Free Printable Writing Prompts, Poem Templates, Poetry Frames

April is National Poetry Month and NaPoWriMo (an online poetry slam project). Poetry is one of the most satisfying creative writing forms. But writing poems can be daunting for beginners. That's why teaching poetry writing, is such a joy. I love helping students get past fears and unlock that inner poet. Poetry templates can help break the creative ice. Here are free printable poem patterns, poetry frames and writing prompts. Poem patterns are adjustable by age to provide more or less structure. For young emergent writers, a frame poem may resemble a fill-in-the-blank activity. For seasoned readers-writers, the template is just an idea springboard from which to launch poems. Reluctant or special needs students gain writing confidence.

ETTC has 30+ free printable poetry frames and poem templates on all different subjects and themes. Many relate to nature (a common theme in poetry), all about me and emotion and feeling poems. Many of these free printable poem template cover grammar, word usage and other English language arts concepts.

TSL Books has loads of free printable writing prompts, including frame poem templates, poetry prompts and story starters. There are poem templates available for preschool to upper elementary school. Check Students Handouts for more challenging printable poetry writing prompts. Use for personal narrative writing prompts, too.

St. Jean's an assortment of free printable poem templates, poetry frames and graphic organizers: couplets, triplets, quatrain, tanka, sonnet, limerick, cinquain, haiku, persona and many other poetry templates to print.

TNEllen has eight free printable poem templates with different variations on the basic "I am' and "All about me" poem theme. Examples are provided. Creative writing teachers can simply block out the example words and print the poetry frame. Students may refer to the example or fill in their own words like a Mad-Lib fill-in-the-blank activity.

Cape.k12 has about 20 free printable poetry frames grouped by grade level. Each link focuses on different types of poetry writing frames and templates. Free printable haiku, cinquain, acrostic, 5 Ws, alliteration and diamante poetry template plus several other poem activities are available.

For more free printable lesson plans visit my linked blogs.

Free Printable Spelling Lessons, Phonics Rules Chart Using Color Coding

Next to math, reading is the most vital learning activity schools teach. But reading is more than just knowing words. Reading involves four components known as RWSL--reading, writing, speaking and listening. The four skills work together. So reading lesson plans must include phonics and whole language approaches. Writing lesson plans should cover grammar, spelling lessons, sequencing and organization. Here are free printable reading lessons with phonics, spelling lessons, grammar and writing worksheets. These reading lessons are hands-on and include interactive games, puzzles and cut and paste crafts.

Starfall is a school-approved educational game and activity site for students, parents, homeschoolers and teachers. Starfall has a huge assortment of free printable reading lessons and learning activities. The free printable activities are black and white copies of materials available from Starfall online store. The great thing about printing these activities in black and white is that they become coloring pages for students to enjoy.

Here are some of the free printable reading lessons, phonics activities, spelling lessons and grammar lessons and writing worksheets you can access. There are 26 free printable alphabet worksheets for kindergarten. Students can practice reading and writing their ABCs. There are also 26 alphabet puzzles and word sorting games. Kids love using games and puzzles as reading lessons, phonics activities, spelling lessons, grammar lessons and writing worksheets.

Free Printable Charlie Bone Book Series Activities and Games

Charlie Bone Book Series by Jenny Nimmo: Review and Free Activities In 2002, British author Jenny Nimmo gave us Midnight for Charlie Bone. The Charlie Bone books series has grown to six and is finding a delighted audience with children and teens. Here are links for free Charlie Bone activities and games. read more

Free Printable Coraline Coloring Pages and Activities

 Did you love Coraline the book and movie? Here are free printable Coraline coloring pages and Neil Gaiman book activities. This site is written in French, but you can easily print the Coraline coloring pages by double clicking your left mouse button on the image that you want. Scroll down past the dialog to find the twelve free printable coloring pages from the movie version. Print Coraline in the other house, the Beldam or Other Mother, Other Father, Cat, Wydie, Mr. Bobinski plus Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. Use coloring pages as follow up book activities. Here are lesson plans and more Coraline book activities.

