New Colossus," and write persuasive letter to a nineteenth-century audience to gain support for bringing statue to America.

Which one rhymes? There are four starting objects here, each heading a row of three objects. Learners identify the objects and their vowel sounds to determine which one rhymes with the first object. All these rhyming words involve the...

How well do your learners really know the characters in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising? A biopoem activity prompts readers to investigate the characters and their traits. Line by line, writers add the characters'...

Students complete various activities related to the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." They participate in a shared reading activity, read and write a sentence for each day of the week, draw a picture of the caterpillar eating one of...

Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...

As your pre-readers begin to understand phonemes and rhyming, give them this practice worksheet which has them matching rhyming pictures. For each of six images, they identify the corresponding image which has the same vowel sound (or...

Is the death penalty unjust because it violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, "cruel and unusual punishment"? Or is it just a form of permissible capital punishment? After weighing arguments for and against the...

How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main...

Practice fundamental reading and number skills with a packet of worksheets for early readers. Pupils find sight words, trace letters, and complete number sequences.

Placing Ben Franklin’s ideas about a free press next to those embodied in the First Amendment sheds light on both. Learners interpret and compare two primary sources and then examine them in the light of a contemporary survey about...

Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...

Empower teenagers to take political matters into their own hands! After completing an engaging warm-up activity, class members discuss both sides of the youth voting issue, learn about the connection between military history and the...

High schoolers imagine what their lives would be like if they had no access to potable water and watch a morning news show about the water situation on a Navajo reservation. Groups investigate the policies that lead to the lack of water...

Native American Nations ... sovereign entities or removable tribes? A thought-provoking instructional activity explores the relationship between Native American tribes and the United States, including forced assimilation and removal from...

As budding readers learn about the ocean, they'll get practice with the alphabet and new vocabulary words (cling, nab, prey, slumber, and thrive) in context. Read Deborah Rose's book Into the A, B, Sea, which includes a...

Second graders practice skills, including spelling, grammar, and reading. Pupils examine vowel sounds and tricky words, nouns, and verbs. They begin the writing process by drafting a persuasive letter and decoding texts.