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Spelling Race
Learners of all ages can practice their spelling abilities by participating in a fun group game. They utilize a pile of letters written on paper to "build" a word instructed by the teacher. The fastest pair of spellers wins a point!...
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Packing a Sea Chest
Students make a model sea chest, then fill it with provisions for a voyage. They supply a list of the contents of their sea chest, explaining the purpose of each item. The sea chests can be displayed for the school or community.
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Podcasting for Reading Fluency
Nothing helps you identify your reading fluency like hearing yourself read aloud! Increase reading fluency and expression by having young learners podcast a weekly high interest piece of literature. Assign a different star or featured...
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Pizza Biography
A biography writing lesson with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking skills, and how to...
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Walk in My Shoes: A Shoe's Perspective
Help learners write a creative story from the viewpoint of a shoe. The teacher brings a variety of different types of shoes to the classroom and each person chooses one. They then write a story from the point of view of the shoe,...
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Create a Book with Student Treasures
You can't publish a story until after it has been revised and edited! Budding authors investigate the writing process while drafting an original story. They select a topic, complete a rough draft, edit it, revise it, and finally publish...
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You Be the Editor
Young editors work in teams to find all the errors in a text. They identify grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Use this activity to reinforce correct usage of prominent punctuation symbols, such as apostrophes and ellipses. You...
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Daily Academic Language Development
Five minute mini-lessons designed to expose learners to high-frequency academic language.
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Written Document Analysis
In this primary source analysis worksheet, students examine types of written documents and respond to 6 analysis questions about them.
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Earthquake Challenge
In this earthquake facts review or quiz worksheet, students read descriptive statements and choose the correct multiple choice answer. Students write 13 answers.
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Super Words
Challenge your middle schoolers' critical thinking and spelling skills with this fun activity. Each question prompts students to find a word that begins or ends with a certain letter and has a certain number of letters. You could use...
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Beginning Spelling: Time to Eat
For younger grammar learners, or as part of an ELD lesson for older kids, a word scramble activity provides a fun way to practice food-related vocabulary and spelling. Learners unscramble letters to form 11 food-related words. The...
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Dinosaur Crossword
In this solving a crossword puzzle about dinosaur worksheet, students read clues across and down, use the words in the word bank, and complete the puzzle. Students write 23 words.
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Respect: Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like
Sixth graders participate in a question and answer discussion on respect and then complete the "Planning to Use Respect" activity sheet. They describe the senses of a stuffed animal to their peers and assess how respect looks, sounds and...
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Career Magic
Fifth graders gather information about the roles, responsibilities, skills, and training and education requirements of workers. Then they input this information into a graphic organizer chart and identify the similarities and differences...
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It's Magic: Understanding the Roles, Responsibilities, and Requirements of Workers
Fifth graders investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions. Then they break into groups to complete the training and education for two careers selected from a listing in the lesson....
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Street Art Project
Illuminate your playground with chaulk images. Young aratists use the web to research the work of Keith Haring. Groups then design their own piece of visual art and recreate their images on the school sidewalks of blacktop.
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Weighing the War
Study opposing viewpoints with this instructional activity, which examines President Bush's September 2004 address at the United Nations. Middle schoolers study the text of the address, and then stage formal debates arguing for or...
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Common Idioms 5
If you have been analyzing idioms, you can assess your learners' grasp of their figurative meanings with this 10-question matching exercise. Or you could give the sheet to groups to foster discussion about literal versus figurative...
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The Amazing World of Dictionaries
Use this resource to discuss various ways to dictionaries can be used. What a terrific presentation to display when exploring how dictionaries are used to define words, check spellings, identify parts of speech, and more. The PowerPoint...
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Genre Lesson: Poetry
Hook kids into a study on poetry elements by asking them to bring in the lyrics to their favorite song. Discuss the elements in one or two songs (preferably that demonstrate rhyme, figurative language, or a repeating phrase). Groups do...
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Whale Challenge
For this review or quiz about whales worksheet, students read phrases describing something about whales and identify the answer. Students choose 10 multiple choice answers.
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Tag Questions - With Assorted Verbs
If they are intrinsically motivated, your learners complete a 10-question matching online interactive quiz. They match sentences with the tag questions that go with them. They don't need to try on their own before the answers are...
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Don't Believe the Type: Internet Ethics
What is Internet fraud? Explore Internet ethics and engage in a collaborative discussion. In order to create a Guide to Internet Honesty, learners read and discuss the article "A Beautiful Life, A Tragic Death, a Fraud Exposed." Then...