Promote collaboration in the classroom with a historical fiction instructional activity. Fourth graders partner up and read the other's narrative to give feedback on vocabulary choice and the accuracy of historical information. After...

After reading excerpts from Frederick Douglass' autobiography, pupils will draw on what they've learned about the cruelty of slavery to write and present an anti-slavery speech or editorial.

Are American young people prepared to become tomorrow's leaders in technological innovation, or does an obsession with being cool sidetrack essential skills? That is the question freshmen and sophomores must address in a performance...

In this writing worksheet, students set goals for the coming year and decide the steps they would take to achieve them. Students read the story starter and finish the story.

Do your kids love football? Discuss goals for your class or for the future with a book template shaped like a football. Kids write down their goals and use the pattern to create a book.

Art in one form can inspire art in another. Use images to inspire writing in your English class. The lesson described here is not detailed; however, the idea is strong. An engaging way to get class members interested in writing, the...

Middle schoolers discuss the meaning of the sentence, The student asked to go to the office." Ask the class if the sentence gives the reader any information about the student. Can they visualize the way the student asked the question?...

Young writers compare writing a paper to building a barn. They write a thesis statement using parallel construction and use transitions to hold the paper (walls of the barn) together. A barn raising video link is included; great for...

Students experience and practice their writing skills during the holiday season. They express themselves in a variety of ways including writing about a favorite part about the holiday break, what's the best gift you've ever gotten and...

Students watch an online slideshow that shows Cornelia Funke's transition from an illustrator to a writer. They discuss her writing process from the way she gathers ideas to how and where she writes. Next, they work in groups to choose a...

Students study examples of each trait in literature. They discuss how each trait adds to the craft of writing and practice revision of a writing piece with a particular trait in focus. They rate their writing on the trait of Ideas using...

Score a resource on ratios. Young mathematicians learn about different ways to express ratios. Using sports data, they write statements about the statistics in ratio form.

Why is it important to set goals as a writer? Scholars process feedback from their mid-unit assessments, writing down their strengths and weaknesses on index cards. Next, pupils use the feedback to begin drafting their hero's journey...

In general, pupils are not allowed to write in school-issued books; however, they can write on a bookmark that you provide! Kids can take notes on the setting, characters, themes, and connections as they read a short story or novel.

Looking for a way to incorporate writing on the first day of school? Young writers will predict what the best thing about the new school year will be, note what they hope to learn, and explain how their teacher can help them. They will...

With nine pages of different sentences, you wont run out of practice writing, reading, and drawing. Learners read jumbled words, put the in the correct order to create a comprehesable sentence, and then write it, say it, and draw it.

A instructional activity begins with a discussion on gratitude—what does it mean, and for who are learners thankful? Scholars share their thoughts and feelings then choose a community worker to which they wish to share their gratitude....

Scholars scour thematically aligned texts to gather a bank of words they can use in an original acrostic poem. 

Circles aren't functions, so how is it possible to write the equation for a circle? Pupils first develop the equation of a circle through application of the Pythagorean Theorem. The lesson then provides an exercise set for learners to...

What's got 60 eyes, 150 fingers, and an endless number of ideas? Your language arts class! Challenge young writers to come up with clever riddles with an online poetry lesson.

You've got your topic—now how do you make your poem funny? Explore ways to make a poem humorous, including puns, exaggeration, silly words, and surprising endings, with a helpful poetry lesson.

Choose a side! Pupils watch and read several nonfiction resources about zoos. After gathering their research, they choose a side either for or against closing zoos. Scholars complete KWL charts, anticipation guides, flow charts, and...

Discuss life in the 1930s in relation to the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, then do a cross-media analysis. Here you'll find background information on film maker John Ford, writer John Steinbeck, and 1930s America. You can compare the...