Kidsuki has free printable Coraline coloring pages from the movie and Neil Gaiman book activities. Print movie posters and black and white images to color. Here are a few more free printable Coraline coloring pages Here are Coraline book activities and lesson plans. You also seriously need to check out the cool paranormal stuff on the Coraline website. Then visit the Neil Gaimanwebsite to keep up with this uber talented, scary-visionary guy's activities. 

Free Printable Chinese New Year Lesson Plans, Crafts

Chinese New Year falls at a different time each year on the Western calendar. In the 12-year Chinese zodiac, a different spirit animal is honored as are people born under that animal sign (for example, in 2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956 and on back through the multiples of 12). 

To celebrate, greet each other with the traditional Chinese New Year blessing "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" Chinese New Year is part of the Spring Festival and ends with the Lantern Festival. Looking for free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities? Here are CNY crafts, coloring pages, greeting cards, Spring Festival lesson plans, Lantern Festival crafts and more. Print Chinese zodiac crafts, animal crafts, party decorations, CNY games and puzzles and lots more.

The best place to start is Enchanted Learning for free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities, crafts and more. Enchanted Learning is super-educational with free printable maps, social studies lesson plans, worksheets, mini-booklets to color cut and paste, coloring pages, history activities, animals of the Chinese zodiac crafts, to name a few.

How about a free printable coloring book of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac along with their Chinese symbol. Animals that represent Chinese New Year are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Ox, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (in that order). 2017 will by Year of the Rooster, 2018 will be Year of the Dog (and so on).To find out which animal you were born under, count backwards or forwards from the current year or add or subtract multiples of 12. For example, if you were born in 1964, the closest Year of the Monkey is 1968, so count backwards four years to 1964, Year of the Dragon.

DL-TK has free printable Chinese New Year of the Monkey activities, monkey crafts, games and CNY lesson plans. Then scamper like a monkey over to Activity Village for a banana tree full of printable Chinese New Year crafts, games, puzzles, Chinese lunar calendars, CNY greeting cards, jigsaw, stories and more. Click to find animal specific activity pages. Here's the Year of the Monkey page with monkey-themed prinatables. And here's the page with free printable Spring Festival and Lantern Festival crafts. Plus, help kids get organized with free printable 2016 animal calendars. Many of the animals of the Chinese zodiac are featured--mouse (rat), dog, sheep, chick (rooster), rabbit and a mischievious monkey, perfect for Year of the Monkey.

And no Chinese New Year is complete with free printable animals masks to monkey around with! The ones from Animal Jr. are totally adorbs!
Here are some nifty masks from ancient China to print for CNY. Printables 4 Kids has more cuteChinese New Year coloring pages, zodiac activities, animal masks, monkey crafts and masks and other goodies. For educational Chinese New Year printables, visit Apples 4 the Teacher. There are free printable Chinese New Year coloring pages, including animals of the Chinese zodiac, maps of China and a Chinese flag to color.
Learn all about the culture and history of China, the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival and other Chinese traditions with free printable games, puzzles, worksheets and word searches.

Teachers, parents, homeschoolers, religious educators, Sunday school teachers bookmark First-School and visit frequently. For Chinese New Year, First-School has free printable Lantern Festival crafts, Spring Festival activities, Chinese zodiac coloring pages, math games from China, Chinese history and literature lessons and so much more. Activities are geared from preschool to third grade.

Free Printable Where the Wild Things Are Lessons, Activities and Crafts

March is National Reading Month and it's good time to pay tribute to beloved children's authors. In the category of picture books authors/illustrators, the late Maurice Sendak reigns on high. His most famous book is "Where the Wild Things Are" which Spike Jonze made into a movie in 2009, using giant animatronic wild things from the late Jim Henson's creature shop. It was a match made in heaven and Where the Wild Things was "wildly" popular. Here are free printable Where the Wild Things Are coloring, games, activities, lesson plans and book activities.

