Language Arts

Rather than just memorizing word parts, students will use those word parts to create four possible products.

Blow up a paragraph into individual sentences. Now reassemble it. The clues hiding in each sentence will surprise you.

We’ll take two seemingly unrelated pieces of content (say volcanoes and the human body) and then build analogies to connect the two ideas. In the end, students can create a skit, comic, or story relating the two concepts.

We tell students to ‘show, not tell’ — but that advice is useless until they experience the difference. This lesson makes it click.

‘Add more variety!’ teachers say. But how? This lesson gives students actual techniques instead of vague advice.

These clauses are sorted into two groups. What’s the rule? No definitions given — just examples.

What on earth is a Geosynth? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place at school.

Your young students will compare how two characters have changed in a story.

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

Rather than just demand that students “write clearly,” we’ll explore the hazards of poorly written sentences… and maybe create one of our own!

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

What on earth is a Plexidemokinesis? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

A typical student narrative includes plot and characters but lacks a larger idea to hold it all together. This is where a lesson on themes comes in…

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

How many words can you find within rainbow?

These sentences about Washington, DC got scrambled. Can you put them back in order using nothing but context clues?

How many words can you find within WESTERN?

What if Kylo Ren wrote a love letter to Abe Lincoln or the Sahara Desert wrote one to the Moon?

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

Wouldn’t some holidays be better on a certain day of the week? Should Thanksgiving have a set date?

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

How many words can you find within airplane?

Let’s create a new dinosaur using Greek and Latin stems!

A passage from White Fang to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about The Moon back into the correct order?

What on earth is a Aquamorphotron? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Is your students’ use of repetition limited to, “The girl was very, very, very fast.”? Let’s borrow some ideas from Shakespeare!

Bored with typical spelling studies? Let’s dig into the origins of common English words from other languages!

Want something to do during the holiday season that is both fun and involves thinking? Get students writing about what a snowman would think about Halloween or what a ghost would think about Thanksgiving.

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Can your students come up with a one-syllable word to sum up their time away from school? And then rewrite The Beatles’ song Help!?

Plural nouns in English are deliciously fascinating. Yet most plural lessons are so dull! In this experience, students are given a pile of plurals and then inductively create groups and pull out rules and patterns.

A passage from The Wind in the Willows to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

How many words can you find within “cranberry”?

Your 1st and 2nd graders will analyze how a character responded to a challenge.

Let’s go beyond merely memorizing word parts and instead analyze across languages. How do other languages make a word the opposite?

Let’s start with “As cold as fire.”

Can someone do the right thing, but for the wrong reason?

Five sets of five idioms, all related to food.

Look closely at Twilight in the Wilderness. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.

How many words can you find within COBWEB?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Your students will use Depth and Complexity to note how a character’s main trait changes across a story.

Does the antonym of an antonym bring us back to the same meaning?

How many different ways can we use the word “gift” in a single paragraph? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

What if we rewrote a piece of writing without using certain letters?

Four fantastically terrific tasks for a weekly idiom study.

Your students’ sentences all start the same way. Here are three techniques that fix that overnight.

How many different ways can we use the word “fruit”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

Let’s help William Shakespeare with his use of repetition.

Can your class spot the complex sentences vs compound sentences?

We’ll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with a reason, a prepositional phrase, and a simile.

How many words can you find within “scarecrow”?

A passage from White Fang to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

What if… Edgar Allen Poe wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

Let’s go roller skating in a Halloween costume! What could possibly go wrong?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Let’s see how propaganda techniques can make even something great seem bad.

Four Charlotte’s Web characters. One doesn’t belong. But which one? That depends on your argument.

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about the coral reef back into the correct order?

Can students spot similes vs metaphors?

How many words can you find within TROMBONE?

What happens when we switch out a “but” with a “so”? An “and” with a “for”? How can such tiny words make such big differences?

One letter. Add another. And another. How tall can you build the pyramid before you run out of words?

Students pick from 12 random phrases to create a story about an incident in a restaurant.

How many different ways can we use the word “care”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

A passage from The Velveteen Rabbit to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

How many words can you find within PARKING?

Start with a one letter word, add another letter, then add another. How tall can you make the pyramid?

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

Two columns. One is an example, one isn’t. Can you figure out the hidden rule before the big reveal?

A passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

What happens when a pronoun could refer to more than one noun? Big problems!

Pi can go beyond circles! What if you wrote using the digits of pi as your guide?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.

Let’s make this simile about a quick baby even more specific.

Can your students spot the run-on sentences?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about Pluto back into the correct order?

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

How many different ways can we use the word “thanks”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

How many words can you find within LATKES?

A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be writing sentences with three dependent clauses.

