Give your class the advantage of Thesaurus Power! They will use a thesaurus to understand word meanings and relationships. They focus on how a thesaurus functions and how it gives the entry word, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and part...

Writers use varied sentence patterns. They listen to the story of Cinderella rewritten so that each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. They create their own version of The Three Little Pigs using the same concept.

Examine persuasive writing using this informational excerpt about natural habitat conservation. Readers examine the headings of three paragraphs to determine their effect, then copy the first sentences of each. They use these topic...

Explore vocabulary context clues with a prefix activity. Using the prefixes micro- and mega-, fourth graders complete sentence frames. They then make up their own word with the correct prefixes. Helpful as homework or during a writing...

Use pictures and manipulatives to develop vocabulary with your beginning language learners. This plan can be used with foreign language learners (although you'll have to provide the vocabulary), English language learners, or a young...

You can use this activity with English language learners, a young language arts class, or speakers of a foreign language. The phrases learned are I need and I don't need. The teacher collects several items around the room, and learners...

Participate in a scavenger hunt to find objects beginning with a particular letter sound and take digital photos of them with your scholars. Using software, they find word pictures beginning with particular letters and locate picture...

Study unusual punctuation marks in this punctuation lesson. Young grammarians work in small groups to research one of the unusual punctuation marks (semi-colon, colon, dash, comma, ellipses, or quotation marks) and discuss how the mark...

Your class can increase their production of the target phoneme /sh/ through the use of video, the Internet, and hands-on activities listed here. Sound out the phoneme altogether, then model words that include  /sh/ at the beginning....

Students view various images to examine different types of protest Americans have used throughout history, and explore ways in which protest can produce change for better or worse.

Who was Bill Picket? Interested readers work through an informational passage to find out about a famous "bulldogger" from the old West. They answer several reading comprehension questions and use a seven step process to decode new...

Discover how to use prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. The group views a jovial video on the topic, and then they create a chart of prefix and suffix meanings to identify the meanings of words in a social...

Demonstrate strategies for tackling unfamiliar vocabulary words in preparation for the SAT. Using Visual Thesaurus computer software, middle and high schoolers interpret contextual clues, solve sample sentence completion questions, and...

Stanchion, spar, spinnaker. Right wing, sweeper, hip check. Every subject has specialized vocabulary. Here’s a fun way to introduce your learners to this jargon. Provide class groups with newspapers and have them search pre-selected...

Four weeks of vocabulary words are provided here! Each week has between six and seven vocabulary words for your young learners to master. First they hear each word, and then they get a short definition for each word. The second activity...

Here is a vocabulary worksheet in which your scholars determine the meaning of 10 words using context clues from short readings. They choose from among four words and write their answers on the blank lines at the bottom of the page. They...

Explore reading comprehension and child safety in this young adult literacy lesson plan. High schoolers practice using context clues to figure out word meanings after observing a teacher model this process. They read an article about...

Students are introduced to different context clues.  In this context clues lesson, students analyze sentences to find the meaning of a word using context clues.

Act and act, address and address...there are so many words in our dictionary that can function as nouns or verbs. Start this lesson by having your class list as many as they possibly can. When an adequate list presents itself, have your...

Duke Ellington, jazz, and jive kick-off a fun and creative lesson on responding emotionally to music. The class will learn about jive talk used in the 1920s and the life and music of Duke Ellington. They'll listen to a selection of his...

The fourth standard for reading literature in the Common Core calls for young readers to be able to determine the figurative and connotative meanings of words and phrases. Use this resource, a continuation of a series of Common Core...

A thorough guide to all ten chapters of Barbara Park's The Kid in the Red Jacket would be a great addition to your reading unit. Each page covers one chapter of the book, complete with vocabulary and content questions, and...

The dictionary defines twit as a foolish person. Mr. and Mrs. Twit, in The Twits, definitely live up to their name! The foolish couple dislikes everything and enjoys playing cruel jokes on each other. Scholars read about the Twits...

Use this worksheet to research a future or past olympian. There's a space for researchers to brainstorm things they'd like to know, a space for them to record notes, and a KWL chart. There's also an open space to write a cumulative...