Practice persuasive writing skills in this thorough instructional activity. After selecting issues and discovering viewpoints, middle schoolers write letters or brochures created to express the individual's perspective. The ideas are...

Students work in co-op groups to create a Reader's Theater production of the story. Students create a flow map that sequences the major events in the story. Students research the island of Martinique and create a travel brochure...

In this word formation worksheet, learners identify groups of words that belong to the same word family, create word families from a given word, and fill in sentences using words that come from the same word family. Students answer...

Students complete conflict resolution skills training as a part of creating a caring school community. In this conflict resolution lesson, students work with a group of peer student leaders to resolve conflicts. Students visit freshman...

Martin's Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport, is a story about Martin Luther King. Encourage your learners to create a list of questions before beginning the reading. Also, learners should be working on monitoring and clarifying to...

Looking for a lesson about differing sentence types? Use this lesson on compound and complex sentences in your grammar unit. After composing simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences individually and as part of a group,...

What's the best way to start a story? Learners write a memoir using effective openings. They research the process and work through a list of hooks to use in their writing. They use at least two hooks to begin their personal memoir. A...

Explore the abundance of spring, no matter what season you are covering in your class! Using the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, GALE Biography Resource Center, and Litfinder, pupils work on researching the poet and analyzing the use of...

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...

What information would you find in an almanac that you would not find in an atlas? What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus? Using a Cite Your Sites worksheet on which they record their observations, groups participate...

Fifth graders brainstorm some ideas for each of the columns. As they call them out, write some on the sticky notes until each sticky note is used for each column They stay in the same groups; have each group draw one sticky note from...

Young learners distinguish statements as fact or fiction. After exploring a newspaper, they determine the type of information it contains. They read editorial articles and discuss the differences between the editorial page and the front...

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...

Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together....

Rhetorical appeals (pathos, logos, and ethos) are the focus of a series of exercises that asks class members to brainstorm topics for persuasive speeches, groups to craft a persuasive speech about one of the topics, and individuals to...

Students investigate and distinguish between primary and secondary sources when analyzing works of literature. They present their information on transparencies that are displayed to the class.

Pupils examine and discuss author's purpose and the influence of an author's perspective in his or her writing. In groups, they read scenarios and respond to them from the perspective of a designated character. Materials are attached.

Learners discover how to use a digital camera and how to make a PowerPoint presentation. They practice good listening skills and hear how to make a "Supa Dupa Egg." They take notes and use them to create an effective, step-by-step...

Two word puzzles encourage collaboration among learners. One sheet has numbers and initials that show a relationship and the other has pictorial images that represent a phrase. Partners cooperate in order to develop functional working...

Introduce your young readers to the book review. Groups of writers practice the basic steps of writing a book report and complete an Accordion-Book Summary activity. The lesson includes book report basics and directions to make...

Readers work to increase the speed of their out-loud reading to improve overall fluency.  They work with partners to time and record how far they read in one minute using the book Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type. The procedures...

The sheep on the ship was shocked by the Fish on the Shore! Can you guess which digraph we're studying? Take a look at the /sh/ sound with your young readers. Have them write words with the target sound in letter boxes, and then small...

Have your music lovers examine song lyrics and identify the poetry elements or tools used by a lyricist. They review the song individually before working in groups to discuss what they discovered about the song's narrator or character...

Fifth graders brainstorm a list of characteristics people have when they are happy with their career. In groups, they review their material from the previous instructional activity and share their information with the class in the form...