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.

Learning common constructions for words is one way that third graders can get traction on their spelling and reading comprehension skills. This guided lesson in word structure introduces kids to the idea that most words are made up of smaller words, and provides opportunities to apply this learning with practical examples. For more printable practice with word structure, check out our recommended worksheets.

Learning to add single-digit numbers is a highlight of the kindergarten math curriculum. You can support addition fluency with this guided lesson that takes kindergarteners through an understanding of values. Kids will learn with focused instruction and practice that by putting numbers together, they get a new number. When the lesson is over, kids can continue practicing addition with our accompanying worksheets.

Letter writing is an engaging and important writing format for third graders to master. You can support the development of letter writing expertise with this lesson that provides guidance on the structure and anatomy of a letter. Written by curriculum experts, this lesson will teach kids the various features that make a letter easier to read, and will also offer plenty of opportunities to practice.

Verbs and adverbs are the action heros of the language arts world. Third graders will be learning how to use these parts of speech this year, and you can support them with this guided lesson. Written by curriculum experts, this lesson provides kids with grammar instruction and plenty of examples of verbs and adverbs. For more printable practice with verbs and adverbs, check out the accompanying worksheets.

When students learn the patterns and structures of words they become word wizards! They are able to more fluently convert a word from one part of speech to another, adjust the meaning, or translate a word from singular to plural (or vice versa). In this set of activities students will build on their knowledge of word structure and practice adding prefixes and suffixes, changing tenses and using contractions.

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.

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.