Focus in on the digraph ch. Young readers will hear the sound, print the letters, and read A Peach for Chad. Can your youngsters think of any more words that use the target sound? 

I or me? Are your middle school grammarians struggling with pronoun case? Try this trick. Instruct your learners to look right before or right after the pronoun choice for the words and, or, nor. Have them cover the conjunction and the...

Young children read the story, Berlioz the Bear and complete various reading and writing activities. They learn about fiction and non-fiction, and complete graphing and writing activities for the story. Youngsters draw the bear and use...

Do you hear a k in the word Christmas? It sounds like it, but it's really a ch that creates the same sound! Teach young learners this fun song, "There is No K in Christmas," and show them words that use ch to make the same /k/ sound. 

List and identify words for each part of the "Nym" family: synonyms, antonyms and homonyms. Middle schoolers place words in the correct category, then find the corresponding mate in a dictionary or thesaurus.

Review the phonemic sounds of the alphabet letters before examining how to blend letter sounds to make a word. During this teacher-modeled lesson, learners make word bugs out of three phonemes that blend together. As an assessment, read...

This instructional activity helps to understand when to use commonly confused words. It includes definitions, writing exercises, and questions that require paraphrasing the meaning of sentences. A good exercise for middle schoolers, or...

Students work cooperatively to choose a theme, write a story, and produce a web site to display this story in this middle-level lesson on the career of a web designer. This excellent lesson ends with an organized, web site launch party.

Instruct your class on homonyms and homophones. Learners take a pre-test and examine a list of homophones. They also play online word games to practice spelling and usage and write a fairy tale in which they use at least 10 homophones....

What is blank verse? Iambic pentameter? Meter? Use the attached document to review these ideas with your middle schoolers. This plan has learners get up and stomp to iambic pentameter, which is a fun change from just clapping the...

Explore words, definitions, their connotations and associations with brand names. Middle and high schoolers identify words used in commercials and determine their effect upon the consumer population. They explore how meanings are...

If your upper elementary or middle school marine biology learners are going to visit an aquarium, then here is a field trip activity guide for you. It is written specifically for The Maritime Aquarium, but the idea can be adapted to...

Focusing on correct grammar usasge as well as the concept of language evolution, this conventions lesson prompts middle and high schoolers to examine the structure of sentences and word classes (parts of speech). Use the three activites...

In this waves activity, students use the equation for wave speed to calculate frequency or wavelength. This activity has 5 problems to solve.

Students practice techniques and strategies to form a solid foundation of phonemic awareness with the vowel sound of e=/e/. They explore the correspondence between the written letters and their phonemes through the book, "A New Bed," by...

First graders observe what the letter "m" looks like as it is written. They pretend to make the sound they make after eating a bowl of their favorite ice cream saying, "mmmmm" and do a cheer for the letter "m". They then look at a...

Students increase their skills in word attack, fluency, and spelling of words and research and find information on topics from the Internet. They then use the Quick Cam with the computer and will increase cooperative skills in small...

Based on Alex Haley's moving essay "My Furthest Back Person: The African," these 11 questions support comprehension and prepare readers for discussion of the text. Use this tool, and the essay, as a nonfiction addition to units on...

Create a graphic organizer to review parts and systems of the body, then present a new topic. Special education learners grades 3-5 learn about the sense of hearing. They draw parts of the ear, sign a song, read Perk Up Your Ears, and...

Here's the perfect resource for anyone using Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story the "Tell-Tale Heart." The packet includes five worksheets that provide skills practice exercises focusing on spelling with consonant blends,...

Young scholars pronounce out the /ol/ sound.  In this lesson planet lesson, students search words with the /ol/ sound.  Young scholars say the words that contain /ol/ or remain quiet if they don't.

Students explore phonetics by participating in a letter combination class activity. For this word sound lesson, students discuss the combination of the letter "al" and the sound it makes. Students listen as their teacher says several...

Students say the sound for the letters that "stick together," al. In this phonics lesson, students brainstorm other words that begin with the al sound and choose the letter from a set of 12, continuing recognition and correct letter...

Students study the /a/ phoneme by determining how the mouth move when it makes the sound by imitating a sneeze. They recite a tongue twister, practice writing the lowercase "a" and listen to a story while identifying the letter sound....