Subject(s): Language Arts Grades(s): Junior High/High School

Alphabet, Punctuation, & Sounds:

• The Syllabary/Analogy Method is used here to decode the pronunciation of polysyllabic words
• Here is a creative idea for developing Romeo and Juliet personalized license plates
• These are the punctuation lessons from a writing and grammar unit:
• Lesson 8 – Periods and Commas
• Lesson 9 – Logic and Questions
• Lesson 10 – Interjections and Exclamation

Drama & Speech:

• This lesson is on theater and set design
• This lesson is called “Our Town” and involves imaginary maps
• This is a lesson on delivering a persuasive speech
• Here are some lessons for a Speech Unit
• This lesson on delivering persuasive speeches as presidential candidates, also teaches presidential history
• The “Don’t Say Uh Game” is a fun way for students to practice their speaking skills
• This lesson utilizes websites to help students overcome performance anxiety and deliver an effective speech
• This lesson investigates traditional theatre, dance, music, and visual arts integrated in the unique Theatre of the Deaf art form
• This lesson uses dance as a way of speaking without words
• Here is an introduction to stage directions
• This lesson introduces students to musicals

• This is a lesson on eulogy and tribute speeches
• After watching the State of the Union address, seniors give a “State of My Union” speech here
• If you wish to hear the praise “good use of body language” in your next speech, read this lesson
• Here students prepare a PowerPoint on a playwright and present it dressed as a character from one of their plays
• This drama class character development lesson asks “What is the difference between creating and performing a character?”

Foreign Language:

• This is a dates and weather expressions in French idea
• This idea involves a French Weather Report and dates
• This foreign language lesson plan involves students looking forward to the future and writing about their past in an “Internet Encyclopedia” entry
• This Spanish idea has a couple of different activites
• Here’s a Teacher’s Guide to using foreign language dongs in the classroom (La Bamba)
• Spanish Verbs are taught through dtorytelling in this collection of ideas
• “El Supermercado” is a Spanish lesson plan that also teaches about Spanish foods and shopping
• Asking and answering Qquestions in Spanish is the focus of this foreign language lesson
• Here’s a lesson on “Spanish Bingo”
• This fun hands-on lesson teaches students Spanish language and culture as they improve their Baleros skills.
• Conjugate French ER verbs with the help of Frere Jacques
• Performing conversations helps students review last year’s Spanish lessons
• “Un Repaso del Imperfecto” is a Spanish II imperfect tense lesson in which students make a promo for a “Nick at Nite” show
• Here students make a Spanish PowerPoint on the history, art, literature, and culture of a Spanish-speaking country
• Family and “Estar” are the topics of this Spanish lesson
• In this lesson, an original “La Rima” is used to teach Spanish prepositions
• This is a great card game for teaching months in a foreign language, or any vocabulary words
• This is a Verbal Participation Rubric for foreign language classes
• In this foreign language direction vocabulary lesson, students search for “my lost dog”
• Students find out how to say “Thank you” in many languages in this internet search idea
• This is an Italian II lesson on reviewing reflexive verbs and reciprocals
• Here students can practice their foreign language vocabulary while playing baseball
• This is a 10-day French language food unit
• Students read a culturally authentic French fairy tale here that shows perspectives of francophone culture
• In this Spanish lesson, students describe objects to a store clerk
• Spanish-language music in popular genres improves listening comprehension skills in this Spanish II lesson
• This is a Spanish language food pyramid (Piramide de Comida) lesson
• This Spanish I unit will be popular with your clothes-crazy teens
• This is a clear and well-developed lesson on the division of syllables in Spanish and the rules for stressing those syllables
• This final project for intermediate Spanish involves using technology to research and present a famous “Spanish Idol”

English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL / EFL / ELL):

• This is an excellent ESL/EFL literature webquest on preventing and dealing with street teen gangs
• This group poem-building activity is designed for ESL/EFL students
• Here is a great card game for teaching vocabulary words to English, ESL, and foreign language students
• ESL students write and publish a five-paragraph autobiography in this lesson
• Chinese students learn how to ask directions at Disney World in this ESL lesson
• This is an ESL Level 3 literature lesson on culture shock
• Great Idea! – turn a preposition lesson into an ESL service project
• This ELL article promotes proficient, independent and imaginative English writers by explicit teaching methods and four research based strategies
• ESL students create a recycling brochure in this SIOP Earth Day lesson

Parts Of Speech:

