Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Comprehend a Paragraph, then a Page/Section in a Text
Help your class tackle chunks of text with a simple graphic organizer. Pupils read three paragraphs and, as they read, draw pictures in the provided boxes that demonstrate what each paragraph says. There are three boxes on the page and...
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The Learning Network: More Like Disney
A great source of high-interest reading for the language arts classroom! Meant to be used with an article also available on the New York Times website, this worksheet provides 10 comprehension questions about the reading as well as one...
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Writing Prompts for High School
Are you teaching a high school language arts class and stumped for writing topics? Five pages of writing prompts for all kinds of writing should help you out. Many of these prompts refer to texts that are not included in this resource,...
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Graphic Organizing: Early American History
In collaborative groups, young US historians sort cards (each labeled with a single early American event or issue) according to which of the first four presidents was leading the country at the time. Learners copy the events onto a...
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Supreme Court Decisions on Freedom of Religion
What does freedom of religion mean? Analyze a series of Supreme Court cases where the First Amendment right to freedom of religion was put to the test. They discuss the cases' outcomes and argue whether the right decision was made....
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Guest Speaker Preparation: A Cooperative Lesson
Are you planning to have a guest speaker talk to your class? Prepare in advance and help your class transform into an engaged and thoughtful audience. Before the visit, young writers work cooperatively to brainstorm what they want to...
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Free-Writing Exercise
Use the suggested question "What does it mean to be a citizen?" to prompt your writers. After they free-write for five minutes, have them trade papers with another classmate. For the next five minutes, class members respond to the new...
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Practice Makes It Better
Use the Internet to expand the audience for portfolio writings and motivate young writers to edit their work. Have your class members select a piece of writing from their portfolios to be polished and published on the World Wide Web....
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Vocabulary Building - Declaration of Independence
Young scholars read the first part of the Declaration of Independence and mark the words they don't know. First, they try to guess what the words mean by looking at the them in context, and then they look up the words in a dictionary.
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Paragraph Building
Build the skills your budding authors need to develop to compose well-structured paragraphs. Give them the topic sheet (included here), and have them write a cohesive paragraph using the ideas listed. Consider having them include two...
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The Game of Persuasion
Why is it so important to learn the art of persuasion? Being persuasive helps you acquire the things you want or the things you feel are necessary. Print out these scenarios and assign one to each group of high schoolers. As a team, they...
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When A Story Met A Sandwich
How is a story like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Use making a sandwich as a metaphor to remind your writers that a good, solid beginning, a rich and rewarding middle, and an ending that brings everything together spices up a...
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Persuasive Essays
Follow this outline to write persuasive essays with your 11th grade college prep classes. Using the internet, they research a topic, citing their sources correctly. They work with a partner to peer edit their rough drafts, checking for...
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Connotation: Three Lessons for Effective Word Choice
Over the course of three days, middle schoolers explore the concept of connotation. They differentiate between the connotative and denotative meanings of sports team names, develop their own team names, logos, and text, and revise a news...
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Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents
Arranged into small groups, learners read a paragraph of the news story "Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents." As one reads, others mark the text (underlining important information and writing notes in the margin of the story). After...
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Narrative Writing
Imagine a day in the life of a child who has to work 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week. After viewing images and reading stories of child laborers, class members select an image and write a richly detailed narrative about a typical...
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Oral Presentation
Practice your speaking skills! Using a chosen visual aid, pupils present a previously written essay to the class. During the oral presentation, the listeners identify and write down the author's purpose and a question for the author. At...
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Informative Essay Writing
High schoolers start by drawing Mr. Essay Man, who is supposed to illustrate the different parts of an essay. After discussing what each component should contain, writers start their essay, guided by the teacher and class discussion....
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An Introduction to Of Mice and Men
By collaborating on producing a product ad and slogan, learning partners demonstrate their understanding of the difference between connotative and denotative language. This week-long activity is designed to be used as an introduction to...
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Rubric for Research Papers
This rubric is decent, but it doesn't provide a point allotment for each category. Use this as an outline to create a more comprehensive assessment for your writers' research papers.
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Word Meanings From Context
Here's a context clues worksheet that provides practice or assesses the use of "a" words including alacrity, abrasive, acrimonious, abridged, alleviate, and more. Readers study the context and then select the best meaning from four...
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Getting the Word Out
Discuss and generate blogs in this technology lesson. Middle and high schoolers explore examples of blogs and create their own blogs. Use this lesson throughout the year to reinforce concepts from your language arts class (or any class)....
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Spelling Counts!
Play a game to practice spelling and math. By assigning a numerical value to each letter of the alphabet, you can engage learners in "spy" coding and decoding activities that reinforce grade-appropriate spelling and math skills....
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Tales of Edgar Allen Poe
Analyze the writing of Edgar Allen Poe by reading and then writing in a similar style. Budding authors learn about the life of Poe and read one or more of his famous works online. Partner groups create an original piece of writing using...