Make learning figurative language fun with these engaging activities for elementary students! Activities to teach similes, metaphors, & more!

Daily grammar practice is a tool that helps students practice and master grammar standards. Learn more about grammar spiral review in the classroom.

Analyzing writing curriculums, planning writing workshop and teaching writing lessons can be overwhelming. You might think, how am I going to fit everything in and produce successful writers? Where do I start? What skills do they need? This post will share the 7 BASIC WRITING LESSONS that every teacher should teach! With this basic knowledge, students will be able to perform other writing assignments more effectively. The following skills are not only effective in upper elementary, they are often needed at the middle school level for review or the primary level for differentiation. So yes, every teacher should teach them! If you start with these 7 fundamental skills, it will set the expectations for your writing lessons and assignments throughout the year! Frequently Asked Questions What are the basic skills and what order should I teach them? Sentence Structure 1. Complete Sentences Lesson for complete sentences 2. Fragments Lesson for fragments 3. Run-ons Lesson for run-ons Paragraph Writing 4. Topic Sentences Lesson for topic sentences 5. Relevant Details Lesson for relevant details 6. Transition Words Lesson for transition words 7. Closing Sentences Lesson for closing sentences How much time should I dedicate to teaching these fundamental skills? I recommend one day for each skill. If you spend a whole writing block for each skill, students will benefit from the practice. How do I teach each skill? First: Start with an anchor chart explaining the skill. (See each lesson link above for effective anchor charts.) Second: Provide examples. Students can share examples too! Next: Students should take notes. I love using Interactive Writing Notebooks to take notes. Research supports the use of interactive notebooks through studies on multiple intelligences, the brain and note taking. Here are a few videos to Set Up Interactive Writing Notebooks. Click photo for the Upper Elementary Version. A Primary Version is also available. Then: Identify the skill. Provide practice sheets and task cards for students to practice identifying the skill in sentences and paragraphs. Last: Apply the skill. Students should have the opportunity to write their own sentence or paragraph to apply the particular skill. What if I can't fit the lesson in one writing block? If you can't extend the days to complete them, there are other ways to get the whole lesson in. You can put practice sheets or task cards in a center, or you can have students apply the skill for homework or morning work the next day. What if my students, some of my students, or absent students can't do interactive notebooks? Make a small anchor chart to put in their notebooks with the same information! If you don't have a printable poster, take a picture of the anchor chart you used in class and print them off! I hope you found this post helpful and your students become successful writers this year! Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog

Games have been a big part of our family long before we even considered homeschooling. Games are an excellent way to spend quality time together as a family. “Gameschooling” is something that I did not find valuable to our homeschool in the beginning. I found games valuable to our family culture but not to academics....

Teaching middle school is like no other teaching assignment - like no other task on Earth for that matter. As a teacher, you need to be just the right mix of cool and strict - but most important, calm. You need to have a good relationship with your students overall based on mutual respect. But that's much easier said than done. Here's the thing about middle schoolers in particular: They want to look good in front of their peers. What their peers think of them is of utmost importance to them (whether they are in touch with that reality or not). Therefore, they will "save face" if they think you, the teacher, are criticizing them or making them look bad in any way. (Meanwhile, you meant no harm; you were simply calling them out on a behavior they clearly exhibited). The thing is you can't call them out in front of their peers. I mean you can, but you shouldn't. Whenever possible, call out their less-than-stellar behavior one-on-one, without their peers hearing it. This could mean going to their desk and whispering, or waiting for a good time to call them to your desk ever so calmly. It's easier to call them out from wherever you are, but if you want your class under control and to maintain respect, somehow arrange a private convo instead. The Goal is this, which is my #1 Rule for Teaching Middle School: No Power Struggles Have you ever noticed how some kids act so differently when their peers aren't around? Let's say a kid in your class before lunch was really pushing your buttons and disrupting class, but then he forgets his lunch in your room. He comes back to get it. You two talk. He's really nice and respectful! You have a pleasant conversation. You're wondering if this is the same person or perhaps a twin brother you weren't aware of. What is going on? IT'S BECAUSE HIS PEERS AREN'T THERE! I'm using a boy as an example, but the same thing applies to girls. Do NOT try to address a student's behavior in full view of his or her peers (a.k.a. the audience). You could get yourself into a full-blown power struggle before you know it. At first, by drawing attention to his or her behavior in front of his or her peers, you may inadvertently say something or suggest something that makes the student, from his or her perspective, look bad or uncool or different in some way. If you're not careful, you might find that the child you're disciplining escalates the situation, essentially trying to look good at any cost, even if that means receiving a negative consequence. For some kids, receiving a negative consequence is just more attention (and even negative attention is attention) and the whole situation will most likely make most of the students in the class think you're the bad guy and he or she is the good guy. You don't want that. There should not be a bad guy or a good guy, just you the teacher calmly in control. What you want to do is simply find a way to calmly speak to the student one-on-one. Keep your voice calm, logically explain everything, follow through on a fitting consequence OUT OF VIEW OF THEIR PEERS and most likely you'll avoid the full-blown power struggle. And, whenever possible, DO POINT OUT POSITIVE BEHAVIORS IN FRONT OF THEIR PEERS. Give them the good attention they want deep down inside. Say something like "Hey everyone, I really like how Alex is using his notes to write his essay. Wow, he's almost done." I heard you are supposed to give five praises for every one disciplinary comment. I say I heard that, because I need to work on that lol. GOOD LUCK! Here's another trick I learned. When you provide your students with high-interest learning resources they feel are relevant to them and interesting in some way, they will actually behave better. They will get sucked into whatever you are trying to get them read, write, or do and forget about misbehaving. So, that's why I created these high-interest informational texts and tasks. I went out of my way to make the articles super interesting to middle schoolers by writing about things that interest them. And, guess what? It worked. I keep hearing from teachers how kids get so into these passages. They actually want to answer the questions. They even want to discuss the articles as a group. And teachers keep reporting how much time and hassle I have saved them. I did that by aligning every text and task to a specific Reading Informational Text Standard and did that 10 times to cover all 10 of them individually. Now teachers don't have to go searching for the right articles that bring out the right skills. Try both volumes and use them all year long! Your students are actually going to behave better because they won't be bored! I even made them in both PDF and interactive Google Slides in case you want the easy distance learning option! And don't forget to pin this so you can read it again or share it with a friend. Best wishes to you this year! You got this!

