Speaking your mind and standing up for yourself is the message of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak. Readers review key details about characters, setting, and plot points with a crossword puzzle all about Speak.

Teacher gathers items and place them in a box. Pupils gather around the table and view each item placed in the box. Then a student turns around so that he/she is not looking at the items. The student guesses what item that was removed.

Commas can be quite confusing. Young writers target troublesome grammar skills by focusing on the four most troubling uses: joining two independent clauses, separating introductory materials in a sentence, separating unnecessary...