What Are Linking Verbs? Linking verbs connect the subject of a sentence to additional information about that subject. Instead of showing action, they link the subject to a state of being or description. 🔹 Common Linking Verbs: Forms of to be: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been Seem, become, appear, feel, look, sound,…
You want students to move beyond “right answers” to reasoned answers—but finding ready-to-teach, age-appropriate critical thinking lessons (with rubrics, models, and minimal prep) can eat up your planning time. Maybe you’ve got a unit looming, admin asking for higher-order thinking evidence, or you just know your class needs practice separating facts from takes. What you…
Today’s lesson focuses on sharpening grammar skills with a coordinating conjunctions quiz and advancing presentation work. We’ll begin with a quick grammar quiz to test understanding of coordinating conjunctions—those small but mighty words that join ideas together. After the quiz, students will have time to work on their book presentations, preparing slides and refining their…
If your “technology PD” still feels like a whirlwind tour of apps with little impact on student learning, you’re not alone. Many schools add devices faster than they build teacher capacity, leaving staff with uneven skills, limited protected time, and no clear way to measure whether tech is truly improving instruction. The result: frustration for…
The simple past tense is one of the most useful and commonly used verb tenses in English. It allows us to talk about actions, events, or situations that began and ended in the past. Whether describing what you did yesterday, telling a story, or recalling an experience, the simple past helps make your communication clear…
Simple Present Tense Lesson The simple present tense is one of the most commonly used verb tenses in English—and one of the first that every writer and speaker should master. It’s used to describe habits, routines, facts, and universal truths—anything that happens regularly or is always true. Understanding how to form and use the simple…
1. Coordinating Conjunctions Lesson Before the book presentation instructions, start with a quick grammar warm-up! Students will complete the coordinating conjunctions lesson. This short activity keeps grammar skills sharp before diving into their culminating task. Get the full lesson here. 2. Introduction to the Book Presentation Sample Slideshow (in PDF)Student InstructionsMarking Template It’s finally time…
You don’t always get a full, tidy block of time to teach. Classes arrive jittery, tech hiccups eat minutes, a lesson wraps early, or the energy dips without warning. In those moments, you need something you can launch immediately—no printing, no scavenging for supplies, and no complicated directions—yet still purposeful enough to move learning forward….
Every teacher knows the struggle of those first few minutes of class. Students wander in like they’ve just emerged from hibernation—half-awake, half-talking, and entirely unsure what century they’re in. That’s where minds-on activities come in. A minds-on task is a short, engaging warm-up that activates students’ thinking, gets them focused, and connects their prior knowledge…
Today marks the end of our short story unit with the short story test. This assessment gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the elements of fiction we’ve explored—plot, character, conflict, setting, point of view, and theme. It’s a great way to see how well they can apply their learning to new stories…