Engaging and fun, this lesson is a good way to reinforce context clues with this lesson, in which middle schoolers investigate literary puzzles. They apply critical thinking skills to codes in order to solve them. They use a variety of...

Put it all into words. Scholars work toward writing an argumentative essay. They begin by examining and marking strong words in Are We Medieval? A Literary Argument Essay Prompt. Learners then use Qualities of a Strong Literary Argument...

Explore the folklore of Asia and the South Pacific with this language arts lesson series. Complementing a reading of Catching the Sun: Tales from Asia by Jan M. Mike, this resource supports learners with understanding cause and...

Joseph Bruchac's Code Talker tells the remarkable story of Navajo Marines' role in battles of the Pacific Theater during World War II. As scholars read the novel, they also engage in activities that expand their knowledge of Navajo...

Seriously, 93 slides of literary terms? Yes, and well worth the time, although perhaps not all at once. The beauty here is in the concise, easy-to-understand definitions for such well-known terms as imagery and personification, as well...

Learning to analyze language, symbols, and codes is part of becoming a deep and critical thinker. Young analysts consider their ability to see hidden messages as they analyze the work of Paul Chan. There are two fully developed...

Give your class a different kind of reading assignment with the text included here. Anne Miller's essay "Learning to Hate Mathematics" details a hatred of math that grew from early childhood and still haunts the author today. After...

A 17-page Educator Guide is designed to support classroom discussions of Ken Burns' documentary on Ernest Hemingway. The guide includes background information on Hemingway's life, the themes found in his works, essential and discussion...

Here’s a matrix that could be used with any literary work. For each assigned passage, readers are asked to record information about characters, setting, vocabulary, literary devices, symbols, tone, mood, etc. In addition, they are asked...

It can be difficult to refer back to a text when analyzing it, so annotation is a great tool for kids to track what they are reading. A thorough and well-organized instructional activity guides learners through the process of annotating...

What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and...

A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...

Combine your friendly letter lesson, grammar lesson, and technology lesson with this fun activity! Young writers compose letters to friends, and then convert the text to Webdings font. Their friends then decode the letter based on a key....

Here’s a fresh approach to establishing classroom rules at the beginning of the school year. Class groups brainstorm what they know about rules for baseball, basketball, and football. They then consider how the games would differ without...

Peter Bunzi takes readers to the Victorian era with two stories, Coghaert and Moonlocket. Accompany the literary time warp with a companion packet that offers a plethora of exercises. Learning...

The Hunger Games. Maximum Ride. Why is so much of young adult literature so dark? What is the appeal of dystopian literature to young readers? The six activities in this resource ask kids to reflect on some of the reasons this genre has...

Get the most out of your guided reading lessons with this collection of literacy materials. Offering a system for using color-coded tags to mark pages while reading books, as well as an assortment of comprehension and grammar...

Similes and metaphors are the focus of a 57-slide presentation that your class members should find engaging. Although your students may find the musical selections dated, the color coding highlights the similes and metaphors found in...

“Desire + Danger = Tension.” Thus begins a PowerPoint that details how to create tension and maintain the reader’s interest in a story. Although text-heavy, the color-coded slides model how the D + D = T formula functions and the...

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the focus of three activities designed for readers of the autobiography.  First, class members deconstruct the title to understand Douglass's purpose in writing. Next, scholars...

In this word puzzle worksheet, students read 30 clues and place the answers in a puzzle grid. A secret message will be revealed when students have finished. There is a trick-or-treating graphic on the page.

In this literacy worksheet, students use the key to unscramble the code for the fall theme sheet. The code is written in pictographs.

In this language arts worksheet, students solve a secret code about the season of fall. In the code, students write the letter that comes after the alphabet letter shown. A secret message will be revealed.

Need a review of literary terms and figurative language? Although text heavy, these slides clearly define frequently used terms and provide color-coded examples.