• This lesson is called “Adjective and Adverb Taboo”
• “Vocabulary Puzzle” is the title of this lesson on Prefixes
• This lesson is on Identifying Types of Adjectives
• This lesson teaches the types of Nouns and Pronouns
• A lesson on Verbs and Verb Tenses
• Here’s a lesson on Pronouns using Music
• The Parts of Speech are taught through a Charades Game in this idea
• Students learn Prepositions through a game of Twister in this lesson
• Use this fun activity to review parts of speech before a test
• This is an idea for reviewing prepositions
• Uncountable nouns are the subject of this lesson
• This idea uses a song to teach linking verbs
• Use this Tongue Twister template to practice parts of speech
• This lesson uses fortune cookies to motivate students to “find the verb” or other parts of speech
• This is a lesson on adjectives (See how boring this description is without them!)
• This challenging synonym game increases the use of “Vivid Verbs” in writing
• Here is a lesson on past and past participial forms of irregular verbs
• In this get-acquainted game, students look up creative adjectives to describe themselves
• Students go above and beyond to create this prepositional treasure map
• Here is a “Mighty Mike, Brilliant Brianna, Talented Tamika” name learning game with adjectives idea
• Students create their own rap songs here incorporating the use of similes and metaphors
• “Linking Verb Macarena” is a fun mnemonic device idea
• Here are the parts of speech lessons from a writing and grammar unit:
• Lesson 2 – Nouns
• Lesson 3 – Active and Passive Verbs
• Lesson 4 – Modify in Moderation
• Lesson 5 – Coordinating Conjunctions

 

• This is a top-down approach for teaching irregular plural nouns

Poetry:

• A Poetry lesson to teach the Subordinate Clause
• A High School or College level lesson on Poetry Writing
• This lesson plan is on Canada’s Northwest Rebellion and uses the poem “Dialectics”
• This is an easy Poetry idea for Special Education Teachers
• A good Back To School lesson involving the Evaluation of Poems
• An interesting lesson involving “Hoboes” and Poetry which is called “Communication Arts”
• Students will Choreograph a Dance to Langston Hughes’ Poetry in this lesson idea
• A lesson on “The Raven” focusing on Atmosphere and Symbolism, excellent for Halloween Time
• The Poem “Phenomenal Woman” is used here as part of an exploration of Women in Society
• This lesson on Violence involves creating Memorials for September 11th through Poems & Painting
• Here’s a “Painless Poetry” lesson idea where students compose poetry from quotes from Novels
• A good lesson that involves making a Poetry Notebook
• This lesson looks at the Poetry of Music
• This is a good idea for Writing Poetry using the first lines of existing poems
• In Langston Hughes and the Blues, students recreate common poems in his style
• This lesson explores the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson and how they relate
• This lesson explores the influence Langston Hughes and his poetry had on history
• “The Art of Seduction in Poetry” is a lesson that no student will sleep through
• If a goofy female horse is a “Silly Filly,” then a wet canine is a ____ _____
• In this lesson, students write color imagery poems based on Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill.
• These “America” poems show how gender and race influence a poet’s viewpoint
• This lesson connects novels with published and original poetry
• Here is a lesson on imagery and themes of love in poetry through music
• This idea to send “Pocket Poems” to our troops features Claude McKay’s If We Must Die
• This fundraising idea involves publishing student poetry on a calendar
• In this lesson, students create self-descriptive poems using words cut from a newspaper
• Here students research a key American poet’s relationship to an American literary era
• This lesson is an introduction to Australia’s indigenous culture through poetry
• “Onomatopoeia Rita” is an active percussion poem for kinesthetic and auditory learners
• Here students use Photo Story 3 to illustrate a personally significant poem with their own photos
• This is a ballad poetry lesson
• Students analyze their favorite song lyrics here, searching for poetic devices
• Yo, away, ho, sea shanty poems “arr” the way to go – to introduce Melville’s Moby Dick
• Be popular! Assign this Christmas song parody idea!
• Here students study Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 as the pattern for their Valentine’s Day card, poem and PowerPoint project
• Students write a parody of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” covering the last year or decade in this poetry lesson

Reading – Compare & Contrast:

• Comparing and contrasting truth-themed novels is the focus of this lesson
• How cool is it to compare Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart to a modern day “Creed” song?
• A graphic organizer is used in this American literature lesson to compare and contrast freedom themed texts
• This lesson compares Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down (past) to Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron (future)

Reading – Comprehension:

