Groups of older elementary learners begin their study of figurative language by visiting a website and completing the exercises detailed there. They then apply what they have learned by finding examples in several poems. Finally, they...

Have you ever graded a stack of essays that felt like a series of bland simple sentences? A helpful grammar presentation will help learners spice up their writing by varying their sentence style, making them stronger and more...

Enrich a unit on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros with a selection of related activities. The packet contains nine activities that go from pre-reading through wrapping up the novel. Young readers work on studying...

Examining idioms is a peace of cake when using this graphic organizer! Here, grammarians identify an idiom and use it in a sentence. Then they investigate its literal meaning versus its figurative meaning, and accompany each one with a...

Scholars compare and contrast two informational texts about Poison Dart Frogs. A brief vocabulary review and discussion lead the way to a two-part close reading—the first reading for gist the second reading for details. Followed by a...

Introduce your class to the delights of nonsense poetry and explore literary devices with the writing of Edward Lear. Learners identify rhyme and meter as well as figures of speech, alliteration, and onomatopoeia in "The Owl and the...

Charles Dickens offers an excellent example of sensory writing in this reading comprehension learning exercise. Learners read excerpts from the novel Hard Times in which he describes the New England industrial city of Coketown....

Some words actually sound like their meaning. When this happens, it's known as onomatopoeia. Learners look at a series of pictures, and match up a bunch of words with the pictures they sound like. For example, the word buzz would go with...

Introduce your language learners to Arabic. The most useful portion of this resource is the detailed information on the Arabic alphabet. Each letter is placed in a grid that shows the various ways to write it based on the situation...

One, two, three. One, two, three. Invite your language learners to practice the steps for researching and presenting information. Each small group has the task of explaining one Latin dance in full detail.

Budding poets create two acrostic poems, one for their name and another using a word of their choice. Over the course of five days, scholars compose, revise, publish, and share their work with their peers.

Can you tell everything about a character based on their actions? Delve into the prominent characters of Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with helpful reading tips and discussion questions. A thorough lesson...

Delve into the heart of dramatic dialogue with a unit focused on Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Having completed an online exploration about ancient Greece beforehand, ninth graders read the play's opening lines and analyze how...

Oedipus may be the king, but he certainly does not rule—or see—all. Analyze his interaction with Teiresias in an instructional activity focused on the central idea of Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As pairs of ninth graders discuss...

The battle of wits and wisdom rages in Sophocles' Oedipus the King, particularly in Oedipus' discussion with Teiresias about the Sphinx's riddle. Ninth graders focus on this crucial conversation with a literary analysis instructional...

Team up! Scholars begin working with their research teams to review the components of an effective poem. They then move on to independent work by beginning the end-of-unit assessment. Writers complete the draft of their "Back Again"...

Did you know that there are 15.2 million refugees in the world? High schoolers will read "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and learn how they can get involved to lower this surprising number. To really encourage involvement,...

Prepare your learners to identify figurative language in poetry. Tips for reading poetry and what to look for are listed on these slides. Rhetorical devices are defined and plenty of examples are given. 

If anyone suffers from metrophobia—the fear of poetry—the PowerPoint on the elements of poetry may help alleviate their worries. The presentation introduces learners to poetic elements, including simile, metaphor, and personification....

A world without adjectives would be a sad place indeed! Make sure adjectives stay around by teaching your class about what they are and how using them can make a boring story truly interesting. Learners put this idea into practice by...

Perspective is everything. Using a graphic organizer, pupils determine Laurence Yep's perspective of the police in his novel Dragonwings. Additionally, scholars complete anchor charts to identify connotative language in the text.

Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...

What do Jeep advertisements and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath have in common? They both employ the art of the extended metaphor! Using the Six-Trait Writing model, learners begin to work on their own extended metaphors. Development...

What makes you want to buy that new car? Or vote for that popular politician? Study the persuasive techniques commonly found in advertisements or argumentative writing, including repetition, exaggeration, and fact vs. opinion.