Students develop their writing skills. In this writing instructional activity, students play a word game to help them formulate a plan to write descriptions of people or objects using descriptive words.

Students reflect on field trips in writing. In this journal writing lesson, students write about a recent experience by using 4 of their senses to tell what they remember. They turn these into poetry. 

Students complete descriptive writing about the appearance and actions of a horse. For this descriptive writing lesson, students use the 'Cloud Grows Character' to chart the horse as they watch videos of his growth stages. Students also...

What's the story? Learners create the first of four storyboards about the invention of the television, incorporating narrative techniques and descriptive details. Next, they offer and receive feedback by participating in a peer critique...

Two online lessons, one in math and one in language arts, are here for you. In them, learners play online games which reinforce important skills in literacy and numeracy. The thing I like about both of these lessons is that they get the...

Bring environmental issues into your classroom! Practice writing and peer editing research reports on global warming and the greenhouse effect. Middle schoolers can work on their research skills, their writing skills, and how to...

As a way to combine language arts and science, try this lesson on writing cloud poetry. Begin by showing a PowerPoint presentation and images of cloud types. Take meteorology masters outdoors to explore the sky using the provided "Cloud...

If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities...

Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts lesson. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable Listening Library"...

Introduce your classes to the Art of Rhetoric with a lesson that focuses on Aristotle's persuasive appeals and how they have been used, both ethically and unethically, to influence opinion.

Third graders examine how a family modifies their environment to create a home out of mud. They read the book "This House is Made of Mud" by Ken Buchanan, and write a description of their own home that compares the home of mud to their...

Drama is ever-present in our daily lives and eloquently depicted on stage. Middle schoolers practice writing scenes based on different prompts and frameworks, and then perform those creative scenes for their classmates. The...

Explore the paradox of the universe - or, at least, of popular music - with this lesson. Using the songs "Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson and "She" by Green Day, your class will complete a graphic organizer to help them understand...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words—and your pupils may agree after this instructional activity! They read a geometric description and create a diagram from that description. Their diagrams help them find unknown measures based...

What would it be like to sell your eggs to a couple who can't have children on their own? Could you even imagine it? As most of us have never been in this position, this descriptive essay is really quite interesting. The reading itself...

Students read The Greedy Triangle and discuss geometric solids. In this geometry lesson, students list the geo-solids in the world and create a graphic organizer to show where geo-solids exist.

"Can the connotation of a word or phrase create bias or prejudice?" The activities in this SMART Board lesson are directed toward this question, which will be sure to incite lots of opinions and ideas. The SMART Board file guides them...

Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource...

How do you graph a quadratic function efficiently? Explore graphing quadratic functions by writing in intercept form with a activity that makes a strong connection to the symmetry of the graph and its key features before individuals...

Why is Birmingham known as the magic city? A comprehensive lesson plan provides hands-on activities, group discussion, and writing exercises to teach young historians about the importance of the city of Birmingham. Scholars learn the...

A reading of Peggy Parish's Amelia Bedelia launches a study of idioms. Groups then select several idioms, write the meaning of the expressions, draw or select images, and use GIMP or Photoshop to create an idiom book. 

Upper graders listen to the blues. They discuss blues scale, read a description of the blues, and work together to write an original piece. A lesson plan like this ties into American history and African-American musical contributions...

What was life like for civilians who were home during WWII? The lesson uses a PowerPoint presentation with photos to explain life on the home front was like during World War II, including shortages of food, collecting scrap metal, and...

If, then, Else is not only a basic programming language command, it is also the basis for conditional statements used in writing. Middle schoolers try to craft conditional statements with a card sort activity and then collaborate on a...