The word “may” can be used for possibility or permission. It’s a modal auxiliary verb!

Did you ever notice that the structure of an essay is very similar to the structure of a paragraph? Hmm…

Poetry and Prose meet at a party. What would they say to each other? How would they feel about each other’s style?

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place at the zoo.

Three paragraphs about cucumbers. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

What if we rewrote a piece of writing without using certain letters?

What might a creature named “Hypermnemonicus” be like?

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

Can your students help The Bard? We’ll fix five Shakespearean run-ons in three different ways.

Which part of speech is most useful? Interesting? Strange?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

What would Socrates have thought if he watched Frozen?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Two columns of sentences. Something is different about them. Can you figure out the rule?

Read three pieces of writing from three different robots about the same beautiful painting of a volcano. Who wrote it best?

When we try to solve a problem, sometimes we end up creating new problems. Which lead to new solutions. Which lead to new problems.

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

How many words can you find within NUTCRACKER?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Let’s spice up a typically dull lesson about the difference between “its” and “it’s” by asking students to write a children’s story about the adventures of a critter named It.

Upgrade compare and contrast writing with just a couple of key words.

How many words can you find within February?

Context clues lessons can be a disaster. Here, we expose students to a delightful classic packed with nonsense words (“Jabberwocky”) and ask them to decipher the meanings and parts of speech. Then, it’s only natural for students to write their own nonsense poems.

A passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Look closely at Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.

How many words can you find within Chocolate?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

What on earth is a Hydromagnaphone? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Can you write directions so clear that a group of kids can put a toy together with no illustrations?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Can your students spot simple sentences vs compound sentences?

What on earth is a Psycholunaphase? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent the creature, device, or spell it describes.

How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?

What if one character dressed up as another for Halloween? Would the Cat in the Hat pick Captain Jack Sparrow, because they’re both chaotic yet good-natured people? Would Elsa dress up as The Ice King since they are both lonely?

What exactly does adding -less do to a word?

Let’s write the cleverest Mother’s Day cards you’ve ever seen!

How many words can you find within “leopard”?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

A passage from The Jungle Book to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Let’s take a classic Christmas poem and remix it to work with another holiday!

What might a creature named “Aquacornus Rex” be like?

Teach your young students to identify the moral or the theme of a story.

Have students mastered the art of anadiplosis: ending one sentence with the beginning of the next? Now it’s time to take it to the next level!

Imagine being a character in a story. Are you worried that your story’s narrator may inaccurately describe you? What if they reveal something you wanted to be kept secret? Do narrators have too much power!?

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in at a magical school.

We’re looking at the past progressive tense and the simple past tense.

One painting of ruins. Three robots. Three pieces of writing. Who wrote it best?

Two sets of idioms related to numbers.

Your students will try to match up definitions that belong to the same homophone in this brain-boggling vocab puzzle.

Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.

What if we started a sentence with the simile?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

A passage from “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

When I see a quote, I often think, “That’s not quite right!”

What on earth is a Pyrostasis? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

In this lesson, students will not just fix passive sentences, but break active sentences as they learn to put the star of the sentence first.

Three paragraphs about the Empire State Building. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

What is bobbing for apples like… for an apple?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Three paragraphs about wolverines. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

After watching some great presenters, let’s outline your presentation!

We open our unit on narrative writing with a big idea: “structure increases creativity.” I show how this is true by bringing in examples from across all disciplines.

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect T and PLANET?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about trains back into the correct order?

How does a drink’s packaging affect us emotionally and logically?

When students learn about alliteration, it’s hard to steer them away from goofy tongue-twisters. Certainly, there must be more powerful and practical ways of using alliteration. In this lesson, I draw on delicious examples from Shakespeare to show how a very advanced writer used alliteration. Then, I break those ideas down so students can try them out.

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about great sloths back into the correct order?

Let’s write a holiday song about order and chaos!

Young students can use this big idea organizer to identify the main idea and support it with details.

Create a pixelated icon that represents the essence of a character!

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Five sets of idioms related to money.

Are students’ characters a bit flat? Archetypes give them a strong foundation on which to build their own characters as well as a tool to analyze existing stories.

An old photograph. A holiday scene. Pick one object in the picture and write from its point of view.

Three paragraphs about tomatoes. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

What on earth is a Chronosonarium? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Look closely at Impression, Sunrise. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.

Five sets of idioms related to fire!

An intriguing passage from Anne of Green Gables to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

We’ll start with the cliché “as cold as ice” and go somewhere much more interesting.

Five sets of idioms related to the color red.

Five sets of five idioms, all related to body parts!

Why do we say ‘break a leg’? Five themed sets of idioms your students will actually remember.

