EngageNY
Launching The Module: Taking a Stand
Scholars analyze various photos to determine how the people pictured take a stand. They use a Notice/Wonder Note Catcher to help organize their thoughts. Learners then study a Taking a Stand: Frayer Model handout to learn what it means...
EngageNY
Jigsaw to Analyze Mood and Tone in To Kill a Mockingbird (Chapter 8)
We have an appointment! Scholars meet with another discussion appointment to discuss the text structure of the poem "Incident" by Countee Cullen. They use a Note Catcher to guide their thinking and compare the structure to chapter 8 of...
EngageNY
Understanding Perspective: Japanese Society’s Impact on Japanese Guards (Pages 189-197)
The focus is on written communication as class members respond to questions about the text Unbroken in their Written Conversation note catchers. They trade note catchers with a partner every two minutes and then share ideas from their...
Curated OER
On the Cutting Edge
Introduce the background of design and designers and their role in communicating their thoughts to others. In groups, you can assign participation in a writing cluster on various designers and write paragraphs to submit to magazines. To...
Newspaper in Education
Lesson 10: Studying Content-Specific Language
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...
Lakeshorelearning
Read and Write about It
Reading informational text is a skill that transcends subjects and grade levels. Practice reading about different topics in various formats with a language arts lesson that includes opportunities for writing and research as well.
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 1: Unit 2, Lesson 1
How can an author's decisions impact a text? Using an insightful resource, scholars begin their study of Hamlet by reading Act 1.1. They explore the language, characters, and setting in small groups. Upon finishing group work, pupils...
EngageNY
Author’s Craft: The Poetry of the Play
Feel the rhythm! Pupils begin reading Act 2, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as they continue participating in a drama circle. With discussion, they examine Shakespeare's use of rhyme, rhythm, and meter, analyzing how...
EngageNY
Analyzing an Author’s Craft: Carlotta’s Journey to Justice
Find your voice. Readers look at a passage from A Mighty Long Way and discuss what it means for Carlotta to find her voice. After discussing figurative language and idioms, learners listen to the song "This Little Light of Mine" and...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Scavenger Word Hunt
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...
Curated OER
Two Truths and a Lie: Internet Research Skills
It's tough for high schoolers to assess what is a credible resource and what is not. A helpful resource prompts class members to research a particular topic and record two facts—and create one lie—while documenting the sources. They...
Kelly's Kindergarten
January Daily Activities
Start the year right with a series of activities about phonics, reading, winter exercises, and writing. Focused on snow and winter items, a month's worth of short lessons address various skills and keep your kids practicing language arts.
Media Smarts
The Newspaper Front Page
Hot off the presses! A perfect instructional activity idea for a journalism class or even a language arts class looking to incorporate some informational texts. Young writers analyze the front pages of various newspapers to determine the...
Curated OER
Fever 1793: Round Table Discussion
All things considered, it will be a good day for readers as they manage on their own to develop questions about what intrigues, bothers, or confuses them in Laurie Halse Anderson's tale of Mattie Cook and the Yellow Fever epidemic...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 1
Here's a fresh approach to the dreaded personal narrative required by most college applications. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the anchor text for a unit that, through modeling and guided practice exercises, encourages the...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1, Unit 3, Lesson 6
After a brief discussion of their independent reading texts, pairs exchange their college narratives and, using the provided peer review tool, give their partner suggestions on how the draft may be improved.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 10
As you work through a literary analysis unit based on Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," use a writing assessment to measure your class's skills. They choose one epigraph from the story to analyze and track...
EngageNY
Practice Planning a Historical Narrative: The Wheelwright
Fourth graders use a four-square graphic organizer to plan a paragraph writing about a wheelwright. Using gathered research from the previous unit, young writers discover how to organize a plot in preparation for writing a historical...
EngageNY
Drafting a Historical Fiction Narrative: The Wheelwright
Young writers use the four-square graphic organizer to draft their historical fiction narratives' first, second, third, and fourth paragraphs on the wheelwright. The instructional activity promotes discussion and modeling of what makes a...
EngageNY
Planning a Historical Fiction Narrative Based on Expert Trades
Pupils plan for a historical fiction narrative based on their previous research on expert trades from the Colonial Era. Individuals use the four-square graphic organizer to organize the information they want to be detailed in their four...
EngageNY
How Does the Author Convey Themes in Bud, Not Buddy?
After reading up to chapter 12 of Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, scholars read chapter 13 and take part in a grand conversation about the author's writing techniques. Pupils discuss how his writing conveyed literary themes...
EngageNY
Notices and Wonders of the Second Stanza of “If”
Here is an instructional activity that asks pupils to analyze poetry and sparks discussion about two different types of texts: asking how is the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling alike and different from the story, Bud, Not Buddy by...
EngageNY
Looking Closely at Stanza 2—Identifying Rules to Live By Communicated in “If”
Pupils take part in a close reading of the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, in which they delve deep into its meaning and identify its rules to live by. As the grand discussion progresses, learners then relate the poem's rules with those...
EngageNY
Revisiting Bud’s Rules: Survive or Thrive?
Bud followed a series of rules from Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. The question is, how did he use those rules to thrive or survive? After a grand discussion, class members explore the novel to locate and cite textual...