Start with the free printable Where the Wild Things Are coloring pages, because that's what children want most. This Grand Rapids Holidays Examiner loved coloring, Maurice Sendak, Max and Where the Wild Things Are as a child and her go-to is Coloring Book Info, which has 20 coloring pages from the Where the Wild Things Are book. Next is Making Learning Fun which has not only free printableWhere the Wild Things Are coloring pages, but also Maurice Sendak book crafts and puzzles. A-Z Coloring has a super nice set of wild things coloring pages too. Here are a few more printable coloring pages.

Here are free printable Where the Wild Things Are lessons plans, worksheets, word games and crossword puzzles. Maurice Sendak uses such delicious words like gnashed, rumpus and terrible teeth. There are free printable book activities and lesson plans based on the Maurice Sendak book here. Here are more Where the Wild Things Are printables.

The Warner Brothers Where the Wild Things Are movie website Downloads page has wallpapers and movie posters that you can print and color. The pictures are shown in color. To print as a coloring page, choose one of the size options and left click it. When the poster or wallpaper opens in a new window, right click on the image. Choose "print image" and then set your printer preferences to print in Grayscale. This will print the image in black and white which you can then color. Wild, huh? There are images of Carol, Alexander, Judith, Ira, The bull, Douglas, KW and of course, Max Records himself. There are pictures of Max's boat also. You could print a complete 22 page coloring book from Where the Wild Things are movie. For more book activities visit this authors blogs Free Printable Lesson Plans and Kidz Literature.

Free Printable Shakespeare Reader's Guide

Beware the Ides of March! And students, beware of teachers quoting Shakespeare, or Julius Caesar in March! Teachers adore Shakespeare and the Ides of March (March 15) is their feast day! But students--meh, not so much. Are you struggling with Shakespeare? Do you despise your literature teacher for making you read Middle English? Do you fail to see the appeal of the Bard of Avon? That is perfectly understandable, but don't despair. Here are tips to vanquish that Shakespearean tragedy, parse his sonnets and laugh in the face of the Bard's comedy. Teachers and homeschool parents, use these lesson plans to make Shakespeare more approachable for students.

Use your textbook lexicon to translate Middle English. A lexicon is a reference guide like a dictionary that defines and explains word usage from different dialects, regions or periods. Many publishers include a lexicon in the form of references at the bottom of each page. Penguin and Dover Thrift classics of Shakespearean works also include lexicons. Here are free printable Shakespeare lesson plans with lexicons, teachers.

Use a specifically- Shakespeare lexicon. A lexicon will make mincemeat of troublesome Middle English and make you battle-ready for the Ides of March inspired homework assignments! Here are more free printable Shakespeare lesson plans to put Shakespearean dialog in user-friendly terms.

Use Internet study guides. Many sites offer free study guides on Shakespeare's books and sonnets. They will include a character analysis, character web, plot timeline, major themes and chapter or verse breakdown, as well as an explanation of unfamiliar terms. Cliffnotes, Sparknotes, Bookrags, E-Notes and Pink Monkey provide great literary help with Middle English, Here are more free printable Shakespeare resources.

Read any Shakespeare story in the narrative or children's version. Julius Caesar should beware the Ides of March and teachers should beware of reading the play versions of Shakespearean works until students have a feel for the actual story without all the confusing theatrical notes and dialogue. Charles and Mary Lamb and Evelyn Nesbit have written beautiful story versions of Shakespeare's that are very readable for all ages.

When you get to the play, read the dialogue aloud. Shakespeare is first and foremost a playwright. His works were written for actors in a theater. His sonnets were written to be read aloud. Read plays as if you're a troupe of theatre actors. Put a little enthusiasm into it! Add the correct emotion (which the play will tell you in parenthesis). Get into character. Reading aloud as Shakespeare's plays were meant to be read, will help you to understand the flow and meaning of the dialogue.

