This page contains links to lesson plans and resources for teaching reading, spelling, writing, journalism, communication, debate, and drama. Resources and lesson plans for poetry and reading as well as children's and adolescent literature have been relocated to separate sites, but are still accessible from the site index. Click on one of the topics in the index below. All links on this page were checked and updated 7-23-09.

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Index: Large Collections of Language Arts Lesson Plans, Spelling, Vocabulary, Synonyms/Antonyms/Homonyms, Reading, Children's Literature, Adolescent/Young Adult Literature, Mysteries, English/Shakespearean Literature, Poetry, Mythology, Writing/Composition, Rubrics, Grammar, Punctuation, Parts of Speech, Journalism/Media/Communication/Speech/Debate, Drama/Theater/Story Telling, Return to Educational Resources and Lesson Plans; Go to the NCTE Home Page

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Large Collections of Language Arts Lesson Plans
The Educator's Reference Desk
Formerly Ask ERIC, this is a great site for reading, literature, writing, etc. lesson plans.

Language Arts Lesson Plans
Good site listing many K-12 language arts lesson plans.

The Lesson Plans Page - Language Arts Lesson Plans
A large number of lesson plans organized by grade level.

Web English Teacher
Many lesson plans and resources.

Teacher's Desk Lesson Plans
Over 250 5th and 6th-grade language arts lesson plans.

Read, Write, Think
Lesson plans, standards, web-based resources, and student materials from from the National Council of Teachers of English and Thinkfinity.

Education World - Lesson Planning Channel: Language Arts
Many high quality lesson plans unique to EW.

English and Language Arts Lesson Plans
Links to many secondary language arts lesson plan sites.

Kevin's Language Arts Lessons
Over 30 lesson plans, mostly for middle and high school.

Outta' Ray's Head: Literature and Writing lesson Plans
Excellent source for secondary lesson plans.

Mrs. G's English Lessons and Links
Good source for secondary English lesson plans.

Spelling Lesson Plans
Scripps National Spelling Bee
Information for teachers.

The Educator's Reference Desk Spelling Lesson Plans
Five lesson plans.

Spice Up Your Spelling Lessons
Lesson ideas from Education World.

Spelling Lesson Plans and Resources    
Many lesson plans and activities from Lesson Plan Central.

Spelling Lessons
Six sample lesson plans from SpellingRules.com.

Spellmell
An interactive spelling and vocabulary game.

Spelling Battleship
An activity for grades 3-12.

Spelling and Vocabulary Lesson Plans
A large collection of spelling and vocabulary lessons.

Promote Spelling with Partner Quizzes
Activities for grades 2-6 from Scholastic.  

Spelling Handouts
In pdf format from Richard Gentry.

Vocabulary Lesson Plans
The Educator's Reference Desk Vocabulary Lesson Plans
Many lesson plans.

Spelling and Vocabulary Lesson Plans
A large collection of spelling and vocabulary lessons.

Titanic Vocabulary Lesson Plan
A lesson plan on vocabulary related to the Titanic. Click here to access the vocabulary worksheet to be used with this lesson.

Vocabulary Building
A lesson plan for the primary grades.

Vocabulary: Unfolding Meaning
A lesson plan for grades 6-7.

The Dictionary Game
A lesson plan for grades 4+.

The Einstein Game
An activity for grade 6 designed to help students learn vocabulary that corresponds with core curriculum.


Synonyms/Antonyms/Homonyms Lesson Plans
Common Words
A card game designed to teach students synonyms for common words.

Juggling Words
Another synonym card game.

Euphemisms
A junior high school lesson plan in which students learn to choose appropriate synonyms for writing and speaking.

Matching with Synonyms and Antonyms
A 4th-grade lesson plan.

Learning Synonyms and Antonyms in Pairs
A 6th-grade lesson plan from The Educator's reference Desk.

In Other Words: Using a Thesaurus
A lesson plan from Education World that is adaptable for use in grades 3-8.

Homophones
A lesson plan for grades 3-4.

Homophone Bingo
A grade 4 lesson plan from The Educator's Reference Desk.

Horrid Homophones
Another Reference Desk lesson plan, this one is for grades 6-8.

A Horse is a Hoarse, Of Course, Of Coarse
An intermediate-grade lesson plan using cooperative learning to teach about homonyms/homophones. See also Homonyms Worksheet, The Write Way (an online quiz), and Feast of Homonyms (an online game).

