Shoo fly. Scholars read DDT Spray Scares Mosquitoes Away, Study Finds and You Think You Have It Tough? to complete a mid-unit assessment. The learners compare and contrast author presentation and conduct a credibility check on each...

Here is a tasty topic for a lesson: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create an illustration...

After going over the five steps of the writing process, pupils fill out "Getting to Know You" worksheets. They trade papers with each other, and have the task of writing a descriptive paragraph about the person whose worksheet they...

Participate in a scavenger hunt to find objects beginning with a particular letter sound and take digital photos of them with your scholars. Using software, they find word pictures beginning with particular letters and locate picture...

Writers use varied sentence patterns. They listen to the story of Cinderella rewritten so that each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. They create their own version of The Three Little Pigs using the same concept.

Act and act, address and address...there are so many words in our dictionary that can function as nouns or verbs. Start this lesson by having your class list as many as they possibly can. When an adequate list presents itself, have your...

Students read a multicultural book called "This Is the Way We Go to School" by Edith Baer and Steve Bjorhman. They become culturally aware of the different nationalities around the world and different ways that they may do things on a...

What is an idiom? Learners identify and read common idioms. They discuss what idioms are, and are given a black line master embedded in the plan that has 100 common idioms. Next, they complete "The Daily Idiom" worksheet, which is...

The fourth standard for reading literature in the Common Core calls for young readers to be able to determine the figurative and connotative meanings of words and phrases. Use this resource, a continuation of a series of Common Core...

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

Study unusual punctuation marks in this punctuation lesson. Young grammarians work in small groups to research one of the unusual punctuation marks (semi-colon, colon, dash, comma, ellipses, or quotation marks) and discuss how the mark...

Can colors help to convey a mood in writing? Explore this question with your class using the songs "Grey Street" by the Dave Matthews Band and "Blu is a Mood" by Blu Cantrell. After analyzing the effect of the color words in these songs...

Life is not always fair. Who's heard that before? This same concept moves to a larger scale using prejudice and bias. Pupils discuss where prejudice attitudes derive and how they develop throughout life. Reading comprehension...

Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...

Teaching tools designed to support student-centered literature study. Geared toward homeschoolers reading Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird, I would use these in my classroom. The materials are applicable to any text: graphic...

Looking for a fun activity for your vocabulary lesson? Bring a instructional activity on "spoonerisms" to your fifth grade class. Kids decipher seven phrases that have mixed up the first letter sounds of each word. They then think of...

Young scholars explore the definitions relevant to Karst topography. They develop a Bryant Watershed Dictionary of the special words and terms that are used to talk about the topography and hydrology of the area they live in.

Middle schoolers use an internet dictionary to produce a glossary of words related to a particular subject area being studied. They choose the correct meaning of the word for their glossary, based on it's relationship to the subject...

Students discuss reasons to use reference materials, identify correct reference material to use for specific information, find answers to specific questions by locating information in encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, almanac, glossary,...

Students discover facts about Iditarod racing. In this language arts instructional activity, students create a class musher picture dictionary selecting terms from the Musher Term list. Additionally, students create a class picture...

Young scholars find words that begin with the letters in their own names, using a variety of sources including word banks and online dictionaries. They create an acrostic poem. Pupils revise poems as needed, for meaning and...

Students create their own dictionary. In this spelling lesson, students make a dictionary with just words and pictures. They use these dictionaries when they are writing to remember how to spell words. 

Students practice using their target language vocabulary by completing a crossword puzzle.  In this foreign language instructional activity, students complete several random tasks based on new vocabulary words in their target...

Students explore the origins of modern language. In this etymology lesson, students discuss the cultural influences of Ancient Greece on modern society. Students design and complete charts that demonstrate the original and contemporary...