Reading Literature Ideas
Black History in English Language Arts
Black history is our history. It's not some separate history to marvel. It's not a gimmick to gawk at in February. Still, while it's somewhat disappointing that it takes Black History Month to draw...
Fall in ELA: 20 Ideas for Reading & Writing in Autumn
Once your students return to school in the fall, it's time to grab their attention and get them excited about reading and writing again! Fall in ELA is perfect for reading and writing because there...
“The Hill We Climb” Poem in English Language Arts
I am not touching politics here or now with a ten-foot pole, but I will say that the Biden Administration employing a poet laureate, 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, creates opportunities in your ELA...
3 Funny Christmas Holiday Rhymes in ELA
All across the nation, just before winter break, teachers are scrambling to find last-minute activities that lightheartedly combine ELA skills and holiday anticipation. Here's an idea: have students...
Humongous List of 500 Character Trait Words
We all have character traits formed by a combination of behavior, attitude, upbringing, genetics, mood, practice, trauma, praise, social skills, education, and more. We don’t display them at all...
Analyzing Characterization 6 Ways in 6 Stories With 6 Characters
In literature, there are flat characters and there are round characters. No, I'm not talking about Flat Stanley and Humpty Dumpty (lol). I'm talking about the generic characters whose depths of...
Character Attribute Web Reading Literature Activity
New feature image A wonderful way to delve into character analysis! Really gets students of all ages to think about what a character is truly made of. For example, this simple web can help a student...
Figurative Language Fun Reading and Writing
Who likes figurative language? Everybody does! (That's hyperbole.) The great thing about it is you can say something is something it's not and get away with it (using a metaphor)! When you're at a...
10 Graphic Organizers for Reluctant Readers and Writers
Sometimes it just takes one simple thing to get reluctant readers and writers motivated to start their task. That one simple thing could be a fun, creative graphic organizer. So simple, yet so...
Writing a Poem from a Character’s Point of View
An excellent way to get students to really immerse themselves into a character’s point of view is to have them write a “Five Senses Poem” from the point of view of that character. In this post, I...
Get Inside the Mind of a Character Reading Literature Activity
Better than a book report! Students delve into the minds of characters they’re reading about. In this post, there are samples of the "minds" of Anne Frank from The Diary of Anne Frank, Pi Piscine...
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes Reading Literature Lesson
I like to get students excited about reading literature by having them do a fun activity to go with the story. This is especially true when the book has sad or "heavy" subject matter related to war....
100 Questions on Standardized ELA Assessment Tests
After having been an ELA teacher for 10 years, and then an assessment writer contracted with multiple Ed-Tech companies (while running my store Loving Language Arts) for about 10 years, I know all...