• This lesson is on the “other” tall tales and deals with uncommon tall tales and comprehension
• This is a lesson asking higher level questions to improve reading comprehension
• Here is a lesson on reading for details and genres called “Quilting Literature”
• Use this lesson to improve reading comprehension by using imagery
• Here’s a game to assess reading comprehension called “Reading Speedball”
• Kinesthetic learning is used in this lesson to build reading comprehension through kickball
• Here is a reading comprehension quiz over a nuclear water contamination article
• “Thrown a Curve” is a reading comprehension lesson on a book about girls’ sports and pre-teen relationships
• Students create a “tableau vivant” Photo Story 3 presentation of a short story here to show reading comprehension
• This reading comprehension story lesson tackles the topic of teen sexual harassment and sexual assault
• Students write a compare/contrast paper on Elsie Wiesel’s “Night” and the Holocaust movie “Life is Beautiful” in this well-developed lesson

Reading – Literature:

• A lesson on “To Kill A Mockingbird”
• A high school lesson on 20th Century Literature
• A lesson called Edgar Allan Poe Poetry Readers Theater, dealing with his Poetry
• A collection of teaching ideas for the book “Summer Song,” written by the author
• This is a creative plan for the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”
• This lesson plans focuses on Integrating the studying of Shakespeare and the Internet
• A simple collection of Activity Ideas to accompany Julius Caesar
• This lesson plan is on “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” and Japanese History
• In this lesson on “Flowers For Algernon” students learn to Identify with a Character – Charlie
• This activity on Satire is meant to be performed prior to reading “Huck Finn”
• This lesson on “The Most Dangerous Game” includes a Classroom Murder Trial
• This lesson explores alternative actions for the characters in Romeo and Juliet
• The following is a lesson on The Great Gatsby and the 1920s:
• Here is the Project Description
• This section discusses more about the Magazine Project
• An information page on Prohibition
• An information page on Famous People of the 1920s
• An information page on the Jazz Age
• Here’s information about the Automobile in the 1920s
• Information on the 1920s Trends – Fashion

 

• The Gentlehands novel is the topic of this lesson involving making an Accordion Book
• Just a brief idea for a complex lesson on Romeo and Juliet
• This is a collection of ideas for studying “The Odyssey”
• Here are several class activity ideas to go with Romeo & Juliet
• This isn’t a lesson plan, but you may find this Charles Dickens Internet Scavenger Hunt to be helpful
• Here’s another Internet Scavenger Hunt, this one on Shakespeare
• An interesting lesson on Shakespeare’s play called “Romeo and Juliet Radio Shout Outs”
• Here’s a good idea for making “Movie Posters” for Novels students have read
• A warm-up activity idea for “The Outsiders” novel
• Students get totally involved in the moral lessons of Shelley’s Frankenstein novel in this activity
• Students write about selected quotes that reveal character development in the novel Fahrenheit 451
• Here is a lesson on S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders
• This Intro to Science Fiction lesson examines “real or imaginary” with the help of Ray Bradbury
• This “novel” diorama project combines reading, writing, speech, and art
• In this multidisciplinary idea, students recreate Romeo and Juliet in a different time and place
• Students create a character analysis of The Great Gatsby and compare it to the movie interpretation
• This is an excellent 5-day literary analysis of Shakespeare’s King Lear for AP classes
• Here students recreate the plot of The Most Dangerous Game by Connell based on a guided outline activity
• Here we learn how to make great low-tech literature chatrooms
• This murder mystery game is a novel way to quiz students on an Agatha Christie book
• This “Scary Story” lesson plan would be perfect around Halloween
• Here is a well-developed lesson on heroes in Anglo-Saxon Literature
• This is a Great Gatsby book cover symbolism project
• This three-lesson Othello Unit utilizes multiple technologies
• What if Hamlet went on the Jerry Springer Show…
• In this “Of Mice and Men” project, groups create a newspaper using information from the novel
• Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is used here to model a kinesthetic method for teaching novels
• This Huxley’s “Brave New World” study guide yields notes for an analytical essay
• Here students interpret a scene from Hamlet and make a YouTube movie
• This lesson compares “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” with communism
• This critical thinking lesson teaches readers to “question the author” for deeper understanding
• This is a well-developed literature class final paper and portfolio project about contemporary authors
• Here is a scrapbook project to do after reading a novel like “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents”

Reading – Story Elements:

• Here is a lesson plan on developing a character
• Here’s a great unit on short stories that focuses on suspense (students will enjoy this unit!):
• Overview
• The first lesson is on the Elements of a Short Story
• Lesson 2 is on “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain
• Modern Fear and Suspense are the topics of this lesson using Stephen King’s “The Reaper’s Image”
• The fourth lesson uses Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
• This one uses Richard Connell’s famous story, “The Most Dangerous Game”
• The unit’s Conclusion returns to the Parts of a Short Story and Suspense / Horror in Writing
• In this culminating activity students write their own Short Stories

 

