How do you describe a jellyfish? Individuals write adjectives for Nomura's jellyfish, take notes, and check understanding with a formative assessment. Notes include the definition for adjectives, guiding questions to help writers...

A fun and quirky painting is analyzed for details in an art/literacy lesson. Youngsters look for colors, shadows, and details and then describe them using vivid language. They use the words from discussion to complete a fun Mad Lib-style...

Can schools ban t-shirts picturing musical groups or bands? Your young citizens will find out with this resource, which includes a summary of a United States Supreme Court case from the 1960s about a similar dispute over students wearing...

Should democracies include hate speech as a protected right? Scholars analyze the rights found under the First Amendment to the Constitution through researching evidence. Freedom of expression becomes the focal point of the...

What do images tell us about history? Dress, setting, and actions all convey cultural norms, and in essence, give reference to historical time and place. Learners compare and contrast Kunisada's Actor with Flute in Snow to Hokuei's...

Students complete a review of the parts of speech using a jabberwocky poem format. In this parts of speech and poetry lesson, students read a jabberwocky poem and identify parts of speech in the poem. Students list adjectives, verbs, and...

It is just a figure of speech. Readers look for figurative language as they read Taggot, the Blacksmith’s Daughter. They complete a Figurative Language graphic organizer by recording and identifying the types of figurative...

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...

As part of their study of the 1963 March on Washington, class members do a side-by-side comparison of the original text of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" with a transcript of the speech he delivered. The take away from the...

Stop ... grammar time! Pupils complete worksheets to practice using the correct verb tense and identify correlative conjunctions. Next, scholars apply their new grammar skills to edit their draft opinion speeches.

Similes and metaphors are the focus of a poetry lesson complete with two exercises. Scholars read poetry excerpts, underline comparative phrases, then identify whether it contains a simile or metaphor. They then write five...

Combine a lesson on the elderly with grammar instruction. Before viewing a series of provided video clips, class members brainstorm a list of words related to senior citizens and organize these words into categories that correspond with...

Use this lesson to reinforce the effect of passive and active voice in writing. First, middle schoolers write several sentences, and then use the attached worksheet to identify whether the sentences are written in active or passive voice.

Judge Learned Hand's "Spirit of Liberty" speech delivered during the July, 1944 "I Am an American Day" celebration is the subject of a close reading activity that models for learners how to approach a dense, difficult text.

Review comparatives and superlatives. Middle schoolers are introduced to modifiers such as Adjectives and Adverbs. They will talk about comparatives and superlatives such as: What makes them different, fo over rules for each type of...

Third graders listen to the non-fiction book: COMING HOME: FROM THE LIFE OF LANGSTON HUGHES. They identify examples of metaphors and similies within the book and understand how this figure of speech is used in writing. They then create...

Few children's books convey the message of conservation as well as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. Read the story aloud, emphasizing the interconnectedness of plants and animals in an ecosystem and discussing different ways people can help...

Looking for a performance assessment that asks individuals to demonstrate their competency in writing about informational text? Use Frederick Douglass' essay "On the Dred Scott Decision," and an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's 1857 speech...

Fifth graders write or dance a simile to show the relationship between two unlike nouns. In this simile and grammar lesson, 5th graders explore dance movements and identify smooth and sharp energy examples. Students review...

Students use Maggie's Learning Adventures online activity. They play a matching or memory game to become aware of homophones. Students recognize that there two ways to use many words. They practice with noun or verb identification by...

Identifying the tone of a piece of writing or the author's attitude toward the subject matter can be difficult for learners. Simplify the process with a lesson that begins with skits, moves to songs and their lyrics, and then to passages...

Fifth graders discuss interjections reviewing them to be words or phrases that express excitement or strong emotion. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders understand that commas or exclamation marks are used to separate interjections...

Middle schoolers explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.

Students discover and practice the use of the three types of pronouns. They view and discuss a lighthearted video that describes the proper uses of pronouns. They also participate in a read aloud of the book,"I and You and Don't Forget...