Fifth graders analyze William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, paying close attention to character development, plot, and dialogue. With daily reading and thoughtful discussion, scholars take pen to paper to respond to journal...

An activity work alongside a narrative text of your choice. With reading comprehension at its focus, readers complete worksheets covering character descriptions.

This is a fantastic collection of a wide variety of rubrics for writing, listening, and speaking! The resource contains over 14 rubrics for assessing such items as a summary, autobiographical sketch and narrative, speech, oral...

Encourage young writers to edit text based on conventions. After reviewing the conventions, fourth graders watch a teacher demonstrate how to revise a paragraph for correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or dialogue. Then, pairs...

An activity boosts reading comprehension by challenging scholars to answer questions about a narrative tale detailing elements—plot, characters, setting, theme, problem, and solution.

How are novels and scripts alike and different? As part of the mid-unit assessment, scholars complete a Venn diagram to compare two types of writing: a novel and a script. Next, they respond to short-answer questions, evaluating passages...

Stretch scholars' writing muscles with an assortment of narrative writing prompts set to the theme of, You won't believe what happened to me!

Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.

The unit offers second graders skills practice in tricky spelling and words, grammar—nouns and punctuation, reading decodable texts, and writing a personal narrative. Lessons begin with a warm-up and go into a concept review, word work,...

Once again, class groups examine two model paragraphs and, using the provided rubric, evaluate how effectively the writers use structural techniques to sequence events so that they build a specific tone. Individuals then use what they...

Put it in your own words. Scholars work independently on their mid-unit assessments by responding to a writing prompt. They write about Miné Okubo’s life and the moments when Okubo became visible again.

Animals are the theme of this series of challenge activities. Extend scholars' learning opportunities by writing personal narratives and book reports, creating picture and alphabet books, and drawing scenes from stories read aloud.

Enthusiastic readers report on a book detailing what it's about and their favorite part with a picture-based writing template. A nonfiction version takes a step further to highlight what the pupil learned, and a fiction version showcases...

After a brief discussion of their independent reading texts, pairs exchange their college narratives and, using the provided peer review tool, give their partner suggestions on how the draft may be improved.

What is the author's purpose in writing a joke book? What about a book about the digestive system? Explore author's purpose with a worksheet that challenges kids to identify whether ten books are meant to entertain, inform, or persuade.

Growing up within a culture leaves a lot of ideas and values unspoken. Take a closer look at the cultures in which your learners live with a discussion activity that addresses cultural identity and traits of those living within the...

Our sense of smell has a wonderful way of bringing back memories. Unlock those memories with an olfactory-inspired writing prompt that challenges writers to tell a story about a specific smell and the memories it conjures.

Using their notes developed throughout the unit, class members prepare for the end of the unit assessment by writing a formal essay in which they "analyze how the author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X provides a conclusion that...

A unit covering second-grade skills reviews 16 letter-sound correspondences, tricky words, and punctuation. Readers provide context for examining story elements, and pupils participate in close reading and write narratives retelling a...

Go beyond a traditional end-of-the-year survey and have your middle school pupils compile a portfolio of work illustrating their progression as a writer. 

Scholars discuss a reading selection in Unbroken by writing to a partner about text selection. After completing the writing, learners revisit the use of active and passive sentences by reviewing a second Active and Passive Sentences...

Emergencies happen. Be prepared the next time you have to call in a substitute with a lesson plan designed to meet the needs of a kindergarten class. Throughout the day, class members work with number and alphabet cards, identify numbers...

Focus on poetry this summer to enhance those comprehension, fluency, and language skills with a set of resources intended to explore different types of poetry, specifically lyric poetry. The daily activities contain differentiation ideas...

Class members take a break from discussing The Autobiography of Malcolm X to focus on their personal narrative essays. Before working on their drafts, they review what they have learned from their study of Haley's narrative about...