English Language Arts Hands-On Activities

Antigone Pre-Reading Activity | Law, Loyalty & Conscience | Ethics Scenarios

Created by
Plotting Something

Before students meet Antigone and Creon, give them a chance to decide what they think about family loyalty, public order, conscience, community, and personal safety.Students work through eight modern ethical scenarios, make a choice before discussion, record what mattered most, and return to those s

9th - 12th Literature, Reading, Drama

Also included in: Literature Pre-Reading Simulations Bundle | Critical Thinking Activities

THE GREAT GATSBY PRE-READING ACTIVITY | SOCIAL CLASS, WEALTH & STATUS SIMULATION

Created by
Plotting Something

Before students meet Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, East Egg, or West Egg, give them a social system to navigate.In Who Gets In?, students take on one of six fictional social profiles. Each profile begins with a different mix of money, family name, connections, education, and reputation. Students may improve o

9th - 12th Literature, Novel Studies, Reading

Also included in: Literature Pre-Reading Simulations Bundle | Critical Thinking Activities

JULIUS CAESAR PRE-READING ACTIVITY | LEADERSHIP, POWER & AMBITION SIMULATION

Created by
Plotting Something

Before students meet Caesar, Brutus, or Cassius, place them inside a republic trying to decide how much power one successful leader should be allowed to hold.In WHO SHOULD HOLD POWER?, students take on one of six civic positions in the fictional Republic of Valeria. A respected general, Cassian Varo

9th - 12th Literature, Reading, Drama

Also included in: Literature Pre-Reading Simulations Bundle | Critical Thinking Activities

Lord of the Flies Reading Companion | Society Stability Tracker & Analysis

Created by
Plotting Something

Students can summarize what happens on the island. This companion asks them to do something more useful: track what happens to the boys' shared society as it weakens, fractures, and finally collapses.In CIVILIZATION UNDER PRESSURE, students return to the same five indicators at six points in Lord of

9th - 12th Literature, Novel Studies, Reading

KING LEAR PRE-READING ACTIVITY | POWER, SUCCESSION & LOYALTY SIMULATION

Created by
Plotting Something

Before students meet Lear, Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan, give them the problem first.WHO GETS THE KINGDOM? places students on the Royal Council of a fictional kingdom whose aging ruler wants to give away the work of governing while keeping the title, honor, household, influence, and treatment that c

9th - 12th Literature, Reading, Drama

Also included in: Literature Pre-Reading Simulations Bundle | Critical Thinking Activities

College Essay Unit | Personal Statement Writing Lessons & Rubric

Created by
Plotting Something

Teaching the college essay can be frustrating. Students often think they need a dramatic story, choose a prompt before they have anything meaningful to say, or end up writing the same version of “this experience taught me to never give up.”This unit takes a different approach.The College Essay: Find

11th - 12th Writing, Writing Essays

Literature Pre-Reading Simulations Bundle | Critical Thinking Activities

Created by
Plotting Something

Put students inside the problem before they meet it in the text.This six-resource bundle gives secondary ELA students a reason to think, argue, make decisions, and live with the consequences before plot knowledge tells them whom to support.Each activity is built around a different literary problem.

9th - 12th Literature, Reading, Drama

College Essay Brainstorming Mini-Unit | Find Your Story

Created by
Plotting Something

Teaching the college essay often gets stuck before students ever begin drafting. They insist nothing important has happened to them, assume they need a dramatic life event, or grab the first familiar topic they can think of and immediately turn it into a generic life lesson.Find Your College Essay S

11th - 12th Writing, Writing Essays

College Essay Revision Workshop | Personal Statement Editing

Created by
Plotting Something

Your students have written the college essay. Now comes the part that is often harder to teach: real revision. This three-lesson workshop is designed for students who already have a complete or nearly complete personal statement. Instead of focusing only on proofreading, students look closely at wha

11th - 12th Writing, Writing Essays

College Essay Drafting Workshop | Personal Statement Voice & Structure

Created by
Plotting Something

Your students have a college essay idea. Now they have to turn it into an essay. This five-lesson workshop is designed for the middle of the college essay process: after brainstorming, but before final revision. Students work on reflection, natural voice, prompt choice, structure, and beginnings and

11th - 12th Writing, Writing Essays

For Use with Strawberry Spring by Stephen King | AP Lit Halloween Case File

Created by
Plotting Something

Bring a little fog into your AP Literature classroom. This two-day case-file lesson for Stephen King's “Strawberry Spring” asks students to investigate the evidence, commit to a theory, and reconsider what they thought they knew after the ending.The Halloween atmosphere gives students a reason to le

10th - 12th Close Reading, Literature, Short Stories

Cursed Object Auction | Halloween ELA Activity | Gothic Creative Thinking Game

Created by
Plotting Something

Turn Halloween into an atmospheric estate auction where students bid on mysterious objects—then discover exactly what they brought home.The Cursed Object Auction is a one-class-period Halloween ELA experience for grades 9–12. Students work in teams with $600 in fictional money, inspect six estate-ca

9th - 12th Literature, Other (ELA)

Also included in: Halloween ELA Activities Bundle | 4 Gothic Games, Mysteries & Simulations