Get your students writing some pretty darn impressive poetry based on Japan’s most famous artist.

So, which is happiest: happy, joyful, or ecstatic? Which is most temporary?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about earthquakes back into the correct order?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Repeating words can be what you want, if what you want is an interesting effect. (Psst, that’s an example of anadiplosis!)

Every fantasy story has patterns hiding underneath the magic. Once your students see the elements, they’ll spot them everywhere — and use them in their own writing.

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

One painting of a bridge. Three robots. Who wrote it best?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Three paragraphs about baseball. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about automobiles back into the correct order?

How do characters from novels line up with Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences?

Have you ever noticed that some stories have awfully similar problems? What if we looked for the most unusual way of solving a repeating problem?

How many words can you find within TEACHER?

A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be using antonyms to describe the same topic!

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

What item’s in a character’s bedroom would reflect their deepest desires? And what if they toured a similar character’s room?

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about The Great Sphinx back into the correct order?

Read three pieces of writing from three different robots based on a beautiful painting and decide who wins!

If your students’ stories are packed with endless ninja fights or arguments between frenemies, it’s time to expose them to a wider range of conflicts.

How many words can you find within SOLDIER? 20? 35? 50? Even more!?

Your youngest students will learn to write Japanese Haiku poetry.

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?

What on earth is a Thermocryptograph? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Strength and weakness are often two sides of the same coin. Students will explore how a character’s flaw can be a benefit.

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about rain clouds back into the correct order?

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!

Will your students notice progressive tense vs simple tense?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

A passage from “Peter Pan” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

What playlist of songs best goes with a character’s change over time?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Students work with subjects, predicates, and conjunctions to write compound sentences.

How many different ways can we use the word “limit”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

Let’s make this simile about a loud class super specific!

You won’t believe how this spelling and vocabulary puzzle will get kids’ brains sweating over the smallest of words.

How many different ways can we use the word “change”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

Aristotle noted that positive traits and negative traits are often the same thing, but just in different amounts. The right amount is a virtue, but too much or too little and it’s a vice.

Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.

Look closely at Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.

Students use 12 random phrases to write a story that takes place in at an amusement park.

Sure, Dr. Seuss wrote for young students, but can older students analyze his writing and learn to mimic his style? THEN, they can produce Seuss-style poetry about any topic: Ancient China, the electromagnetic spectrum, Pride and Prejudice, and (yes) fraction division!

What exactly does adding -en to a word do? Find the pattern. Then find the words that break it.

How can we go from Biology to Immobile?

Let’s write a summary. A very short summary. With VERY strict rules.

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

How many words can you find within “general”?

Ready to push kids beyond the boring, old ABAB rhyme scheme and into something a bit more complex?

How many words can you find within WREATH?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

Let’s make this simile about a strong uncle even more specific.

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

How many words are hiding inside STUFFING? More than you think.

How many words can you find within MENORAH?

How many words can you find within ORNAMENT?

A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be contrasting two ideas using synonyms.

How many words can you find within Saturn?

Can your students match multiple meanings of the same five words?

How many words can you find within CORNMAZE?

A passage from Moby Dick to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?

What if we rewrote a story’s climax into a totally different genre?

How many words can you find within Ireland?

What if a capybara and a kangaroo rat switched homes? Would their adaptations be helpful at all?

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Five sets of idioms related to the weather.

Get better at giving presentations by studying the greats!

Ever read a student’s story that was just event after event after event and then a very sudden ending? They lack an understanding of a plot’s structure. With the help of Finding Nemo, I break down how to set up a well-structured plot.

What is the Brick Pig’s philosophy? How would he apply it to the characters in Harry Potter?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?

What if your students rewrote Dickens in the style of Hemingway and vice versa?

A passage from “The Fall of the House of Usher” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Let’s take a starting phrase about St. Patrick’s Day and get specific. No, even more specific!

How many different ways can we use the word “well”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!

In a sentence, punctuation may seem meek when compared to those mighty words, but punctuation has incredible power over the meaning of a sentence. Students will try re-punctuating sentences to find new meanings – without changing a single word!

What might a creature named “Ursolunascope” be like?

Put a grumpy character next to a joyful one and they make each other stand out even more. Opposites are powerful!

Dust can mean “remove dust” but also “add more dust!”

Ever ask students to create research questions? Were their ideas a bit… blah? My own students had a very hard time writing questions they didn’t already know the answer to! This video is how I solved that problem: upgrade research questions with depth and complexity.

How many words can you find within Patrick?

Five sets of idioms related to birds (and bugs).

Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!

How many ways can we use “check” in a paragraph? And can your students spot when it’s a verb, or a noun, or an adjective?

COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?