• Here’s a creative way for students to Comprehend the Elements of a Short Story
• In this lesson, students create a literary elements advance organizer
• Students create their own villains/antagonists in this in-depth character analysis lesson
• These are two story element lessons utilizing Homer’s “Odyssey”:
• Here students compose and illustrate their own Homeric simile
• “The Odyssey” is translated into a children’s book in this lesson

 

• This lesson answers the question “What is genre?”
• This literary elements lesson uses a “narrator’s point of view”
• Here is a lesson on foreshadowing and its contribution to a story’s plot
• The story elements of “The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe are identified in this short story lesson
• Here students create a character trait collage for the novel “The Outsiders”
• Students demonstrate their understanding of themes kinesthetically here
• Students learn about literary tone and mood here by manipulating the audio or visual component of their Photo Story 3/iMovie presentations
• A Kidspiration worksheet helps students chart the main idea and three supporting story details here
• Students produce a fairy tale photo story here told from a different character’s perspective
• Students interactively explore word play devices (similes, metaphors, puns, hyperbole, personification, alliteration) and the mystery genre with “The Hamster of the Baskervilles” in this multidisciplinary unit
• This resume writing for teens lesson can also be used for literary character analysis
• This well-developed point-of-view lesson employs graphic organizers, the RAFT technique, and “The Ransom of Red Chief”
• Students describe five ways a book character is just like them in this well-developed Photo Story 3 presentation
• This multimedia lesson teaches how to use key images and music to convey a theme in a personal photo story narrative

Reading – Other:

• A Language Arts lesson on the Importance of Reading
• This lesson plan is meant to teach students to Increase their Read Speed and Comprehension
• Here’s a good idea for making Book Reports using Microsoft PowerPoint
• This is a good activity to do following a unit on Short Stories
• This lesson on Descriptive Language uses Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and is appropriate for Halloween
• In this unique lesson students compare Online Reading with Traditional Books
• After reading about acts of unkindness, students create a web of compliments
• Use these lessons as an introduction to Greek mythology:
• Here is a lesson on the impact of Greek mythology on modern times
• This is a similar lesson by a different author
• After you’ve introduced mythology, try this lesson on Greek gods
• Students create a photo story presentation on a Greek god or goddess here
• “Feuds and Fences” is a debate using figurative/literal evidence from The Interloper and The Mending Wall
• Students craft “double entry responses” in their personal reading or current events journal here

Research:

• This lesson idea focuses on what it means to be an American (or Canadian, etc.)
• In this lesson, students research Edgar Allen Poe, play a fact game, and write a biographical essay
• This is an excellent webquest on preventing and dealing with street teen gangs
• Learning how to present research using technology is the objective of this lesson
• This introduction to research lesson contains an internet search engine and media center scavenger hunt
• This 5-paragraph author research lesson emphasizes finding and citing sources
• This “Youth and the Civil Rights Movement” research project uses Kuhlthau’s ISP and subject directories
• This is an excellent 12-day lesson on conducting research for expository papers
• In this writing lesson, students use multiple sources to expand their original “How I Will Change the World” essay
• This is an outline for an integrated Medical Careers Research Unit
• Students write a research paper here supporting their solution to an unsolved 48 Hours TV show crime
• These fun online research project ideas are useful during transition periods or at the end of the school year
• Learners research a Greek god or goddess and their family tree for a photo story presentation in this introductory mythology lesson

Sentences & Paragraphs:

• Students look for Sentence Fragments in magazine ads in this lesson idea
• Titled “Rainbow Revisions,” this activity helps students create Sentence Variety
• Use this back-to-school art activity to review
• “Better Paragraphs Using Math Formulas” is an 8-day paragraph teaching plan for students of all ability levels.
• This is the rubric for the preceding formula paragraph lesson plan
• This “Preposition Man” idea won’t go “IN one ear and OUT the other”
• Students will improve their writing skills with this sentence combining relay game
• “Show me the structure!” is yelled during this sentence classification activity
• This is a lesson on sensible sentences
• Here students write scrapbook paragraphs about their vacation
• Kids create declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences using Valentine candy hearts here
• These are sentence and paragraph lessons from a writing and grammar unit:
• Lesson 6 – Simple Sentences
• Lesson 7 – Compound and Complex Sentences
• Lesson 9 – Logic and Questions

Spelling:

• This is a fun spelling lesson called Spelling Battleship
• Here’s a spelling game idea that’s similar to the TV show “Survivor”
• This is a low stress spelling game
• This multi-sensory approach to spelling words is effective for ADHD and dyslexic students
• Here are five days of spelling activities proven effective in Special Ed classes
• This is a new method for teaching “The Big 4 Clusters of Commonly Confused Words”
• Here are more clusters of commonly confused words

