Describe yourself or a character from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with a biopoem activity. Using the provided format, kids write their own characteristics or the character traits from the novel to create a poetic portrait.

A cloze reading passage about getting a driver's permit at an older age prompts kids to use context clues as they read. They can use the word bank below to fill in eight blank spaces throughout the story.

A great source of high-interest reading for the language arts classroom! Meant to be used with an article also available on the New York Times website, this worksheet provides 10 comprehension questions about the reading as well as one...

Fourth graders research ways to use technology to raise awareness for refugee camps and the conflict in Darfur. In this world conflict and technology lesson, 4th graders work in groups as researchers, writers, and artists to create a...

Help your learners attain vocabulary and practice reading comprehension with this cloze activity. Created by The Learning Network, this resource provides a New York Times article with the words already removed. Pupils can fill in the...

Make letter sounds a game for pre-readers using these letter cards. After you demonstrate, learners take turns drawing letters out of a bag. Weight them for the letters they have been practicing most recently. Once they've chosen a...

If you'd like to quickly access a simple graphic organizer designed for a class to divide and conquer a larger subject, then check out this resource. Assign class members to study a specific topic within a historical theme or event, and...

For this alphabet worksheet, students print the uppercase and lowercase letter A. Students also read the sentence, "A is for apple."

Practice being concise. Exercise your vocabulary. Improve your editing skills. The contention in this activity is that by imposing a 140 character limit, the Twitter format actually helps improve writing skills. And of course class...

Students explore the art piece, "Death Cart." In this visual arts lesson, students discuss the artistic details of the art piece and design a cart for a classroom "parade." Students use cardboard boxes, glue, and markers to construct a...

Four thought-provoking questions encourage readers to develop and support their opinions about strategies to end a friendship after exploring excerpts from a New York Times article. The reading is brief so this could be a lead-in to...

Introduce your class to ghostwriting while practicing comprehension. From The New York Times' The Learning Network, this article covers the topic of ghostwriting for cookbooks. There are blank spaces and a word bank. Learners can use the...

Instead of bingo, why not play some Lingo? This vocabulary game is just like bingo, but it's all about words and focuses on building vocabulary. The resource provides a blank Lingo card, a filled-in sample, and a vocabulary list. All of...

Organize the characters in Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic according to their shared character traits. After listing character traits as a class, kids note which characters exhibit particular characteristics with a...

Considering using The Josefina Story Quilt in your classroom? Check out this sample teaching guide for a list of pre-reading activities.

Support scholars' ability to write complex sentences with a two-page worksheet designed to inform and reinforce. Here, learners obtain a brief overview of what a complex sentence is and how one is made; then apply their new-found...

Introduce some nonfiction reading into your classroom! This resource contains seven comprehension questions pertaining to an article from The New York Times website about the first middle schoolers to ever win the United States Chess...

Create a poster with the acronym MINTS to help youngsters to remember when to capitalize in sentences. In this capitalizing lesson plan, learners reinforce the rules of capitalization with this acronym during their writing activities. A...

Learn about wastewater and recycled water with a science reading activity. After learners finish a two-page passage about conserving the water supply, they answer six comprehension questions about what they have read.

Theodore Taylor's The Cay provides the text for an assignment that asks each reader to craft a biopoem for one of the characters.

Eighth graders explore problem solving strategies to build a paper bridge with a partner. As a class they discuss a variety of techniques to solve a simple problem, then in pairs construct the longest non-supported single span bridge...

Who is Emmet Till? An important historical figure, your kids will be shocked by his story! Discover the details of his life and collaborate to write a crown of sonnets in the style of Marilyn Nelson.

Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? After viewing a trailer for the film, Anonymous and reading Stephen Marche’s article “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If Shakespeare Wasn’t Shakespeare?” class groups read articles about the Shakespeare...

Altering the ending of a famous fairy tale is a really fun way for kids to experience creative writing. The lesson here has them do just that! Learners listen to the famous fairy tale, "The Twelve Brothers," and change the ending of the...