EngageNY
Conducting Research: Analyzing a Variety of Sources to Capture Information about My Insect
From picture to words. Scholars analyze a picture of an ant and then list two facts they observed and any questions that may arise. Expert groups from the previous instructional activity then look at a diagram about either an ant or...
Curated OER
Jump-Start the Reading of Authentic Latin
Are your advanced learners reading authentic Latin this year? Whether you're teaching Caesar, Cicero or Virgil, use some of these strategies to map out your unit. What do you focus on? Consider taking small passages and making that the...
Curated OER
Hats Off to You!
Students research why people wear hats, caps or bonnets. They investigate various occupations, world costumes, sports, or idioms around hats. Students become more aware of cultures different from their own within this lesson.
Curated OER
The Bernstein Bear's Trouble with Money: Financial and Academic Literacy
What do figures of speech have to do with financial literacy? Take an interdisciplinary look at The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money to find out. Young analysts read about the cubs' spendthrift ways and how Mama and Papa Bear...
Film English
My Shoes
Engage your pupils in short story and short film. Using a still from the film as inspiration, pairs compose short stories, which they later share and compare with other members of the class. They then watch the film and respond to a...
EngageNY
Close Read, Part 2: “Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew”
No, not literally. Scholars read Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew to compare figurative and literal language. Readers learn about simile, metaphor, personification, and idioms with a graphic organizer. Pupils then answer text-dependent...
Curated OER
You Don't Say!!
Fourth graders write and respond to sayings throughout the school year. They define the idioms, illustrate them and compare their meanings with other groups in the class.
Curated OER
Valentine's Day Hearts
Students consider idiomatic expressions that use the word, "heart". They illustrate an assigned idiom and present it to the class. They use the illustrations to guess which idiom is being represented.
Read Works
Figurative Language
Here's a richly detailed unit, designed for second graders, that focuses on decoding figurative language, including similes, metaphors, personification and idioms.
Smith Family Home
Transportation
Here's an interesting instructional activity that combines elements of language arts, sociology, and a study of the many ways that people use transportation to get from one place to another. The eight-page plan includes worksheets and a...
Mr. Ambrose
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Good discussion questions, quizzes, and tests teach as well as assess. Readers of The Great Gatsby will learn much from the materials in a 36-page packet designed to help students prepare for the AP Literature exam. Included in the...
Curated OER
Reading Between the Lines: Making Inferences About Idioms
Students discover idioms. In this inferencing lesson, students identify idioms from passages and infer meanings of unknown idioms using prior knowledge and experience. Students write sentences using newly learned idioms.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4
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...
Curated OER
This is Straight From The Horse's Mouth
Eighth graders use a PowerPoint presentation to explore the history of idioms, how they are used in our language today, and practice using idioms themselves. After the presentation, each student is given an idiom to research.
Curated OER
Match, Match Up
In this ESL expressions and idioms learning exercise, students analyze 7 pictures that illustrate common idioms. Students match these to the idioms they depict.
Curated OER
Adapting Narratives for Skits to Teach Language Through Drama
Learners in a Spanish foreign language class are giving topics to develop a skit to preform in front of the class. As a class, they are introduced to new vocabulary and the concept of paraphrasing. After performing their skit, they...
New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 4
Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...
August House
The Clever Monkey Rides Again
Use a West African folktale to practice several different skills in your first grade classroom. Learners read The Clever Monkey Rides Again and focus on rhyming words, reading comprehension, measurement, art, movement, and word...
Curated OER
Complete the Expression
In this ESL idioms worksheet, students analyze 7 pictures and read the first few words of common expressions or idioms. Students complete each expression by writing it on the line.
Curated OER
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Activities
In this book activities worksheet, students read a paragraph about the book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, use sentence starters, write a song, use idioms, complete a spelling game, and complete a writing pattern. Students complete 5...
Pimsleur
The Weather
What's it like out today, and what do you plan to wear? These are the two main topics for this Italian lesson. By the end of the plan, pupils should have a grasp of basic weather and clothing terms as well as a general understanding of...
Teaching Tolerance
Consuming and Creating Political Art
A picture is worth a thousand words, but political art may be worth even more! After examining examples of political cartoons, murals, and other forms of public art, class members create their own pieces to reflect their ideals and...
Curated OER
The Language of Love
Students explore the images and idioms related to love in their own culture. They examine new rituals recently created in Japan by reading and discussing "Osaka Journal:Japanese Date Clubs Take the Muss Out of Mating."
Curated OER
Seeing Seattle
Students read an article from English Teaching Forum to learn about Seattle, Washington. In this Seattle research activity, students make words from the letters in Seattle, Washington. Students read a fact sheet about the city and find...