Make your classroom into a place of kindness and compassion with E.B White's Charlotte's Web. The first four pages of the lesson plan guide you through several steps and projects, including discussions on Charlotte and Wilbur's...

Put together an English language arts unit on the six traits of writing with this helpful collection of resources. From fun songs to differentiated writing exercises reinforcing each of the traits, great ideas are provided for...

Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...

Make a study of the First Amendment and its relationship to freedom. Pupils rewrite the amendment and discuss the central idea before focusing on a specific phrase. After discussing, class members write a journal entry about the included...

Give your class this introductory activity to spark interest in the Japanese language. Learners look at the Japanese vowels and practice their pronunciation. Then the class works to match vocabulary words to their visual representation.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this...

Building upon prior lessons in the series, this reading and writing exercise requires pupils to look back at their own writing, track character development in the novel The Cay, and analyze how Phillip has changed. The reading focus is...

Find out how much your class knows about literary elements with a quick pre-assessment. Pupils work first individually to identify the instances of personification, metaphor, simile, and more, and then with group members to...

Learn all about Eric Carle, find out about his famous caterpillar, and try out related art, science, writing, math, and social studies activities. The resource comes with plenty of materials to support your instruction.

Building on the previous activity in this series of lesson seeds, this plan focuses on the use of dialect in Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay. Class members examine specific lines of text, use their reading journals to respond to the...

Ensure that your kids don't even consider saying "Not me!" when it comes time to read by engaging them in this set of lesson plans based around "The Little Red Hen." The class reads the story together before starting in on additional...

Create a list of random acts of kindness and have your class perform them during a designated week. Learners will also participate in a project centered around being kind to others. Each grade chooses their kindness project, and then...

Determine what young pupils already know about earth science with a brainstorming activity. After class members work together to complete a KWL chart about the Earth, they craft an acrostic poem to demonstrate their understanding.

Look back at the third chapter of The Cay with your class. Pupils will conduct a close reading, taking a second look at a chunk of text and responding to a series of text-dependent questions. Wrap up with an analytical writing prompt...

Prepare your class for argumentative writing with a close inspection of the controversy surrounding Theodore Taylor's novel, The Cay. All necessary articles and materials are linked at the beginning of the resource. Kids use the provided...

Explore the relationship between sports and physics in a cross-curricular lesson. Middle and high schoolers prepare a multimedia presentation based on a chosen sport. They answer five physics vocabulary questions about how the laws of...

It's all about the plot, main events, and story mapping with this lesson. As the class reads the novel James and the Giant Peach, they create an excitement graph that actually charts key events and moments of excitement. After...

Students create a book report using a cereal box. In this book report lesson plan, students cover the outer parts of a cereal box representing a book they red. They create an original cover on one side, and use the other sides to report...

Historical fiction can be a valuable asset when learning about the past. Integrate several novels written about the Civil War into your social studies unit, with groups of four working collaboratively to comprehend the novel from...

Take a break from literature study to address some grammatical concerns. Using a text you've already read in your class, show how to analyze pronoun use. After watching the master, pairs analyze a short excerpt on their own, identifying...

Conduct a close reading of chapter 9 of The Cay. Read the chapter again and ask pupils to respond to a list of included text-dependent questions. Finish the class with the provided writing assignment, which asks learners to use textual...

Class groups are challenged to solve the school’s parking problem. Each team must establish ground rules for their discussion, determine criteria that must be met, and brainstorm possible solutions. Next, they agree on one solution and...

Scholars choose between a variety of digital media in order to present literary concepts from To Kill a Mockingbird. Technology-heavy, the lesson requires that your class has computers, Microsoft Office Suite, and other devices such as...

Does your ELA class need some practice with the specific skills outlined in the Common Core standards? Then this is the perfect resource for you! One in a series of connected lessons that cover the standards for reading literature,...