Visualize the similes and metaphors

. Shakespeare was free with metaphor, so to understand his phraseology is to connect with his metaphorical references (which may be very different in Medieval/Renaissance England than in 2016!)

Free Printable Nobel Prize Lesson Plans

Subbing in an economics classroom, I was left without lesson plans. I checked online for emergency and discovered that Nobel Foundation has free printable high school lessons and games on economics, as well as educational activities in all the Nobel Prize categories--medicine, science, physics, literature and humanitarian efforts. Here are free printable lesson plans based on the work of Nobel Prize winners.

The Nobel Prize crosses every geographic, political, social and racial boundary in the world. Winners of the prize called 'Laureates', hail from all over the globe. Past winners include Pablo Neruda, Pearl Buck, Desmond Tutu, Marconi, Enrico Fermi, William Golding, John Steinbeck, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Barack Obama, Elie Weisel, Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and many others.

Free Printable American Literature Activities and Lessons

This article provides links and descriptions of  online sites offering free literature activities. There are free printable reading games and lesson plans. Use for author study, genre study, Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop. Explore the novel, dramatic play, short story, essay, narrative, speech, expository writing and poetry. Genres include fantasy, mystery, adventure, horror, allegory, fable, legend and epic. Lessons may be used by American literature teachers and home school parents. Resources will be helpful for special needs students, too.

Happychild comes to us from the UK and like so many of the British sites has a very multi-cultural flavor. I am an admitted 'brit-o-phile' and tend to regard more highly anything from GB.
Gradebook is a .org site and that to me is a symbol of quality, professionalism and generosity. Decades of quality teaching goes into the creation of these lessons, activities, games and learning tools. You'll find a plethora of lesson plans and not exclusively just American literature.

Free Printable Reading Games, Online Spelling and Reading Games

Parents, does it worry you how much your kids play phone or online games? Do you worry that their reading skills will stagnate if they play too many online games? Well, here's a workaround--turn them on to online word games for kids and Internet reading games. Here are free online games for kids, including word games, reading games and spelling games. These reading games can be played on computers or cellphones. Teachers, use these online games for kids to boost not only reading skills, but spelling, grammar, syntax, vocabulary and writing skills. Playing online word games helps visual tracking, perceptual acuity and typing skills, too.

No matter how educational free online games for kids are, parents should still limit time spent gaming. 15-20 minutes of play between tasks is fine. Two hours sitting at the computer or playing on their phones is too much. Gaming should also be done in proportion to outside time and physical activity. For every hour spent on the computer, at play or work, there should be an equal amount of active time. So, here are the best educational free online games for kids to improve reading skills.

ABCya offers Super Word Toss, one of several free online games for kids to teach reading skills. These word games help children work with synonyms and antonyms to learn word meanings. Check out the other word games, reading games and spelling games on this site.

Arcademics has loads of educational free online games for kids. Visit the homepage to find reading games, spelling games, word games, math games and more.

Gamequarium is another educational site with thousands of free online games, There are over 1,500 reading games and nearly 1,000 ELA (English Language Arts) games, including reading games, word games, vocabulary games and spelling games.

From Addicting Games (another free online games site) comes Whizz Words and Whizz Words Deluxe. Kids will learn reading skills playing these crazy fun word games. These spelling games teach kids lightning-fast reflexes, quick thinking and super spelling skills. Whizz Words games combine the concepts of Boggle and Yahtzee. Players have limited time make words from a set of letters but they can only earn points in one category-- 3-letter, 4-letter, 5-letter and so on. The trick with these spelling games is to figure out which letter combinations offer the most of any given word length and then make only words of that length.

Free Printable Kevin Henkes Lesson Plans

Kevin Henkes has given the world of children's literature some wonderfully endearing stories. Most Kevin Henkes kids' books feature anthropomorphic mice facing typical issues that children face. Beloved Kevin Henkes characters include Sheila Rae the Brave, Chrysanthemum, Julius, Owen, Lilly, Chester, Wemberly and Wendell. His kids' book "Kitten's First Full Moon," won the coveted and prestigious Caldecott book medal for best illustrations in children's literature.