Vocabulary:

• This lesson deals with Musical Vocabulary Links – Vocabulary from Songs!
• A “Swat Game” for Learning Vocabulary in various subjects
• In this lesson, students play a game of vocabulary-word repetition for learning
• This is a great card game for reviewing vocabulary words
• This word “roots and stems” unit comes complete with extensive overheads and quizzes
• In this idea, students read vocabulary word definitions using funny voices
• Here students apply their knowledge of root words to illustrate vocabulary word concepts

Writing – Letters:

• This is a lesson on letter formats
• This is a great end/beginning of the year lesson involving writing letters to next year’s students at the end of the year
• This great international pen pal idea helps students combat terrorism in a significant way
• Here is a lesson on creating a cover letter
• Here students write letters to be read by next year’s class
• Here is an UGLY gift thank you letter assignment
• Here students write a Grammy nomination letter for their favorite artist or group
• In this “Ballou” film unit, students examine BHS in terms of the America’s Promise Five Point Initiative and create proposals for reducing school drop out rates
• Here students assess their school in comparison to BHS and then send letters proposing improvements
• In this thought-provoking lesson, students write letters to soldiers and apply critical thinking to the subject of war
• As part of a “To Kill A Mockingbird” unit, students use the power of voice here to write an unsent letter about an injustice

Writing – Persuasive:

• This is a good writing lesson on persuasive arguments to deal with issues
• This lesson uses a kinesthetic approach to persuasive writing
• Here students write editorials on protagonist’s decisions in a book they are reading
• In this excellent censorship research lesson, students write a persuasive letter about why a questionable book should be added or banned from an elementary school library
• After this inspirational lesson about student activism in WWII, students make a persuasive presentation for a modern cause
• In this lesson, students write movie reviews from a pet’s perspective
• Students create a propaganda piece here and write about an American Revolutionary War colonist who is influenced by it
• This is an introductory unit on persuasive writing
• Here students study multimedia persuasion techniques and use them to create Photo Story 3 advertisements
• This is a lesson on persuasive techniques commonly used in political advertising
• This multimedia reseach unit reports the facts about environmental injustices:
• Lesson 1 – Research the Facts
• Lesson 2 – View the PowerPoint
• Lesson 3 – Go on the WebQuest
• Lesson 4 – Create the Television Newscast
• Lesson 5 – Make the Presentation

 

• This is a model for a persuasive essay based on press conference question asked of President Obama
• Students research the Mexican Grey Wolf re-introduction dilemma here and write a persuasive essay/PowerPoint offering their solution

Writing – Stories / Creative:

• A Writer’s Workshop lesson on Legends
• Here’s an idea for keeping a “Creative Notebook”
• Here’s a good Shakespeare Writing Lesson
• This lesson on the Colonial Period involves Creative Writing and Creating Cameo Portraits
• Here’s an idea to get students Writing Christmas Stories with Partners
• This Writing lesson is on Building Suspense with Sensory Details
• Here’s a brief but fun Writing idea called “What would you do if…”
• Turn ideas into a story with this fundraising project
• This lesson answers the questions: “What is imagery?” and “What is dependent authorship?”
• Here’s an idea – have students create and write about their own “super-hero”
• Students create a travel brochure to an imaginary place in this lesson
• The object of this lesson is to write and illustrate a children’s book about a younger sibling or cousin and then give them the book
• Sports scores and cookies teach word choice in these creative writing ideas
• These Native American “leather” stories make a great Thanksgiving hallway display
• Here students formulate a story in the fantasy genre
• “Chessays” are a collection of chess-related essay ideas especially useful when teaching creative writing, British literature or medieval history units

Writing – Technical:

• The complete unit below is on different types of Technical Writing:
• This is the introduction to the Technical Writing Unit
• The first lesson plan is on Correspondence
• Part two is on Writing Structure
• This lesson gets into Graphics Elements
• Lesson four is on Writing Memos
• Business Letters are the subject of lesson five
• This one is on Letter Formats and Proofreading
• Lesson seven is on Report Writing
• This part continues with Report Writing
• The last instructional lesson is on Persuasive Writing
• We finish the unit with this Assessment Plan

Writing – Other:

