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...

Breathe life into a reading of the children's story Clever Jack Takes the Cake with this Reader's Theater script. Offering speaking roles for nine students plus a sound effects chorus, this is a great activity that engages the whole...

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Poetic language is abundant in Natalie Babbitt's beautiful novel, Tuck Everlasting. Learners note the examples of similes, metaphors, and personification they find as they read, and illustrate how the language creates a sensory...

Having a debate doesn't mean you're fighting. Introduce middle schoolers to debate with a resource which distinguishes between an quarrel and a debate, describes the debate process and format, and presents some possible debate topics.

Start with the question in mind with a discussion activity on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. With four focus questions, note-taking prompts, and discussion points, readers practice answering thematic questions based on textual evidence.

Who named the shapes, or the days of the week? Should words be removed from the dictionary if they're no longer commonly used? Are there too many words in the English language? Language arts students explore these and additional...

Turn the tables on your language arts pupils by letting them be the teachers! With a list of grammatical topics to choose from (subject, adverbs, direct objects, etc), eighth graders plan a presentation to "re-review" the concept with...

Study allusions with a research and presentation project. Pupils are assigned a specific allusion, the phoenix for example. They research the origins, compose a summary, explain the concept, and explore this allusion within various...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, "I Have a Dream," is one of the most famous in United States history, but why was it so effective? Ask your class to determine the answer to this question. While the resource includes a description of...

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...

Every book has a few great characters, but James and the Giant Peach is the only one whose characters travel in a piece of fruit. The class creates T-charts for the main characters of the novel, while reading the book. They write actions...

This phonemic awareness game is very similar to the classic card game war; partners divide picture cards, each taking half (included). They place one card face-up at a time and segment the phonemes aloud. Whoever has the most phonemes...

What do George Harrison, Vanilla Ice, and Steven Ambrose all have in common? The Warner Brothers’ films Batman Forever and The Devil’s Advocate? All are guilty of plagiarism. And if you are considering a research project and want to...

Looking for an auditory approach to phoneme manipulation? You'll find everything you need here for an independent practice activity to get youngsters changing initial, medial, and final phonemes to create new words. They begin with a...

Here's an amazing writing guide that deserves a place in your curriculum library. The 136-page packet provides focus lessons on the writing process, expository, persuasive, and timed writing, the Cornell system of note taking, and...

A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few...

Prepare to teach Jan Brett stories by taking a look at this teacher resource, which includes text-based questions, writing assignments, discussion ideas, and vocabulary practice for 18 different stories.

Passive voice and participial adjectives are the focus of an 11-page resource packet designed for ESL/ELD classes. Language learners engage in activities and complete exercises that give them lots of practice with these constructs.

It can be awfully hard teaching young children how to read, but this phonics resource will make the job a little easier. Focusing on the au and aw vowel digraphs, this collection of engaging activities teaches beginning...

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...

How appropriate is playing a game of memory to help children memorize their sight words! Offering fun frog-themed flash cards and instructions for playing two different sight word games, this would make a great addition to the...

Gerunds and infinitives are the focus of this 24-page grammar packet designed to give language learners opportunities to practice using these parts of speech. Included are exercises, activities, games, and assessments.

Paired reading passages frequently appear on standardized exams, but finding text sets to use in the classroom is sometimes a challenge. A lesson plan on using paired texts includes a selection of passages and a graphic organizer for...