If you like this lovable children's literature author, you will want to visit his website and explore thefree printable Kevin Henkes book activities he's made based on some of his beloved characters. The website has free printable word games, puzzles and coloring pages. These are useful for summer enrichment activities, day care fun, children's literature lesson plans and homeschooling activities. Or parents might want to print them just for fun at home.

Kevin Henkes' publisher, Harper Collins has put some of the free printable activities on their website. You might like the free printable activity book for "Lilly's Big Day" Lilly eagerly awaits the best day of her life, being a flower girl in a wedding. She encounters the usual fears and drama. This activity book would be great follow-up or preparation for any event that your child is anticipating. Bibliotherapy, or problem-solving using literature is especially therapeutic for young or special needs children who struggle to find their own voice. Seeing a funny little mouse experience similar events and feelings is tremendously reassuring.

Lilly is the same mouse who so charmed with her purple plastic purse in the book of the same name. Scroll down the page here for all the Lilly and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse printables Teaching Heart has free printable "Wemberly Worried" and "Chrysanthemum" activities. There are lesson plans from the Kevin Henkes book "Owen" too. Read these books your kids, parents, and you'll see why everyone loves them so.

Free Printable File Folder Games

March is National Reading Month. Here's a great lesson plan to teach reading with file folder games. Students can learn just about any subject using file folder games to reinforce content and practice skills. Here are free printable file folders games online. Besides reading, teach math, reading, spelling, grammar, phonics, science, social studies and more. Print games for all ages and ability levels: preschool, kindergarten, elementary, special needs, middle school. Use for homeschool, too.

File Folder Fun has over 100 free printable file folder games in content areas across the curriculum. Search by age, grade level, theme and subject. File folder themes include animals, foods, flowers, weather, ocean life, circus. Themes teach math, reading, science, social studies, phonics, spelling, math, ELA (English Language Arts) history, music and other preschool and elementary school subjects. Click the games you want. The click "download." And voila, a screen appears with game background, pieces, cards, all materials you need, free.

File Folder Farm has gobs of free printable file folder games for math, English, reading, writing, spelling, science, social studies and more. Games can be used with varied ages. Click the game you want. The print, cut out and and assemble. Or better still, print in black and white. Have students color, cut and paste and assemble. You get two activities--craft, lesson plan and game--all in one!

Cindy's Autistic Support has free printable math file folder games. Use to teach counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division file folder games. You can make individual games for each math fact (times table) family.

To make file folder games:

Print game board and glue to inside of file folder. Write instructions on outside. Laminate or cover with contact paper. Make a spinner by drawing a circle. Divide like a pie. Label segments with game advancement options. Place paperclip on paper fastener (brad). Poke fastener through center of circle. Spin paper clip.

Store game cards or pieces in zippered plastic bag or envelope stapled to folder. File folder games store upright in filing cabinet or drawer. Get extra craft mileage from free printable file folder games by assigning students make them.

Free Printable ESL Lessons, Spanish Language Lesson Plans

Spanish is quickly becoming America's second language after English. Many businesses and stores are taking the initiative to print information in Spanish as well as English and even in other foreign language texts. Many jobs now require that employees be bilingual in Spanish and English. And of course, there's a large Hispanic and Latino population who speaks English as a second language. I'm a former ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher. One of the best conversational language activities was to role-play dialog games. I or the students would begin in our native language and the other would respond in that language, and back and forth. Needless to say I acquired a fair amount of Espanol along the way.

If you are a teacher with Spanish speaking children or adults, or if you teach Spanish, another foreign language, or English as a Second Language, here are free printable Spanish-English translation activities. True to my special education training, these materials aren't simple workbook pages. You can find those in any textbook series. These are free printable Spanish lessons with attitude! Print ESL worksheets, games, flashcards, matching games, puzzles, crossword, word games, projects--in short interactive activities! Here's a neat concept website in English as a Second Language printables--a user-supported site where teachers have to upload and share their ESL worksheets in order to download and print others.