• This lesson is on AP Spanish Literature
• This lesson uses OREOs to teach response writing
• An idea to create a Story by multiple students (Chain Writing)
• This 5 Step Writing Program is aimed at Building Confidence
• This is an interesting lesson on Essay Writing involving a Beach Umbrella
• Another Kinesthetic Approach lesson, this one for Writing Essay Conclusions
• This is a Writing Lesson Plan called Memory Books
• This is a Process Analysis Pre-Writing Activity involving a Recipe for a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
• Students create a Newspaper on Computers in this lesson on Typing, Writing, and Reporting
• Here’s a lesson for Writing Personal Narratives and using Concept Maps
• An idea for Writing a News Story and taking on the role of Reporters
• Students Research about others and Write Biography Poems in this lesson idea
• Here is a good beginning-of-the-year lesson for introducing essay structure
• Take a fashion-forward approach to outlining with this engaging lesson
• Click here if you’re tired of hearing the excuse, “But I didn’t know I was plagiarizing!”
• Students write and follow directions to assemble simple puzzles in this lesson
• Here is an end-of-year bulletin board autograph idea
• This lesson uses quarters to inspire response writing
• This activity allows students to move around as they proofread and edit their essays
• This conflict resolution lesson teaches Mediate, Don’t Instigate

 

• In this newspaper lesson, students learn how to use photographs and visual design to convey messages
• To teach the value of editing your work, this teacher uses examples of how popular musicians rewrite their song lyrics
• In this interview idea, students learn about classmates while working on writing and oral presentation skills
• This kinesthetic activity is great for introducing expository and process writing
• The question “Does background music affect your writing?” is answered here
• Tinker Toys and digital cameras are used in this direction writing exercise
• Writing every related word that comes to mind is what this activity is all about
• You can create “Proofreading Pandemonium” with this fun kinesthetic activity
• In this lesson, students write a mock television interview from a pet’s perspective
• This beginning-of-the-year “ME Box” idea helps students focus their writing

 

• In this lesson, students turn a fairy tale into a television news report
• In “Writer’s Puzzle,” the student composes an essay with a beginning, middle, and end piece.
• In this lesson, students will use word referents to enhance word choice and enrich vocabulary
• In this journalism lesson, students write captions and headlines for provided articles
• This personal narrative prelude lesson is on voice and topic selection
• This is a lesson on summarizing
• This lesson stresses support and elaboration in writing well-developed character trait paragraphs
• Here students learn to recognize the writing trait of voice in books, music and art
• In this writing exercise, students create a Memory-A-Day box as a gift for someone special
• When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant is used here to model descriptive writing
• Students identify and arrange the elements of a news story here and write one based on given data
• This A-Z endangered animal research project requires a triorama of creative writing projects
• Here students write personal mission statements
• This “describe a place” writing lesson utilizes a reproduction, semi-production and production technique
• Students create a newspaper about their most admired person in these Writing Workshop activities
• Here students create a topic specific newspaper using a template
• This unit combines Writing and Grammar:
• Unit Introduction
• Lesson 1 – Writing by Ear
• Lesson 2 – Nouns
• Lesson 3 – Active and Passive Verbs
• Lesson 4 – Modify in Moderation
• Lesson 5 – Coordinating Conjunctions
• Lesson 6 – Simple Sentences
• Lesson 7 – Compound and Complex Sentences
• Lesson 8 – Periods and Commas
• Lesson 9 – Logic and Questions
• Lesson 10 – Interjections and Exclamation
• Writing and Grammar Unit Study Guide
• Writing and Grammar Unit Test

 

• This is a clever worksheet for using similes to describe characters
• Middle Schoolers anonymously share their New Year’s resolutions on a bulletin board and in a five-paragraph essay in this lesson
• Students create a 30-second photo story commercial for their personal hero in this hero vs. hero worship lesson
• Students define “What is a hero?” to determine “Who is a hero?” by those criteria in this kinetic activity and on-line essay assignment
• Students process “teen stress” here through blogging and by comparing their stressors to those of a literary character

Other / Multiple Topics:

• Here is a collection of some fun Christmas activity ideas
• An interesting lesson plan on Marketing a Product, including Making Commercials
• Here’s a Project idea for making a Book into a Movie
• This is an interesting idea where students “Create A Holiday”
• The book “Awakenings” is used in this lesson on Vocabulary, Critical Thinking, Predicting, and Writing
• Here are some Reading and Writing ideas collectively called “The Hat Connection”
• The History of Radio for Communication and Entertainment is the topic of this lesson
• Improve Listening Comprehension with Music
• This “Cubicle Reading and Writing” lesson is appropriate for Back To School time
• Students develop their own Spelling and Grammar game boards in this lesson idea
• Here’s a Multidisciplinary lesson on Punctuation, Conclusions, and Inferences
• This Language Arts game is good for reviewing Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar, etc.
• A fun group activity for learning about your classmates
• Here’s a new ice breaker idea – have groups perform a commercial for a new use for an old object
• Are your students murdering the English language? Then try this word funeral idea.
• This lesson is so fat… it contains four comedic hyperbole worksheets
• This is a five-day unit on helping a teen find, apply for, get and keep a job
• This gender issues unit was designed to provide relatable resources for abstract reasoning sessions of a “Femininity & Masculinity – Critical Thinking Club”