Fairy Tale Homophones
An activity suitable for the intermediate grades in which students must correct about familiar fairy tales in which homophones are used incorrectly.
 

Reading Lesson Plans 

The Educator's Reference Desk Reading Lesson Plans
More than 30 lesson plans, mostly for the primary grades.

Reading Lesson Plans from the Teacher's Desk
Another long list of reading lesson plans. See also Phonics Lesson Plans.

Reading
From Teachnet, this site consists of a number of lesson plans and ideas for activities.

McGraw-Hill Reading/Language Arts
Activities tied to the McGraw-Hill Language Arts Series.

A Model Lesson Plan for Teaching Phonics
From Teachnology. See also Lesson Plans: Phonics for more from this site.

Phonics Link
Resource for elementary teachers. See also Phonics Printables and Worksheets , and Downloadable Read and Color Books.

Learning the letter "G" Sound
A K-1 phonics lesson plan.

Making Words: Cardboard Letters
A K-1 hands-on activity in which children discover sound-letter relationships.

Phonemic Awareness Activities
Several activities for grades K-1.
Letter Slide
A primary-grade lesson plan teaching children to blend sounds into words.

The Blending Slide
Another primary-grade phonics lesson plan similar to the one above.

Dolch Site Word Printables and Worsheets
From edHelper.com.

Celebrate Reading
A year-long program from Core Knowledge to encourage daily reading at home. It include six lesson plans to set up the program and teach the required skills.

Click, Clack, Moo: Reading Word Family Words
A 2nd-grade lesson that uses the book, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.

Conquering Comprehension
A 2nd-grade unit in pdf format from Core Knowledge.

Out of Many One: Reading Comprehension and Writing through the Study of Immigration
A ten-lesson unit for grade 2 from Core Knowlededge.

Character Point of View
An elementary-grade lesson plan to improve reading comprehension skills.

Reading Comprehension
Lesson plans including daily reading comprehension themes from edHelper.com.

The Letterbox Lesson
A lesson plan in which students analyze the phoneme sequence in a word.

Mini-Lesson on Inferencing
A 3rd-grade lesson using The Five Chinese Brothers in which students learn how to make inferences from narrative text.

Reading Bingo
A 6th-grade reading activity.

Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students
A unit intended for middle school students with linited reading skills.

KWL - A Reading Comprehension Strategy
A lesson plan in which students are taught the KWL reading comprehension strategy. See also Using A KWL Chart.  

What is Reciprocal Teaching?
An overview of this instructional procedure designed to enhance students' reading comprehension. See also Reciprocal Teaching Model Lesson,   Reciprocal Revision: Making Peer Feedback Meaningful, and Holes, by Louis Sachar (A unit plan using reciprocal Teaching).

Whole Language lesson Plans
A long list of lesson plans from The educator's Reference Desk.

Introducing 'Communication Talent' with Casey at the Bat
A whole-language lesson plan for grades 3, 4, or 5.

Literature Circles Guided Reading Lesson Plans
An annotated list of lesson plans for elementary and middle school.

Mythology Lesson Plans
Mythweb
A site devoted to the heroes, gods, and monsters of Greek Mythology. Click on Teachers for lesson ideas.

Mythology Theme Page
Lesson plans and links from Core Knowledge.

Mythology @ Web English Teacher
More links to lesson plans. See also Classical Mythology.

Ancient Greece
From Mr. Donn's site. Scroll down the page to find the mythology lessons.

Greek Mythology Curriculum Guides
Six two-week Perseus units for the study of ancient Greek mythology, history, and literature. You will need  Adobe Acrobat Reader to download them, but the site provides a link to adobe.com.

Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece
Lesson plans and activities for thematic elementary unit.

The Role of Myths
A 4th-grade lesson plan from Adprima.    

Impact of Greek Mythology on Modern Times
A lesson plan for grades 7-9.

It Came from Greek Mythology
A high-quality elementary lesson plan from EDSITEment.

Aztec Mythology
A unit for 4th or 5th-grade gifted and talented students.

Mythological Soaps
An introductory mythology unit designed for ESL students in grades 6-12. It could easily be adapted for other student groups.

In Search of Myths and Heroes
A lesson plan for grades 7-12 using the story of King Arthur.