Would You Survive Gothic Literature? | Halloween ELA Activity | Gothic Game

Created by
Plotting Something

Turn Halloween into a Gothic survival game where every choice changes what students know - and how much the house has gotten inside their heads.Would You Survive Gothic Literature? is a one-class-period Halloween ELA activity for grades 9-12. Students work in teams as one fictional heir trapped insi

9th - 12th Literature, Other (ELA)

Also included in: Halloween ELA Activities Bundle | 4 Gothic Games, Mysteries & Simulations

The Last Broadcast | Halloween ELA Activity | Inference & Suspense Simulation

Created by
Plotting Something

Your students are monitoring a local emergency feed when the updates stop making sense.The Last Broadcast is a one-period Halloween ELA mystery simulation for grades 9–12. Students become the emergency relay team at a local radio station while an ordinary fog advisory turns into reports of motionles

9th - 12th Reading, Reading Strategies, Writing

Also included in: Halloween ELA Activities Bundle | 4 Gothic Games, Mysteries & Simulations

Partner Novel Study Project | Literature Circles, Journal, Discussions & Rubrics

Created by
Plotting Something

Give students a structured way to read one approved novel with a partner, talk about it across six checkpoints, and keep a record of their developing ideas.Developed and refined through more than a decade of classroom use, this six-week project is designed for high school literature classes and work

9th - 12th Literature, Reading, Writing

Literary Séance | Halloween ELA Activity | Character Inference & Writing Game

Created by
Plotting Something

Ten voices have arrived. None will tell your students its name.Literary Séance is a one-period Halloween ELA mystery that asks students to identify classic literary characters from a sequence of staged “manifestations” — then write one final message in character and challenge classmates to identify

9th - 12th Creative Writing, Literature

Also included in: Halloween ELA Activities Bundle | 4 Gothic Games, Mysteries & Simulations

The Haunted Palace by Edgar Allan Poe | Drawing & Extended Metaphor Activity

Created by
Plotting Something

Let students picture Poe's palace before they decide what it means. In this two-part lesson, students closely read and draw "The Haunted Palace," then return to the poem to trace its tonal shift, identify its human features, and discover how the palace becomes a picture of Roderick Usher's mind.FULL

8th - 12th Close Reading, Literature, Poetry

Halloween ELA Activities Bundle | 4 Gothic Games, Mysteries & Simulations

Created by
Plotting Something

Want Halloween lessons that feel seasonal without turning the week into filler? This bundle gives you four complete, one-period ELA experiences for grades 9–12. Each resource uses a different setup - an auction, a Gothic survival game, an emergency broadcast mystery, and a literary-character inferen

9th - 12th Literature, Writing

Gothic Literature FREE Activity | Poe Close Reading & Gothic Elements

Created by
Plotting Something

Need a quick way to introduce Gothic literature without turning it into an elements checklist? This free Gothic literature activity pairs a student-friendly field guide with a continuous public-domain excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Students identify details that cre

8th - 12th Close Reading, Literature, Reading

The Monkey's Paw Lesson | Gothic Suspense, Foreshadowing, Irony & Ambiguity

Created by
Plotting Something

KeKeep “The Monkey’s Paw” tense instead of turning it into a worksheet marathon. This two-day secondary ELA lesson uses a few deliberate reading stops, then asks students to go back and examine how W. W. Jacobs builds suspense through warning, irony, pacing, Gothic atmosphere, and ambiguity.“The Mon

8th - 12th Close Reading, Literature, Short Stories

ABC, Alphabet Tracing Worksheet, Animal Alphabet Tracing Worksheet.

Created by
Koco Kyo

If you are looking for some fun worksheets to help your students identify, write and recognize letter sounds look no further. This packet contains worksheets for each letter of the alphabet!

Preschool - 1st English Language Arts, Phonics & Phonological Awareness, Phonics & Phonemic Awareness

Place the letters in right order. Words puzzle educational game for children.

Created by
Koco Kyo

Worksheet for preschool kids. Words puzzle educational game for children. Place the letters in right order.

Preschool - Kindergarten English Language Arts, Spelling, Writing

Write The Missing Letter. Build your child's phonics skills

Created by
Koco Kyo

In this worksheet, your child will say the name of each picture, listening to the beginning sound, then write the missing letter that completes the word.Build your child's phonics skills with this reading and writing worksheet that challenges her to complete each word with the correct beginning lett

Preschool - 1st English Language Arts, Phonics & Phonological Awareness, Phonics & Phonemic Awareness

UFLI 1st Grade Digital Decodable Readers - Google Classroom - Digital Bookcase

Created by
Shifting to Science of Reading - JD's Rockin' Readers

Bring the Science of Reading to life with these Digital Decodable Readers, perfectly aligned to the UFLI 1st Grade Scope and Sequence. This set includes 67 digital books for targeted phonics practice on any device — assign through Google Classroom or project on SmartBoards.

1st Grade Phonics & Phonological Awareness, Phonics & Phonemic Awareness, Science of Reading

Also included in: 1st Grade Decodable Readers – Print and Digital - UFLI Scope and Sequence