Do wolves ever attack humans? An informative novel study for Old Wolf helps pupils conduct research to answer the question. They also decode anagrams, learn about onomatopoeia, and write quatrain poems about themes from the novel. 

Have you ever felt trapped in your own body? That is likely how Melody in Sharon M. Draper's Out of My Mind feels. As scholars read to find out how Melody finally expresses herself, they complete sentences with new words, describe...

The Bradys, the Flintstones, and the Simpsons are some of pop culture's most memorable families. So how do the Applewhites stack up? Using a novel study for Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, scholars answer text-based...

Who were the Ku Klux Klan, and what role did they play in the United States during the Great Depression? Using the Stella by Starlight novel study, scholars research the organization and answer questions relating to Sharon M. Draper's...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...

Students expand their understanding and appreciation for poetry. In this poetry unit lesson, students complete 5 unit sections of multiple day activities to learn about poetry and its devices or forms.

An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...

Everyone loves haikus! They're short, quick, and fun to write! Analyze the rules and conventions of haiku. Readers interpret examples of haiku and develop a vocabulary for writing haiku. Then they compose a haiku based on a personal...

"How are belief systems represented and reproduced through nature?" This essential question guides lesson 6 of this unit on The Odyssey (the rest of the unit is linked). Students first write about a scenario in which they are...

Help your seventh graders relate the ELA Common Core standards to their own learning with these "I Can" statement posters. Each standard has been translated into a statement that pupils can understand and placed on its own page for...

Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess,...

How close are your eighth graders to mastering the ELA Common Core standards? Keep an eye on progress with these charts, which include every eighth grade identifier and full standard text. As you move through the year and teach,...

Students use Langston Hughes' "Thank You Ma'am" as a reading and vocabulary improvement activity. In this reading and vocabulary activity, students review the related vocabulary and read the poem. Students discuss the story elements in...

Students write an acrostic poem and analyze a work of art. In this art lesson plan, students look at a picture and answer questions about it, write a poem, write about the setting in the painting they saw, and answer short questions...

Fifth graders explore the civilian role during World War II. In this social studies instructional activity, 5th graders write an "I Am an American" poem from the perspective of various Americans during the war.

Students identify objects, activities, and people in pictures of women in Maryland's history. In groups of four, they analyze photo packets of historical women. Students complete an acrostic using phrases reflecting specific...

Citizens in the modern world can't imagine making the same social choices made by many Germans in the 1920s and 1930s, but they don't realize that they actually do it every day by ostracizing others. A case study of middle schoolers...

Students read Robert Frost's Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, illustrated by Susan Jeffers (2001). This is a wonderful book with beautiful illustrations that go with each line of the poem.

Students listen to Granny Is, a poem by Valerie Bloom and discuss the metaphors in the poem.  In this poetry lesson, students read poetry written by Valerie Bloom and discuss the techniques she uses. Students write grandmother poems.

Students explore the Earth's various biomes and ecosystems using Internet research. They create a multimedia poem using the photos, sounds, and vocabulary from their research.

Young scholars study New York in three time periods, 1890-1930, 1930's, and 1950's-60's. They discuss themes that are important in each time block. They describe a brief historical picture of each time period before they approach works...

Learners watch a whale video clip for information. Students brainstorm on the facts that they learned about whales. Learners use the Internet to find information and images about whales. Students write and publish a whale poem.

A hearing impaired student identifies rhyming words. In this rhyming word lesson for the hearing impaired, 2nd graders read and write poetry correctly using rhyming words.

Learners practice predicting what is going to happen next in a story. They participate in different activities to help them with sentence structures. They finally take a quiz over what they learned in the lesson.