The Odyssey
A high school lesson plan from the Discovery Channel School .

Homer's Odyssey
An extensive study guide.

The Odyssey
Teacher CyberGuide with four activities.

Even Gods Have Bad Hair Days...
A middle-grade lesson plan.

Tales of the Changing Seasons
A lesson plan in which students create original myths explaining why the seasons change.

E School Ancient Greece Resource Page
Six Internet-based lessons.

The Hero's Journey
Cool resource for helping students create their own stories using mythical heroes.

Perseus Project
A digital library of resources for the study of the ancient world and beyond.

Greek Mythology Link
An excellent resource featuring biographies, places and people, images, and indices of mythical characters and names, as well as a new collection of the Greek myths written on line.

Encyclopedia Mythica
An encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend.
 

Teaching Writing
Ideas for Teaching Writing
Geared toward the middle school level, this site offers lesson ideas for all aspects of the writing process as well as information on the Six Trait Analytic Writing Model.

Writing Lesson Plans from the Educator's Reference Desk
An excellent source featuring many lesson plans to teach writing.

Writing Lesson Plans
A large collection of lesson plans from the Teacher's Desk.

Writing Lesson Plans from Outta Ray's Head
Another set of wiring lesson plans.

Biography Unit: An Essay Evaluating a Notable Person
A 10th-grade unit in which students read and write biographies.

Technical Writing - Unit Plan
An introduction to a unit on technical writing for high school juniors and seniors. To access the lesson plans, go to the Lesson Plans Page - Language Arts, then scroll about half-way down the page until you see this unit listed under Writing - Technical. Click here to see Lesson One: Correspondence.

Friendly Letters
A 7th or 8th-grade lesson plan requiring students to compose, type, edit, and print a friendly letter with a proper heading, salutation, body, closing, and signature.

Successful Paragraphs
A lesson plan for grades 4-6.

Paragraph Unity
A lesson plan for grades 7-9.

Persuasive Argument
A lesson plan for grades 7-12 in which students discuss and then write about an idea for persuasion.

Essay Unit
An elaborate 8th-grade unit including lessons on essay components, editing, research, and writing persuasive and personal essays.

Essay Exchange Unit
A unit for grades 10-12 in which students write position papers, then transmit them via e-mail to other schools and educators who, in turn, will provide criticisms, comments, and additional sources of information for further research.

The Personal Touch: A Lesson in Expository Writing
A lesson plan for middle and high school

Grammar Journals
A lesson plan on proofreading and editing.

Writing a Basic Essay
On-line tutorial for essay writing.

Lear, Limericks, and Literature: Creative Writing Lesson Plans
Lesson plans for grades 5 and up designed to help "introduce reading and creative writing activities in a fun way."

The Biography Maker
Excellent resource for helping students write biographies.

Young Writer's Anthology
Poems, stories, and reviews written by kids and teens.

Rubrics for Writing
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Assessment Rubrics
Information and sample rubrics for web-based assignments, oral presentations, group participation, cooperative learning activities, portfolio exhibits, research papers, etc.

Paragraph Writing Rubric

Five Paragraph Essay Rubric

Writing to Inform
A rubric for the 8th-grade using "kid language."

Expository Essay Rubric

Writing to Persuade
Another 8th-grade rubric from the same site as the one immediately above.

Writing for Personal Expression
One more 8th-grade rubric from the same site.

Six Trait Analytical Writing Rubric
A well-designed rubric using the 6-trait model. 

Comparison Rubric
A rubric for comparison papers.

Technical Writing Rubrics

Grammar/Parts of Speech/Punctuation
Grammar: A Review of the 8 Parts of Speech
A lesson plan for the 7th grade.

Colorful Parts of Speech
A lesson plan requiring students to classify words in context.

Parts of Speech Quickie
A quick review. See also Parts of Speech Song.

Adjective? What's an Adjective?
A lesson plan for grades 5-12.

One Describes Both
Another 2nd-grade lesson plan on adjectives.

A Shower of Adjectives
A lesson plan for grades 2-4.

Adjective/Adverb "Taboo"
A high school lesson plan using a version of the popular game "Taboo."

Grammar Wheels
An activity designed to give students practice writing sentences containing particular grammatical elements.

The English Tutor
On-line writing help plus quizzes for grammar, idioms, verbs, etc.

