An online worksheet provides opportunities to assess comprehension of 10 common adages like "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" or "Variety is the spice of life." Learners complete a multiple choice quiz (and can check their...

Responding to blog posts can increase written communication skills, critical thinking skills, and the use of social media as a means for discussion. Kids will compose a blog post in response to the provided article related to famous...

Why do some phrases contribute to a weak authorial voice? The first page of this packet explains what a strong and weak voice sound like, and it lists some common phrases that clutter writing, ultimately weakening it. The second page...

Help your English language learners deduce meaning from context clues. Eight multiple-choice questions are provided here; each one has five answer options. Example vocabulary words include refused, absent, and original. 

What will happen next? Leave readers at a cliffhanger as they practice prediction strategies while listening to a story. Pupils start by making guesses based on the book's cover and title, discussing the techniques they use to make these...

When the music starts to play, everyone wants to get up and move to this song. Teach your class some basic steps and body moves to the beat of this mambo song. Each of the movements is repeated, which means that youngsters are not having...

Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.

A poet's word choice can be the difference between a poem that is merely sad, and a poem full of heartbreaking regret. Middle schoolers discern the tone in four different poems, noting the relevant textual evidence that supports...

The interpretation of a poem often lies in the mind of its reader, especially when reading the tone. Focus on author's word choice, middle schoolers read four different poems and briefly state a perceived tone for each, along with the...

What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to...

Estimating the value of numbers is much harder than it sounds! Scholars compare and order the value of numbers presented in different forms including fractions, decimals, roots, integers, and pi. This builds on the previous lessons in...

Hiding in the filth of a sewer, as a child, to avoid capture by Nazi soldiers—sounds scary! Scholars investigate the youngest victims of the Holocaust, the children. They research video clips and written sources from the Holocaust...

Explication may sound like a fancy word, but it's just a fancy way to say analysis. Using a handout on poetry explications, part of a larger series on specific writing assignments, writers learn how to break down and analyze a poem. The...

Work on literal and figurative meanings with a lesson focused on Robert Frost's "After Apple-Picking" and "The Road Not Taken." Readers identify the literary devices used by the poet to set the poems' themes, settings, and narrative...

A repetition poem is the focus of a lesson that challenges scholars to compose an original piece. To add meaning to their poem, authors choose words to repeat at the start of most lines.  

Students examine the changes that occur to sound as the pressure changes. Echoes and sound changes in caves and tunnels are explored in this lesson.

Young scholars examine the letter 'i'. Through instruction and modeling they explore the sound the letter makes, how the letter is written, words that contain the letter, etc. They use letterboxes to write 'i' words and read stories...

Students study the /i/ sound by listening to it in words and a tongue twister which they later recite. Next, they practice writing the letter and making word using letterboxes. They listen to 'Icky Sticky Inchworm' while placing their...

Students model the sound a baby makes when it cries, saying "aaaaa". They say the word "rat" stretching out the vowel sound and look at a tongue twister for the /a/ sound; repeating it together as a class. They then practice making the...

Students explore energy by participating in a science lab in class. In this energy form lesson, students define the different types of energy such as light, mechanical and sound while examining energy measuring tools in class. Students...

Students explore the use of sound as a special effect to enhance or radically change the meaning of a scene. They design a soundscape for Macbeth's porter scene, and conclude by listening to and watching two different film treatments of...

Students complete a variety of activities related to the letter "B." As a class they recite a tongue twister, then trace and write the letter "B." Students identify the words in the poem that contain the /b/ sound and draw a picture of...

Students sort and classify different attributes of warning signs, labels, and sounds. In this warning signs lesson plan, the teacher shows students different warning signs, labels, and sounds and tells students what each one means. ...

Students examine how "ee" makes the /E/ sound using Elkonin boxes and letter manipulatives. While reciting an e rhyme they practice saying the long /e/ sound before reading a story which contains long e words. Finally, they complete a...