New ReviewHere's a must-have guide for instructors who use Robert Frost's poems in their classes. The 24-page guide focuses on poems included in Frost's first two volumes of poems, background information on the poet, and what Frost thought was an...

Poetry or prose? That is the question facing middle schoolers as they begin a month-long poetry unit by examining the characteristics that differentiate poetry and prose writing. Pupils learn about poetic devices and different types of...

Looking for a great lesson to teach your class everything they need to know about Shakespearean sonnets? Here's such a lesson. "Sonnet #18" launches a study of the Shakespearean sonnet. Scholars watch two Prezi presentations that provide...

This rhyme book activity may look confusing at first, but it's really quite simple. Everything you'll need is right here and ready to use. Kids cut out and staple the pages of their own rhyme books. The only folds they will make are the...

Rhymes are a great way to help your scholars with phonemic awareness and word relationships. Kids work with partners to match cards from a stack to their rhyming counterparts on a game board. There are six different boards, so this will...

Grover creates rhymes to go with a customer's order in this entertaining video. Viewers will love to watch as Grover figures out which words rhyme. It can lead to a lesson on this topic.

Elmo see's Abby's doll and wishes he had one too. Abby tries to make a doll using magic but makes a pumpkin instead. Elmo and the viewers need to chant the magic words together to make Elmo's doll appear. This video engages students with...

Here is a clip from the Sesame Street version of Alice in Wonderland. Abby is too big to get to the door she has to think up a word that rhymes with drink. She gets bigger and smaller until she's able to get through the door.

Murray and Lamb go on an adventure to soccer school. Murray has to guess where he is going using clues in Spanish. The video would be a great way to discuss the importance of exercise and Health .

Murray sings a new version of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” gets clues in Spanish to figure out the location of the secret destination, and goes to karate school. This could be part of an introduction to a discussion of...

Leaners will recite "Cross Patch" and examine its related emotions and vocabulary. They chant "Cross Patch", participate in listening games and identify rhyming words. Afterward, they place the rhyme in their "My Very Own Nursery Rhyme...

Scholars examine the "They That Wash" poster and listen to the rhymes. They match word cards to the words in the nursery rhyme, practice sounds, and create new words. Afterward, they add copies of the rhyme to their "My Very Own Nursery...

New ReviewDoes any word rhyme with orange? Young poets try their hand at crafting a Shakespearean sonnet by first creating list of rhyming words. They then examine the use of unstressed and stressed syllables in iambic pentameter and the rhyme...

The big idea in this poetry unit plan is that structure and content work together to create meaning. Class members learn how to identify and mark the metrical patterns and line lengths used in poems. They study the structure of various...

Introduce fourth graders to poetry with a three-week unit that has them examine the structural elements of poetry, analyze poems, and craft their own original poems rich in sensory details and other poetic devices. Young scholars study...

Six lessons make up a unit all about Roald Dahl's George's Marvelous Medicine. Over time, scholars explore themes such as the power of words, exciting writing, and mixed feelings. They examine the writing's literary devices, persuasive...

Two poems by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman are spotlighted in a PBS lesson. Young scholars conduct a close reading and watch videos of Gorman reading her inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb" and "The Miracle of Morning." They...

After investigating the Black Lives Matter movement, class members do a close read of Roger Reeves' "Black Laws." They write down words and phrases that rhyme, consider the kinds of rhymes used and their function in the poem. Scholars...

Song lyrics, like poems, are meant to be heard. After examining the literary devices in several poems, scholars examine the lyrics of popular songs and identify the sound devices and the figurative language writers use to create the...

Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways lesson. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V chords as well...

Young scholars write rhyming poems using rebus. With pictures instead of words, authors create original work about things they love. 

Scholars take a popular song or nursery rhyme and make it their own as they write a fractured nursery rhyme. Writers seek out a nursery rhyme's rhyming words and change them to create an original poem.