Art Connections:

• This calligraphy lesson is called “Write Me A Picture!”
• This is an idea for a lesson on the art of bookmaking
• Here’s a lesson on mythology dioramas and set design as a career
• This outstanding 3-week multidisciplinary fresco art unit features lessons on painters, symmetry, pigment, color wheel, primary colors, Italian Renaissance, solutions, chromatography, molecules, and atoms; plus a good museum education bibliography.
• Students study masters of surrealism and create surrealist computer art cubes in this two-week lesson
• In this get-to-know-you idea, students create a self-portrait collage with their favorite things
• In this “Write Like An Egyptian” idea, students draw a short story using their own hieroglyphics
• This is an integrated Aboriginal Dot Painting lesson plan

Computers & Internet Connections:

• Let’s play “Musical Computers”
• Here’s a lesson plan for creating posters with MS Word that works on formatting and grammar
• This is an elaborate idea for creating an interactive media community service project involving the creation of a logo, letterhead, brochure, newspaper ad, and PowerPoint presentation about a local cause and its solution
• Here students begin writing a story on one computer, then shift seats to add on to or finish their neighbor’s story
• A Photo Story 3 personal narrative is created here
• In this space WebQuest, Earth “investigators” access several types of software and on-line media to create an Interplanetary Movement Passport PowerPoint
• Students research how technological changes impact employment opportunities in the computer field in this Photo Story 3 lesson
• This digital storytelling lesson encourages students to use electronic media to tell a personal story in a creative way

Math Connections:

• This multidisciplinary lesson deals with the estimation of a pumpkin’s weight as it is carved
• Here is the lesson plan for the famous Stock Market Game
• If your kids can’t relate to the rules of rounding, try this storytelling idea
• Rational and irrational numbers are ordered with the help of a skit in this lesson

Music Connections:

• Music students love to create these rhythmic syllable sentences
• Students explore grief while discussing Barber’s Anthony O’Daly choral music recording
• Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is the subject of this author’s lesson ideas
• In this outstanding choral music lesson plan, students compose a “round”, write about copyrighting, and produce a CD
• Music in relation to history is the topic of this contemporary classical music lesson
• “I’m a Little Cupid” is the centerpiece of this Valentine’s Day musical activity
• This writing idea connects music to the literature your class is studying
• In this lesson, song lyrics are corrected for grammar and punctuation
• Here is an AP Modern Fine Arts and Literature Unit on Igor Stravinsky
• This is a Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody analytical activity and an Art Rock appreciation lesson
• Comic book stories are rewritten here to include numerical content that is then turned into word problems for peers to solve

Physical Education / Health Connections:

• This Harry Potter Quidditch Game is a great way to get students interested in PE!
• This integrated first-aid unit has a language arts component
• Here’s a great lesson on the “Science of Addiction” that uses poetry – part of a full curriculum on “Prescription Drug Abuse”
• “Please Don’t!” is the name of the teen suicide prevention photo stories resulting from this valuable lesson

Science Connections:

• This plan is for preparation for a science fair
• Here are amazing content-rich comedy skits on oxygen, G-force, hydrogen, and inertia, plus some math songs
• In this lesson, students research the biography of a scientist and create a tombstone
• After this nature hike, students identify, write about and make a shadow box with their outdoor treasures
• This is a 10-day Environment Curricula from Do Something, Inc.
• Day 1: Introduction to global warming, energy conservation and how rising temperatures affect us locally
• Day 2: Students learn about greenhouse gases and the power of language
• Day 3: Students learn about the potential consequences of global warming
• Day 4: Students examine their own energy consumption and conservation
• Day 5: Students learn how schools can participate in energy conservation
• Day 6: Students compare U.S. energy use to that of other countries
• Day 7: Students explore different types of renewable energy sources
• Day 8: Students discuss pros/cons of renewable energy
• Day 9: Students debate the pros/cons of government involvement in energy conservation
• Day 10: Students present their energy conservation projects

 

• This hydraulic water cycle lesson integrates technology with science, art and language arts and is appropriate for special education students
• Groups present a multimedia digital story about a researched biome here
• Here are great high school chemistry writing prompts
• Students love this Earth Day Jeopardy vocabulary game activity

Social Studies Connections:

