Curated OER
Rest in Peace, Maniac Magee
Scholars read Maniac Magee and create epitaphs for each of the major characters using precise words reflecting the individual characters personality and nature. They will learn what an epitaph is and practice writing their own. They can...
Novelinks
Zach’s Lie: Guided Imagery
Close your eyes and picture a time where you decided to tell the truth to someone. What were you wearing? How did you feel? Such prompts begin a guided imagery activity for Zach's Lie. Directions for creating an environment conducive to...
Novelinks
Tuck Everlasting: Similes, Metaphors, and Personification in Imagery
Poetic language is abundant in Natalie Babbitt's beautiful novel, Tuck Everlasting. Learners note the examples of similes, metaphors, and personification they find as they read, and illustrate how the language creates a sensory...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Comprehension: Narrative Text Structure, Character Consideration
An activity work alongside a narrative text of your choice. With reading comprehension at its focus, readers complete worksheets covering character descriptions.
Curated OER
The Sound of…Poetry!
Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing lesson plan. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound words and...
Catholic Charities
Telephone Skills
The challenge in telephone conversations is that speakers and listeners cannot rely on body language to communicate. This 31-page packet includes a curriculum guide, lesson plans, assessments, and resource lists designed to help...
University of North Carolina
Qualifiers
A lot of writers really struggle very much with adding a lot of qualifiers and intensifiers in their writing. Part of a larger series to improve writing skills, a handout on the topic provides tips to help reduce a reliance on these...
Curated OER
Poetry Passport
Passport photos are notoriously unflattering but here's an activity that encourages youngsters to create a poetic picture of themselves using each category on the passport as a prompt for a poem.
Curated OER
My Antonia: Biopoem Writing Strategy
Explore the characters in My Antonia by Willa Cather with a biopoem assignment. Pupils use the provided format to write their poems about any character from the book.
Novelinks
Walk Two Moons: List-Group-Label
Use a vocabulary asssignment as a quick activity between reading chapters of Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Young readers choose their favorite words from the vocabulary word list to describe Sal, Phoebe, or any other character from...
Smithsonian Institution
Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
University of North Carolina
Verb Tenses
Twelve categories of verbs exist in the future tense, ranging from simple present to future perfect progressive, but only three have a place in academic writing. Those three tenses make up the content of an informational handout that...
ESL Holiday Lessons
Kwanzaa
Teach English language learners about the week-long holiday of Kwanzaa that is celebrated around the world during December. It includes holiday-themed reading comprehension passages, phrase matching, fill-in-the-blanks, and journaling...
Open Oregon Educational Resources
Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (and Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation
Let's eat kids. Let's eat, kids. Commas make a difference! Conventions 101: A Functional Approach to Teaching (and Assessing!) Grammar and Punctuation explains ways to teach the importance and use of conventions. Learners take part in...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Wormy Spaghetti
What do spiders' legs and an octopus's eyeball have to do with metaphors? The fourth lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl uses disgusting foods to teach about metaphoric writing.
Curated OER
Carnival of the Animals and Aquarium and Magic Fish
Engage little learners in this moderately developed three-lesson unit on the composer Camille Saint-Saens and his piece "The Carnival of Animals." Each lesson includes a listening, discussion, and an art project to engage your class in...
Curated OER
Use The Polar Express to Develop Rich and Detailed Writing
Bring The Polar Express into your middle school classroom to spark the creativity of your emerging writers.
McGraw Hill
Phonics Teachers Resource Book
Looking to improve your classes literacy program? Then look no further. This comprehensive collection of resources includes worksheets and activities covering everything from r-controlled vowels and consonant digraphs, to the...
Curated OER
Teaching Descriptive Word Usage
Second graders practice their creative writing by using descriptive words. For this language arts lesson, 2nd graders utilize their best descriptive writing to elaborate on one of 20 different bean bag characters. Students...
Curated OER
Descriptive Verbs
Students read a piece of literature and locate the descriptive verbs in the piece. For this descriptive verbs lesson, students understand the value of using descriptive verbs. Students rewrite a story they've written with more...
Curated OER
Thinking Syntactically: Using non-print text to faciliate generation of syntax and analysis of tone
Students write with a command of the stylistic aspects of composition. They respond to non-print text. Students demonstrate working knowledge of syntactical choices. They construct sentences using descriptive language. Students analyze...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Builder- Using Inspiration to Generate Lists of Descriptive Words
Learners discover how to engage all their senses and powers of observation to effectively communicate and idea or emotion. Using Inspiration Software, they create a vocabulary web and practice using descriptive language to clarify and...
Curated OER
Lesson: Mad Lib Leigh!
A fun and quirky painting is analyzed for details in an art/literacy lesson. Youngsters look for colors, shadows, and details and then describe them using vivid language. They use the words from discussion to complete a fun Mad Lib-style...
Bright Hub Education
Use Pictures or Artwork to Spark Creative Writing
Art in one form can inspire art in another. Use images to inspire writing in your English class. The instructional activity described here is not detailed; however, the idea is strong. An engaging way to get class members interested in...