When do we use dictionaries? Provide this dictionary scavenger hunt for your youngsters. Third and fourth graders search for words, recording the number of syllables or definition for a variety of words. Get your class using dictionaries...

Bring dictionaries back into your classroom! Although it's often preferred to look up a word's definition on a computer or smart phone, we still need to practice this important skill. Middle and high schoolers investigate how to use the...

Finding engaging ways to help your middle schoolers build their vocabulary is not easy to do. The lesson presented here offers a great way to motivate them to build vocabulary by making it into a game. Teams of pupils use a dictionary...

Here is lesson 5 from a 7 lesson unit on using blogging to create a community of writers. The aim of this lesson is to get students writing about what Archaeologists do and how they use material data to study the past. They compose a...

Invite your class to investigate racism and civil rights by analyzing the great Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Your learners will read the words from the "I Have a Dream" speech and analyze the political and racial overtones. They will...

Use Greek roots, suffixes, and prefixes to create polysyllabic words. Readers use the dictionary to identify what the word's prefix, suffix, and root or base word mean. They define what a syllable is and how one is formed using Greek...

Third graders practice dictionary skills. They use a digital camera and insert pictures from a floppy disk into a document. They play a game in which they are handed an anonymous definition of each other and must find each other in class.

What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...

Develop study skills and improve spelling at the same time. Every time I teach this mnemonic device, the kids thank me. It makes memorizing more manageable, and fun. To remember how to spell difficult words, make up a sentence using...

Students use a database as a vocabulary resource during writing/reading. They preview stories and list unknown works into their reading notebooks. Students find the definitions, and enter their words into a database using a teacher...

Pupils explore English by completing a word definitions worksheet. In this dictionary lesson, students practice locating a list of vocabulary terms in a "Dictionary Race." Pupils complete a worksheet based upon word cards and definitions.

Fourth graders, after brainstorming what the word "guide" means, examine how to use guide words in a dictionary to locate words. They define "guide," identify guide words in a variety of dictionaries and locate words using guide words....

Discover alliteration found in picture books by Pamela Duncan Edwards. Then, dive into a read aloud of Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak. This practice sets the stage for budding poets to create their own acrostic poem,...

Here is a lesson plan that gives learners a chance to practice using context clues. They read the story, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Students use different word strategies (base words, synonyms, antonyms) to decode and understand...

An Online NewsHour article about scholarly ethics launches this study of plagiarism. Since historians are supposed to bring original ideas and perspectives to their publications, they must give credit to the ideas of others. After a...

Learners understand the way the dictionary is laid out as well as the purpose for why people use dictionaries. In this language arts instructional activity, students recognize the need for alphabetical order and are able to find words...

Students familiarize themselves with the construct and measure menus. They demonstrate how to use the Sketchpad Calculator. They draw a triangle and construct the centroid. They shade in each of the small triangles and measure the area.

A reading of Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter opens a discussion of justice and fairness. Using a Venn diagram and an Idea Wheel graphic organizer, class members consider the similarities and differences in these two terms. They then...

Learners identify their beliefs and values and compare how these values relate to those of their community. They then determine how their values affect the roles they play in different situations. A quiz about values and beliefs...

Students explore economics by creating a budget. In this financial goal setting activity, students investigate their use of time by completing a worksheet. Students identify financial goals they would like to achieve in the next several...

Watch the damage from a forest fire in this interactive simulation activity that challenges learners to estimate the burn area using different approaches. Learners are given a worksheet to track the different burn patterns and practice...

After watching the documentary Dark Water about a traditional Chumash ceremony and reading a Chumash origin story, viewers are asked to create a coat of arms and to craft an essay that details a family tradition or their own origin story.

Students explore how to use the dictionary. They practice finding words in the dictionary. Students find the word that is between two listed words and they find the word that does not belong in between the two listed words.

"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own...