In this unit, students are encouraged to write letters to family and friends about a book they are reading. In the letters the will apply the skills learned in this unit, including how to structure a letter, punctuating titles of books and short stories, using possessives (in reference to the characters or ideas in the book), contractions and addressing an envelope. Don’t forget to request a response - getting a personal letter in the mail in this electronic age can be a thrill!

As students begin to read more sophisticated texts, understanding how authors use figurative language becomes critical. In this unit, students will revisit some of the figurative language they learned in fourth grade and also study some new ones too, including onomatopoeia, hyperbole, puns and oxymorons. Analyzing how figurative language is used in texts will help readers apply what they have learned.

The mysterious comma is arguably the trickiest form of punctuation, which is why assigned it it’s own unit in 5th grade. As students become more sophisticated writers they craft more complex sentences. They incorporate independent phrases and clauses, generate compound sentences, and utilize transition words to combine ideas - and the exercises in this unit will teach them how to use commas correctly in each scenario.

This literature lesson guides kids towards a deeper understanding of second grade texts through an exploration of character, setting, and plot. Kids will be challenged to answer the who, what, where, when and why of a story, in addition to determining the story's message. Two versions of the same story will be presented in order for second graders to see story elements in action.

Words work together in a sentence, each one performing a different task. By fifth grade, students have become more adept readers and writers and they are familiar with the basic parts of speech. The activities in this unit revisit some of the basics and also add depth to their existing understanding. Students will engage in such topics as superlative adjectives, correlative conjunctions and prepositional phrases, to name a few.

Letter writing is a very engaging and authentic way to learn formatting, punctuation and grammar. The activities in this unit should be learned in tandem with actual letter writing to aunts, uncles or other special far-away people. That way, students can learn and practice the letter writing skills and then apply them in their own letters. It would be especially rich to include their thoughts about books they are reading.

Being able to recognize the short I sound, as in dig, fin and kid, is one of the foundations of kindergarten phonics. This guided lesson teaches kids all about the short I, and offers lots of practice to encourage retention. You can get even more practice with this phonics skill by checking out the printables that work in partership with this lesson.

Third grade writers will be tasked with writing longer and more complicated sentences. This guided lesson in understanding, constructing and punctuating sentences can support kids as they learn to build bigger and better sentences in their writing. Grammar instruction and practical examples were written by our curriculum experts, complete with a list of recommended building sentence worksheets for third graders.

As students become more sophisticated writers, they begin to understand that words have different “jobs” in a sentence. These jobs can be thought of as parts of speech. In this word study unit, students will learn about the work that transition words, prepositions, verbs, adverbs and adjectives do. Students will also explore how certain kinds of words work together, like verbs and adverbs.

Verbs do a lot of the heavy lifting in good writing. Understanding the different kinds of verbs and how they are used enables students to write more compellingly. Students will explore how tenses work and how they must agree with and sometimes work together with other words in the sentence. Students will also learn about adverbs, the "sister" part of speech that enhance, or modify, verbs.

The story "My Shadow" provides the backdrop for this guided lesson on the letters I, M and J. Learning to read letter by letter allows children to focus not only on letter recognition, but on the sounds that the letters make in context. This technique provides the building blocks for reading fluency to come in kindergarten and first grade. Kids can continue their phonics practice with the accompanying worksheets.

A sentence stands alone to express a complete thought. Surprisingly, most 5th graders still need to revisit the concepts of complete sentences and fragments and how to punctuate the four different kinds of sentences. Combining shorter sentences into longer, more complex sentences is another skill that requires practice. Students get all of that needed review in this unit, in addition to learning how to identify and fix run-on sentences.

"The Lion and the Rat," a popular story for boys and girls, gives kids a chance to practice the letters A, T, Y and O in this guided lesson. Kids will practice both alphabet and phonics skills, as they work on identifying these letters in the story and understanding the sounds they represent. Targeted practice such as this helps with retention of these skills, as preschoolers begin their journey towards reading mastery.

"The Three Little Pigs," a popular story for boys and girls, gives kids a chance to practice the letters A, T, Y and O in this guided lesson. Kids will practice both alphabet and phonics skills, as they work on identifying these letters in the story and understanding the sounds they represent. Targeted practice such as this helps with retention of these skills, as preschoolers begin their journey towards reading mastery.

"The Ugly Duckling," a popular story for boys and girls, gives kids a chance to practice the letters A, T, Y and O in this guided lesson. Kids will practice both alphabet and phonics skills, as they work on identifying these letters in the story and understanding the sounds they represent. Targeted practice such as this helps with retention of these skills, as preschoolers begin their journey towards reading mastery.

The letters G, B and E are heavily featured in the classic tale of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". This guided lesson uses the story to teach the letters G, B and E in a focused and fun narrative format. Using a story kids most already know gives them a leg up on letter recognition and boosts reading confidence. Don't miss the accompanying printables that can extend learning opportunities.

"Anansi and the Turtle", a popular story for boys and girls, gives kids a chance to practice the letters A, T, Y and O in this guided lesson. Kids will practice both alphabet and phonics skills, as they work on identifying these letters in the story and understanding the sounds they represent. Targeted practice such as this helps with retention of these skills, as preschoolers begin their journey towards reading mastery.

Mastering pronouns enables students' writing to be more sophisticated. They are able to construct more complex sentences and express ideas more original ways. This short unit focuses on possessive, indefinite and reflexive pronouns, in addition to pronoun and antecedent agreement.

The story "How the Camel Got His Hump" will help students learn their letters. Kids will practice both alphabet and phonics skills, as they work on identifying these letters in the story and understanding the sounds they represent. Targeted practice such as this helps with retention of these skills, as preschoolers begin their journey towards reading mastery.

Measurement and data in first grade includes such important concepts as comparing the length and weight of two objects using a third object. This guided lesson, designed by curriculum experts, takes students on an exploration of these measurement and data concepts. Once through with the lesson, kids can gain extra practice with measurement and data with the accompanying worksheets.

Sight words are commonly founds words that are not easy to decode because they don't follow set phonics rules (and must be learned by sight). Examples of sight words commonly found in first grade texts are would, thank, rain, and should. This guided lesson introduces first grader readers to even more sight words to help boost their comprehension and fluency.

Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Bag, cat and cap are all examples of short A words that kindergarteners will be learning to read this year. You can support this learning with a guided exploration of the short A sound. Kids will be taught how to identify the short A within text, in addition to the corresponding sound. Check out our short A printables for more phonics practice.

Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Grammar is an essential part of the second grade language arts curriculum. This guided lesson teaches second graders how to properly use collective nouns, additonal nouns and verbs, and provides plenty of opportunities to practice these grammar rules in context. For more important practice with nouns and verbs, download and print the grammar worksheets that we suggest alongside this lesson.