This Language Arts Interactive Notebook is filled with over 30 pages of hands-on grammar activities for grades 4-8. Activities including everything from diagramming to figurative language.

So you have 100 minutes, but how exactly do you plan and schedule your language arts block for the junior grades?

Starting a new semester— whether at the beginning of the school year or calendar year— is a time of tough transition as we begin to restart our minds and work habits. Here are SEVEN engaging activities for the first week back to school in middle school and high school English Language Arts.

Wondering how to structure your middle school language arts daily schedule? Here's the planning template I developed to find my ideal stride!

Free reading comprehension passages for grades 2 - 3

Freaking out over how in the world can you actually use centers and stations in your classroom without being completely overwhelmed? Concerned that you don’t have enough time, don’t know how to enforce student accountability, don’t know what the stations should look like, or panicking that you simply can’t keep up? These are absolutely valid

39 super fun sentence structure worksheets and activities and sentence building games to get kids excited about language arts!

Do you think reading centers are only for the littles? Think again! Learn why you should be using upper elementary reading centers.

Our family's recommended resources for homeschooling third graders. Includes suggested resources for language arts, math, science and social science.

If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.

Worksheets for 1st grade math, first grade math worksheets for free for the basic math topics taught in grade 1.

Have you been looking for the perfect project based learning curriculum? If you've been on the lookout for a game-changing approach to captivate your upper elementary students and ignite a passion for learning, you're in for a treat! Buckle up as we dive into the world of project-based learning (PBL) – the secret sauce to turning mundane lessons into exciting adventures.

Engage your students in great lessons using these videos for teaching figurative language! Check out the Top 5 here and save time searching!

We have all been there (no matter how long you have taught or how well you have planned a lesson). You have just finished a fantastic lesson. Everything went

Do you need a comprehensive way to practice numerous Grammar and Vocabulary topics in middle school and with ESL students? Grab this time-saving bundle of language arts centers and games for your students. Some of sets (not all) can be used for distance learning. Number of pages: 956 Common Core Standards addressed: L.5.5c, L.5.1d, L.5.1b, L.4.5c, L.4.1g, L.4.1d, L.4.1b, L.4.1, L.3.5c, L.3.4b, L.3.2e, L.3.1g, L.3.1f, L.3.1e, L.3.1d, L.3.1b, RF.3.3a Grade Levels: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, Homeschool

Jenga game cards are easily my favorite way to teach and reinforce basic math fact, phonics, or grammar practice.

This blog post will introduce you to six simple, fun, and enriching project-based learning ideas for your English Language Arts classroom.

My goal is also to offer ideas to new teachers, tips that work for me, and offer Free Upper Elementary Resources

Introducing students to challenging words through Word of the Week can help increase their confidence in reading, writing, & speaking.

Introducing your students to figurative language can be fun with picture books. Use these figurative language activities to help your students practice.

This blog post shares activities to teach creative writing, along with creative writing prompts and lesson plans your students will love!

As a teacher, I am always on the hunt for the perfect tools at the cheapest prices for my ELA classroom. Taking care of our students and keeping our learning

This post shares 3rd grade literacy center ideas that work with any Language Arts curriculum and last the entire school year + FREE printable

This Annotating Text-Teach, Model, & Apply activity will encourage your students to learn how to annotate properly and efficiently.

Kids will have fun looking for nouns all around them in this Grammar Activity for Kids. Simply print the Noun Hunt printable and head out for fun learning.

Tunnel books are fun and unique! We made ours using a postcard for a prompt and wrote a haiku to go with it. I've made these with grade 4 and up, but younger students could enjoy this activity in "centers", with the help of parent volunteers, or by having the various parts prepped for them ahead of time. There are lots of different directions you could take this project. We added a pocket on the back for holding a written story that we added later. See a few of our student examples below!For a convenient step-by-step pdf of this lesson, visit my TPT Store

36 nouvelles fiches soit 624 en tout. Il s’agit de présenter une fois par semaine à la classe, une oeuvre d’art (sur affiche – vidéo projecteur…). Cette oeuvre d’art s…

Supercharge your morning work with I Heart Literacy! Each page features a fun theme so your students will not only be practicing reading and ELA skills, but will also be learning about a curriculum-based topic. A wide variety of Common Core skills are addressed. Try these five free pages for free! Happy Teaching! Rachel Lynette ... Read More about Morning Work ELA and Reading Freebie!

Embrace your students’ excitement about Halloween with these Halloween activities for grades 4-5, including math, science, and reading! Freebies included!

This is a visual for how students work their way up the Reading Ladder. Kindergarten is working within the levels 1 and 2 throughout the year. When working with your child, please focus on these skills so that they have a solid reading foundation. Success is earned and needs to be worked for. Thank you to Katelyn's Learning Studio for this amazing resource.