Home Education Resources is a great place for free printable Spanish lessons and ESL worksheets. H.E.R. has thirty four pages of free printable Spanish lessons and English as a Second Language activities including basic vocabulary, verb conjugations, conversation and dialog, translation, questions and speaking games. Vivid illustrations and easy to read words and phrases will help English to Spanish students make the transition smoothly.

Spanish Sponge has dozens of free printable Spanish to English flashcards and flashcards for English to Spanish lessons. Print foreign language flashcards for vocabulary, verbs, conversation and other language and translation activities. Use the flashcards to play games involving the entire class. This helps to reinforce pronunciation, diction, dialog and fluency in a learning a foreign language. ABC Teach is a pay site for educators, but has many free printable ESL worksheets and foreign language lessons to sample. They print in full page pdf printables and have many Spanish lessons geared toward younger students and those who are new the Spanish or English language. This links you directly to the languages pages so that you can choose whether to use the English as a Second Language materials or the Spanish activities for speakers of English. Next hit this site for free printable Spanish worksheets and visit EL Civics for ESL worksheets, workbooks and learning games to print free.

Bienvenidos y Adios!

Free Printable Leveled Readers, Phonics Workbooks

Your new reader has just mastered her phonics lessons; she's reading with some fluency. But summer vacation is here. She won't have access to classroom readers. Do you buy a set of classroom readers to keep up her momentum? You can but you don't need to; there are free printable reading books, phonics books, spelling, vocabulary and grade leveled readers right here on the Internet. Or maybe you need some summer enrichment writing activities for your reluctant reader. He's not too crazy about reading to start with, and you are concerned about how the long summer will affect his phonics and reading skills. Certainly you need some reading and writing activities that your children will enjoy. You will also want free printable reading books, phonics books, spelling and writing activities that are easy to manage.

The sole reason many people hire a tutor for their children is that they feel inadequately prepared to teach them. It's important that if you elect to tutor your child at home, you feel confident and prepared. As a teacher, parent and former homeschooler myself, I can assure you that you can tutor your children at home. With the multitude of free printable reading books, spelling, writing activities and phonics lessons available, all you really need to do is assemble some materials for your child, spend a few moments each day on the writing activities, monitor his progress, and most importantly, relax and have fun.

This link offers over 30 free printable reading books and leveled readers to cut, color and assemble. Making booklets will be fun for you and your child to enjoy together. Print these booklets free of charge by simply submitting a valid email address. There are no fees. Naturally, Reading A-Z hopes that you may purchase more of their fine materials. That is your choice. Meanwhile you may enjoy the free booklets. These books are written according to grade level. There are stories that introduce science, social studies and other school content, while practicing phonics, syllables and spelling patterns. Enchanted Learning has more free printable reading books and leveled readersand booklets. DL-TK has many free printable reading books and leveled readers for preschool, emergent reader and early readers.

Free Printable Shel Silverstein Printable Activities

Shel Silverstein is a beloved poet, children's author, musician and artist. He's given the world of children's literature dozens of books, poems and funny illustrations to enjoy. Shel passed away in 1999, but children's literature will never forget his charming, silly poems and books. A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Runny Babbit, The Giving Tree, Don't Bump the Glump, Lafdacio, the Lion Who Shot Back, A Giraffe and a Half, The Missing Piece, Falling Up are just a few of his delightful works of wit and whimsy. InSilverstein's poems, animals talk, grown-ups are silly and children rule the world from cardboard pirate ships. If you would like to play in his wonderful world, here are free printable Shel Silverstein activities, coloring pages and lesson plans.

