Students discover the story behind Thanksgiving through comparing and contrasting what pilgrims were thankful for, memorizing Thanksgiving poems, and creating a placemat that depicts the poem.

Students read and discuss a poem about the issues of gender, education, and family written by a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in South Africa. In this poetry instructional activity, students read the poem 'Moetsana' and discuss the...

Connect poetry to a naturally kid-friendly topic: ghosts! Draw on your class's prior knowledge of the paranormal to help them access the classic poem "Haunted House" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After a fun warm-up activity describing...

Pupils, over an extended time, read and explain the nonsense words of Lewis Carroll's poem, "Jabberwocky". They infer the meaning of the poem using visualizing as well as decoding skills. While written for first graders, this is easily...

Students, while in the computer lab, visit a variety of web sites and read about the life and work of Langston Hughes. They create an author's brochure on Mr. Hughes from the data they collect from the various web sites. Each student...

  Students read and discuss the poem, The Purple Cow.  In this poetry lesson, students discuss the rhyming words in the poem and why this piece of literature is silly or unusual.     

Wes Magee's poem "The Chimney Boy's Story" about chimney sweeps/climbing boys is used as an introduction to a lesson that asks groups to research child labor in Victorian Britain. 

After answering comprehension questions (good for a homework reading check), class members analyze "Comin' Thro the Rye," and using the included guidance questions, discuss Holden's misreading of Robert Burns' poem. The URL to text of...

Students study the literature and literary techniques of the early Middle Ages, thus preparing students to read Beowulf with an appreciation for its artistry and beauty. Students solve online riddles, write riddles and study Anglo-Saxon...

Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.

After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, students work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations to see...

Students practice reading and writing using a short poem and information about kites. In this kite poem lesson plan, students read and write using a common poem. This lesson plan includes practice with reading, rhyming, handwriting,...

Twelfth graders define what a hero is and watch a video. In this hero lesson, 12th graders discuss the characteristics of a hero and list heroes and their attributes.  Students read the poem Beowulf and identify...

Learners write poems and a narrative story.  In this writing lesson, students read stories and poems written by other learners and read examples of haiku's and diamonte's.  Students write an acrostic poem and a diamonte...

Be as romantic as a poetic. Appear as clever as Einstein. Wow others with your powers of observation by using similes to point out the similar aspects in two different things. This short video focuses on similes found in Shakespeare and...

Learners examine how Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke incorporate poetic devices to convey meaning in the poems, 'Those Winter Sundays,' and 'My Papa's Waltz.' They listen to audio clips, explore websites, and write an analysis of the...

Ninth graders compare the development of text in Book 5 of "The Odyssey" to Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotus Eaters." After discussing the comparison's of the two text within a group, they create an original piece of work or...

Improve pronunciation and phonemic awareness in your first and second graders! With this plan, they distinguish between the sounds for short vowel e and long vowel e. They are introduced to the vowel patterns that comprise long vowel...

Analyze the poem "Casey at the Bat." Your team of analysts will read the poem and complete a variety of activities, including describing how Casey looks and acts, describing how he feels before and after he strikes out, and sharing...

Eighth graders focus on the Shakespearian sonnet as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative...

Students read the epic, Beowulf and examine the nature of good and evil. They compile a list of questions about loyalty tests and take turns asking and answering them. they create Beowulf comic strips and research other epic tales.

Young scholars brainstorm independently first, then ask their best friend on the team, or seat partners, depending on the year & student mix, to add to their list of personal characteristics and/or to name three words they think of...

Kindergarteners spell patterns of the long vowel phoneme /ay/. After listenting to The Birthday Day, learners work together to construct a class book that utilizes words that end in /ay/. Since the /ay/ phoneme is used so much...

Learners recognize words by common spelling patterns. The teacher reads a poem to the class and look at rhymes for the word moon. They practice handwriting in conjunction with spelling, and they can even write their own -oo- poem!