Students explore the resources on the Scotland Yard website and compare the advice given to London's citizens to the advice available from the local police department.
Scotland Yard was established this day in 1829.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, was born in 1896.
After reading The Great Gatsby, students work in pairs, select a chapter from the novel, and rewrite it from the point of view of a different character.
William Carlos Williams was born in 1883.
Students write imitation poems, review grammatical structures, and use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press or Stapleless Book to publish their finished work.
Their Eyes Were Watching God was published in 1937.
Students brainstorm the kinds of stories they know and where these stories come from. Students return to these questions as they begin reading Hurston's novel.
Celebrate International Literacy Day!
Celebrate International Literacy Day by starting a literacy movement in your community.
In 1952, Paul Fleischman was born on this day.
Some of Fleishman's memories in his essay "My House of Voices" are shared with the class. Students then write a descriptive essay that gives a tour of the voices in their homes, school, etc.
Think Hink Pinks!
Kids will love Hink Pinks—word puzzles that use two-word clues to lead to a rhyming solution. Try one and get hooked yourself: Obese feline? Fat cat!
Can You Convince Me?
Children learn how to make a convincing argument—an important skill in school and in life.
Writing Fanfiction
Writing stories that imitate a certain genre or type of fiction allows children to explore a book they love by imagining new twists for their favorite characters and plot lines.
Explore and Write About Nature
In this activity, children look closely at living things in their natural environments and then make books about what they see.
Telling My Story: Make a Bio-Cube
Let children explore an interesting subject—themselves. An online tool will teach them to summarize and organize information as they write.
Write Theme Poems
Use shape and theme poems, or poems that look like the things they describe, as a fun way to introduce children to poetry.
Write a Recipe
Use recipes to help children practice reading and writing step-by-step instructions. Have them sample the results to see how they did.
Create Trading Cards for Favorite Characters
Use the online Trading Card Creator tool to have children make cards describing their favorite characters from the books on their reading list.
Blog About Courage Using Photos
Engage teens in this activity in which they use photographs to examine and write about courage on a blog.
MyTube: Make a Video Public Service Announcement
Invite teens to explore issues that are important to them, and then write a script and film a video public service announcement.
Explore Your Reading Self
In this activity teens are encouraged to explore their reading history as they remember books they liked reading as children and then revisit these old favorites.
Music in Movies: You Pick the Soundtrack
Explore how music can have an emotional impact on a scene in a movie, then help teens write and film a scene of their own.
Create a Career Blog
This activity invites children and teens to explore various careers and then write about what they might want to be when they grow up in a blog.