There are free printable Shel Silverstein lesson plans, games and poetry writing prompts and activities for National Poetry Month in April. There are online Shel Silverstein games you can play.They each feature the funny characters from favorite Shel Silverstein poems. He's made free printable poetry writing prompts and activities booklets as well. These poetry writing prompts are perfect for classroom lesson plans, homeschool and library reading clubs But you don't need to be a teacher, librarian or even an adult to enjoy free printable lesson plans. His website is devoted to his favorite people: kids!

For young artists, cartoonists and poets, Silverstein designed a free printable poetry writing prompts and activities for children to illustrate. Kids will love creating their own poetry prompts and activities book about "Kate's Scissors" and all the funny things Kate cuts with her scissors. There's another poetry writing prompts activities booklet called "Eight Balloons" for children to make. There are Shel Silverstein themed crafts too. Here are free printable Giving Tree lesson plans. This Sweet Life is a blog with a free printable Shel Silverstein activities packet. Print crossword puzzles, word search, coloring pages and more. Teacher Vision has free printable Shel Silverstein activities, too.

Free Printable City of Ember Lesson Activities

The "City of Ember" book series, by Jeanne DuPrau, (2003) is a science-fiction post-apocalyptic fantasy series loved by students and educators alike. Many elementary, intermediate and middle schools are incorporating City of Ember books into their classroom curriculum. With the release of a movie version students can read and study the books and follow up with the film version for comparison. Here are free printable City of Ember book activities, movie study guides and lesson plans.

The series chronologically is City of Ember, People of Sparks, Prophet of Yonwood and Diamond of Darkhold. Not all have been made into film so there are movie study guides only for City of Ember. But there are book activities for all books. Here are free printable lesson plans for teaching the City of Ember book series. Lesson Planet is a pay site with some free book activities to print. Here arefree printable City of Ember lesson plans. Scholastic also charges for many of their printables. But here is a City of Ember book discussion guide to print free. Here are more free printable City of Ember lesson plans for teachers of middle school and homeschool parents. The movie study guides are really helpful for preparing book activities.

This free printable lesson plans kit includes story maps, worksheets, book activities, character webs, comprehension questions, movie study guides, vocabulary, grammar, symbolism, cause and effect, analysis and application questions, synthesis and evaluation questions, book activities, games, reading response rubrics, charts, quizzes and more. The City of Ember books are a dystopian series that tells of a people that has suffered depletion. They've gone underground, to re-emerge at a given time in the future. City of Ember is Orwellian science fiction, reminiscent of 1984, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Use book activities and movie study guides for units on science fiction.

Free Printable WordWorld Lesson Plans

PBS Kids offers superb, educational television show that kids love! For early childhood learners, WordWorld is an emergent reading cartoon for preschool children ages toddler to six. Every animal, character and object in WordWorld is made of that word. Children learn simple preschool words like dog, barn, bridge, house, fence, sun, tree and flower on WordWorld.

Parents of preschool children, if you haven't explored the cartoon WordWorld or if you are already familiar with the reading activities on this show, here are some free printable WordWorld lesson plans to follow up with WordWorld episodes. There are free printable preschool WordWorld coloring pages featuring the characters from WordWorld: duck, pig, frog, dog, bear and sheep. Visit PBS Kids for the free printable WordWorld activities for early childhood on the homepage. You will find an interactive map of WordWorld with lots of reading activities and word picture fun. There are free online WordWorld games as well as build a word adventures. Fill your word box with WordWorld words that you find on the website.

WordWorld is an excellent website for preschool and early childhood lesson plans. Use these reading activities in early childhood special education, elementary school, day care, homeschool and reading activities for tutoring. Since WordWorld comes from PBS, you know it's a school-approved website that's as safe, fun and educational. For more free safe early childhood online gaming, visit Free Safe Kids Games and for more printables and reading activities visit Free Printable Lesson Plans.