Guide to Grammar and Writing
Perhaps the best grammar and writing resource on the Web, this interactive site covers virtually every aspect of writing conventions and composition.

Crash and Contract
A 2nd-grade lesson plan on contractions.

Using Poetry to Teach the Subordinate Clause
An interesting 9th-grade lesson plan.

Sentence Rummy
A lesson plan that makes a game out of writing complete sentences.

Kaboom!
A game designed to help students learn about types of sentences.

High Rollers
Another lesson plan on sentence types.

Using Commas and Semi-Colons Correctly
A high school lesson plan based on an activity I use with my college students.

Every Punctuation Mark Matters
A mini-lesson on semi-colons using MLK Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Pasta Punctuation
A lesson plan for grades 3-4.

Perfect Punctuation
An elementary lesson plan from Crayola.  

Punctuation Party
An elementary-grade lesson plan.

Inside or Outside
A mini-lesson on quotation marks.

Making a Sussessful Punctuation Lesson
An article from the National Writing Project.

Journalism/Media/Communication Lesson Plans
Language Arts: Journalism
About 15 lesson plans from The Educator's Reference Desk.

ASNE High School Journalism
A large number of lesson plans.

The Write Site
Journalism information and activities.

Inside Journalism: The Sports Page
A lesson plan from the Washington Post.

Sports Journalism Lesson Plan
 A high school lesson plan.

Magazine Ads and You, the Teenager
A mass media unit for grades 6-8.

Creating a Classroom Newspaper
Ten lesson plans for grades 4-6. See also Newspapers for Classrooms. Scroll down the page to find ideas for creating classroom newspapers and using newspapers in the classroom.

Creating a School-Based Newsletter
A unit for grades 9--12.

School Newspaper Unit
A unit  for intermediate to high school grades in which students research and write articles that will be published in an electronic newspaper.

Facing TV Violence
A lesson plan for grades 1-4.

Taking Charge of TV Violence
A lesson plan for grades 5-7.

Junk Mail Explosion
A high school mass media lesson plan.

Lesson Plans: Speech
From the First Amendment Center.

Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language: Examining the Pledge of Allegiance
A high school lesson plan.

Delivering a Persuasive Speech
A lesson plan for grades 7-12. See also Giving a Persuasive Speech.

Speech Unit
Several lesson ideas for grades 9-12.

Speech Rubric
See also Scoring Rubric for Speech.

Indispensable Listening Skills
A high school lesson plan.

Listening Comprehension Lesson Plans
Four lesson plans for a variety of grade levels.

Way Out Communication
Communication history, lesson plans, and forms of communication.

Cool Jobs - A Debate Lesson Plan
A lesson plan appropriate for pre-intermediate and intermediate ESL/EFL students. It would be a suitable activity for using with career vocabulary or with comparative adjectives and nouns.

The Three Rival Brothers Debate Lesson Plan
An elementary lesson plan involving a debate based on the story, "The Three Rival Brothers" from the book African Myths by Carter Godwin Woodson.

Drama/Storytelling/Theater Lesson Plans
Drama Curriculum Guide
Lesson plans and model units for grades 6-8 from Saskatchewan Education.

Magical Morphing Theatre Lesson Plan Exchange
An excellent source for lesson plans, warm-ups, and links to other theater sites.

Scribbling Women
A project of The Public Media Foundation, this wonderful site dramatizes stories by American women writers for national radio broadcast. It provides lesson plans and other classroom resources for teaching and learning about the radio plays written by these women authors. You have to register in order to access the lesson ideas.

Sociology Through Five Plays
A high school unit examining the sociological aspects of five plays: “A Raisin in the Sun,” “The Blood Knot,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Glass Menagerie,” and “The Oxcart.”

Drama for Those Who Don't Like Drama
A high school unit including plays such as Death of Salesman and The Land Beyond the River.

The Glass Managerie
A Teacher Cyberguide with lessons and activities using the Internet.

Set Design
A high school unit.

Story Starters
A lesson plan adaptable to a variety of grade levels.

Story Arts Online
Excellent story-telling resource. Click on the site below to access a long list of lesson plans from Story Arts.

Story Arts Lesson Plans and Activities
Activities, story telling across the curriculum, folktales themes, and links to other story telling sites.

Story Telling Lesson Plans
Ten lesson plans, mostly for the primary grades.