• This lesson is on Black History Month
• Here’s a large, well-developed unit on The Renaissance:
• Here’s the outline for the unit
• Here’s an introduction to The Renaissance
• Part 2 is on Writing Styles of the Renaissance
• Lesson 3 is on Timelines and Creating them
• Lesson 4 focuses on the Copernican Revolution
• This Writing lesson is on the Autobiography and Training of a Guildsperson
• The last lesson is on Shakespeare

 

• This idea involves Research, Writing and creating a Time Capsule covering the 20th Century
• Here are some Worksheet ideas to be used before beginning a lesson
• This lesson idea is on Ben Franklin’s Virtues, and coming up with Virtues for the 21st Century
• This lesson is for creating a PowerPoint Presentation on the Revolutionary War
• Titled “This Is Your Life,” this lesson involves a Family Tree, Interviewing, Childhood Treasures, and Writing
• This lesson is on John F. Kennedy, the 1960 election (compared to the 2000 election), and Foreign Policy
• This lesson looks at how a Bill Becomes Law
• Here are some Instructional Ideas using “Super Pop-Up Reports for American History”
• This lesson helps students Understand Cultural Differences with “The House on Mango Street”
• “Role Playing for Empathy” teaches about other Cultures and Writing Plays as well
• Here are several good ideas for a unit on the Trail of Tears
• Here’s an idea that will help get students excited about geography
• Posing as 1788 journalists, students create a newpaper front page to share their viewpoints on the ratification of the constitution
• This multi-discipline lesson has students discover the geography and cultural history of an area while creating a travel journal on a budget
• This is an outstanding differentiated learning project about Ancient Egypt
• To demonstrate their Civil War knowledge, students write a diary entry or letter from the period in this lesson
• In this lesson, students will experience Tiananmen Square
• Here’s an election year idea: students watch and critique televised candidate debates and then hold their own
• In this election idea, students make “T” charts of the candidate’s views on issues, and vote based on “Just the Facts”
• In this holiday idea, students present a family report and collage to their family
• Students will create a picture book biography in this thorough 7-day unit
• The relevance of ancient Roman architecture, culture, and language are explored in this Pantheon lesson
• This is an African-American history research scavenger hunt
• This is a lesson on voting and holding office
• In this unit, students serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council and develop a statement on Darfur
• This is the study guide for the Karma Tycoon On-Line Video Strategy Game sponsored by Do Something, JPMorgan Chase and 9MMEDIA. In this free and popular social entrepreneurship game, kids help their communities and learn financial responsibility running their own U.S. nonprofit organizations.

1. Unit Introduction
2. About Us
3. Karma Tycoon Program Description
4. Learning Goals and Links to Classroom Learning
5. How to Play Karma Tycoon
6. Vocabulary
7. Cities and Nonprofit Data
8. Pre-Game Lesson Plan 1 – What Is a Nonprofit Organization?
9. Pre-Game Lesson Plan 2 – City and Nonprofit Internet Learning Hunt
10. Pre-Game Lesson Plan 3 – The Importance of Managing Your Finances
11. Post-Game Lesson Plan 1 – Devising a Budget for Your Nonprofit

 

• This Ballou High School Band Documentary Film Unit challenges students to improve their schools and community and to consider education as a civil right

• Unit Intro: The documentary film “Ballou” follows a struggling inner city school band as it overcomes obstacles and uplifts its community on the way to a national competition
• Lesson 1: Students examine Ballou High School in terms of the America’s Promise Five Point Initiative and create proposals for reducing school drop out rates
• Lesson 2: Students learn about Civil Rights Movement leaders in the film “Ballou,” discuss the impact of the movement on their education, and reflect on celebrities as role models
• Lesson 3: Here students assess their school in comparison to BHS and then send letters proposing improvements

 

• This George “W” Bush movie writing assignment taps issues of the presidency, invasion of privacy, international relations, etc.
• After reading about the causes of WWI, students make pro- and anti-war posters here and debate their positions
• Students create a medieval crusade journal here after reading “Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World”
• This lesson analyzes African American folktales, songs, and hymns during the time of slavery
• This is Photo Story 3 research project about space exploration during the Cold War
• Students research how physical and human geographic factors can affect a war’s outcome for their Civil War digital diorama presentation here
• This lesson on “passing” is part of a discrimination unit on strategies people used and still use to obtain equal rights and equal access to benefits
• After choosing from this list of Vietnam War topics, students conduct their own original research and write a paper on the subject
• Students map, interpret and analyze the growth of Islam here, incorporating the concepts of location, diffusion, and population distribution
• Students create a narrated family tree photo story from a template in this lesson

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