Free Printable Spiderwick Chronicles Lesson Plans

March is National Reading Month, time to focus on the best in children's literature. Today's featured genre is woodland folklore fantasy books. Does your spine tingle at the mention of sprites, pixies, brownies, ogres, hobgoblins, faeries and gryphons? Then "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is just the book series/movie for you! The first book Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide just celebrated its 10th birthday. Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi wrote and illustrated the The Spiderwick Chronicles. There are five more Spiderwick Chronicles stories: The Seeing Stone, Lucinda's Secret, The Ironwood Tree and The Wrath of Mulgarath. Spiderwick is Lord of the Rings for elementary school. There are three more books from Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles called The Nixie's Song, A Giant Problem and The Wyrm King.

If you enjoy The Spiderwick Chronicles, book and/or movie, or fantasy books in general, how about some free printable Spiderwick coloring pages? Here are Spiderwick coloring pages depicting Hogsqueal, Mulgarath, Thimbletack, Jared, Simon, Mallory, Spiderwick Estate, sylphs, faeiries, ogres, hobgoblins and a griffin. DL-TK has free printable fantasy books coloring pages. Use these for folklore lesson plans.

Spiderwick is the homepage of the woodland fantasy books series is loaded with fun stuff! Click the Downloads link for printable hobgoblin mask, crafts, coloring pages, Spiderwick gameboard, trading cards, puzzles, game cards and more. You can collect creature trading cards but you have to watch for them; they aren't easy to spot. Look for brownies, boggarts, unicorns, dwarves, elves, pixies, sprites, the Phooka, Stray Sod and other creatures of the woodland night. Teachers, you can print off free writing strands, vocabulary words, folklore lesson plans, journal exercises, and other free folklore and fantasy books lesson plans. The sound effects and graphics on this sites are enchanting. Hogsqueal that rascally hobgoblin takes you on a tour of the site.

Tony DiTerlizzi has created a pdf booklet of free printable Spiderwick activities. First are several pages of faerie coloring pages and paper doll clothes straight from the beautiful art of Tony DiTerlizzi. There is also a whimsical recipe for yummy faerie porridge, a riddle making game and a creative writing page. Each activity has pieces of Tony DiTerlizzi's artwork in black and white decorating the pages. These make perfect coloring pages also! Here are free printable Spiderwick Chronicles lesson plans from ESL Printables. Here are more Spiderwick activities and activities on fantasy books.

Free Printable American Girl History Lessons, Activities

American Girl doll characters each represent a different part of the country, time period and ethnic background. Each girl has her own series of books. American Girl has created these free printable craft activities for the BeForever historical dolls American Girl characters Addy, Caroline, Josefina, Julie, Kaya, Kit, Maryellen, Melody, Rebecca and Samantha. Each of the American Gril dolls has six corresponding books covering seasons, birthdays and holidays. They feature in historical mysteries, too. Here are free printable American Girl readers guides for parents and teachers. There was a play kit, party kit, craft activities book and recipe book for each doll, too. Here are free printable American Girl teachers guides for with craft activities and lesson plans on historical dolls. Here's a collection of all the free printable American Girl activities. Check out the super cute craft activities, games, puzzles, coloring pages and part supplies. Tip Junkie offers free printable American Girl games and free printable paper dolls and doll clothes. Some American Girl dolls are included.

The original five historical dolls from American Girl were Felicity (1774, colonial), Kirsten (1854, Minnesota territory settler), Addy (African-American, Civil War), Samantha (1904, city dweller) and Molly (1944, World War II). Of those, Felicity, Kirsten and Molly have been retired. The Pleasant Company added Josefina (1824, New Mexico), Kaya (1764 Native American Nez Perce), Julie (1970s, San Francisco), Kit (Great Depression), Rebecca (1914, Jewish), Marie-Grace and Cecilie (black and white friends in 1853 New Orleans), MaryEllen (1950s) and Melody (African American, 1964 during Civil Right era). Printables 4 Kids offers free printable craft activities that have been archived. Some are based on American Girl pets Coconut and Licorice and the AG Bitty Babies dolls. Here areAmerican Girl online games and activities. Here are printable activities from Doll Diaries. And here are lesson plans on diversity from Marie-Grace and Cecilie.