Pupils read The New Republic article and/or watch the News Ohio streaming video package. They employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different...

Practice makes perfect, and this lesson provides a rubric to prove it! To improve their ability to read with fluency and expression, readers listen to a series of online stories in order to hear how a well-read story should sound. They...

With a variety of pictures, fourth grade Spanish language learners will review adjectives by describing the appearance of the people in the pictures. You will need to bring in the pictures, and consider creating a word bank of adjectives...

Evaluate the use of vocabulary in written paragraphs to make the determination of its appropriateness for a particular audience. As a class, seventh graders develop a fictional team and write three paragraphs to different audiences based...

Students listen as the teacher reads fairy tales to students and identify patterns. They listen as the teacher re-reads the fairy tales and signal or recite patterns as they listen. Students identify patterns in the fairy tales. They...

Help your pupils sharpen their letter writing skills. They compose business letters that include greetings, headings, closings, and a professional tone for a philanthropic organization requesting information. Use this resource to...

Sixth graders review literary devices. They use both fiction and nonfiction texts to review metaphor, simile, alliteration, imagery, symbolism and personification. This lesson has a scripted guide for the teacher to follow.

Students create new sentences using adverb clauses identified from a book.  In this narrative writing lesson, students write new sentences from some of the dependent clauses used in a book read to them by the teacher.  Students...

Use the present tense to create written assignments. Critical thinkers take a passage written in past or future tense and rewrite it in present tense. They then write a set of instructions in present tense.

Students use punctuation and capitalization. In this grammar activity students use stop signs in the place of periods. Students cut out sentences and put stop signs in appropriate places. Students indicate capitalization where needed.

A great idea for showing language arts pupils the universality of themes, even in the real world! Have class members choose an idea-noun (peace, justice, war, love, etc.) at the beginning of the year or semester. They complete weekly...

A geographic perspective helps historians learn about significant eras such as the civil rights movement. Through research and source analysis, learners create a report depicting a significant location of this time. They synthesize their...

Introduce your middle and high schoolers to the correct use of quotation marks. They identify examples of correct and incorrect quotations in magazines and edit a paragraph in groups. Use this lesson as a way to reinforce proofreading...

First graders read and discuss several stories. They share information about different types of shelter around the world. They explain that lifestyles and shelter depend very much on where people live and how they use the resources...

Students research online and in books city statutes regarding posting signs on utility poles, interview appropriate officials about ordinances and how completely it is enforced, explore what has happened elsewhere when citizens decided...

Students research what has happened in other high schools with gay or lesbian speakers. They survey students about what they believe the issues are in school.Students present a proposal for a speaker on this topic to the appropriate...

Sixth graders review three sample sentences in order to identify sentence structure, and to practice how to edit sentences appropriately. They work with a partner to define a run-on sentence and identify three ways to correct it. They...

Second graders review their knowledge of measurement by making a concept web. They write the measurement words on chart paper and discuss them. They use Kidspiration to make the web using the computer. They add new words as they proceed...

Eleventh graders read and study Hamlet. Then they are introduced to close reading as a means of understanding what is being read--not only understanding the printed word, but also the nuances and connotations of language as it is used by...

Fifth through eighth graders think of themselves as newspaper reporters as they listen to a presentation by a guest speaker. As reporters, they take notes during the presentation. Using these notes, they create a rough draft and then a...

Young readers describe objects by using describing words. After reviewing the five senses, they use their senses to gain information about an object. Then as homework, they write three descriptive words about a mystery object and place...

students examine the historical, political, religious and culture aspects of the Renaissance. Using this information, they read "Galileo" by Bertolt Brecht. They use the internet to research a specific event of the time period and come...

Hit all the basics with this lesson, focusing on weather, greetings, and dates! Start by singing a weather related song ("Quel temps fait-il by Barbara MacArthur is suggested), and then read a story about getting ready for school. The...

Class members use e-mail and the merry-go-round story format to create a science fiction story. Each writer begins by selecting one of three prompts, crafting the introductory paragraph and sending the paragraph to the next person on the...