Language Arts & English Lesson Plans

Language arts and English lesson plans include reading, writing, grammar and handwriting. Depending on the school and state’s education laws, other subjects, such as typing, may also fall within the purview of English lesson plans for teachers. Lesson plans will differ depending on the grade level, children’s’ competence and teaching style. Generally, each subject and lesson plan starts at the beginning level of these topics and continues into more advanced.

• North Carolina Language Arts: The North Carolina Department of Education discusses the common components of language arts curriculum in the state’s public schools. Resources, including lesson plans, can also be found on this site.
• Language Arts Resources: Hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, provides resources including lesson plans for language arts teachers.
• National Endowment for the Humanities: The Federal Agency provides teachers with humanities resources, including lesson plans.
• Language Arts Lesson Plans: Lesson plans for all language arts subjects for grades K-5. The sources are provided by the Colorado Department of Education.
• Language Arts Lesson Plans: Provided by the Louisiana Department of Education, these lesson plans focus on language arts subjects.
• Hudson River Language Arts Lesson Plans: Provided by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, these lesson plans combine language arts teaching using the Hudson River.
• Tiered Curriculum Project: The Indiana Department of Education provides language arts lesson plans by grade level, interest and learning style.
• Language Arts and Social Studies Lesson Plans: These lesson plans are provided by the National Park Service. They teach language arts skills through social studies topics.
• Lesson Plans for the Language Arts: Provided by the United States Mint, these lesson plans teach language arts through the history and process of printing money.
• Lesson Plan Search: Teachers can select language arts lesson plans. The page is provided by the Tennessee Department of Education.

Reading and Reading Comprehension

Typically, students learn reading before being instructed and tested on reading comprehension. Teaching students to read begins with instruction in the letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds. Once memorized, these sounds are then combined with other letters to form words. Initially, language arts lesson plans for reading use single-syllable words before progressing to complex words.

Reading comprehension lesson plans for English teachers focus on ensuring that students not only can make the appropriate word sounds, but also understand what they are reading. Primarily, this is tested by verbally discussing recently read sentences or passages. More advanced students with more experience in reading comprehension may be required to answer questions about the reading materials.

• Letter Identification Worksheet: This lesson plan requires children to match a picture with the correct starting letter of its name. Students are required to then select the appropriate capital and lower case letter.
• ABCs: Provided by ProTeacher.com, contains phonics lessons plans.
• Reading Lesson Plans: Contains reading lesson plans divided by the letter upon which they focus.
• Student Reading: Regimes of Flight: Provided by NASA Quest, this reading lesson plan introduces students to reading paragraphs with scientific numbers.
• Reading Lesson Plans by Grade Level: Provides reading lesson plans divided by grade level.
• Read-Write-Think: Reading comprehension and writing lesson plans. The Read-Write-Think organization is a combined effort between the International Reading Association and the national Council of Teachers of English.
• Reading Resources and Activities: Provided by Scholastic publishing group, teachers can choose from several free reading lesson plans.
• Reading Comprehension: Here, teachers can find reading comprehension lesson plans and worksheets divided by the student’s level.
• A Morning of Weighing Babies: This lesson plan was created by the Peace Corps. During instruction students review and write about a specific character.
• NASA Quest Language Arts Lesson Plan: In this lesson plan students use different writing styles to explain a story.
• Teaching Reading Through Journals: This lesson plan uses the history of the Oregon Trail to teach reading. The lesson is provided by the Idaho State Historical Society.

Writing

Writing lesson plans focus on providing students with instruction on how to write essays and other educational passages. Teaching mainly focuses on the structure of sentences, paragraphs and eventually, properly formatting entire essays. Through writing lesson plans students learn how to introduce and explain a subject or make and defend an argument. English lesson plans for teachers often combine writing with grammar instruction, even though grammar may also be emphasized in other lesson plans.

• "What Would Happen If..." Lesson Plan: This lesson plan instructs students to analyze and write about a fictional occurrence.
• 10 Creative Writing Activities: Lists different creative writing lesson plans and their corresponding activities.
• Writing A-Z: Teachers can select from several writing plans geared towards the grade level they teach.
• Paragraph Structure Lesson Plan: This lesson plan, provided by the Colorado Department of Education, instructs students on how to structure paragraphs.
• Writing Lesson Plan: This lesson plan uses journals as a way to teach writing.
• The Alphabet of Coins: In this lesson plan created by the United States Mint, students write sentences following a given pattern.

English Grammar

Grammar lesson plans teach students about the different types of words and word tenses. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, compound words and other words are included in instruction. Additionally, lesson plans teach past, present, future and other word tenses. Students learn how to properly combine words and the components of a complete sentence. Often, this instruction is combined with teaching writing.

• Grammar for ESL Students: Lesson plans for teaching grammar to students for whom English is a second language.
• Grammar Review: My Favorite Author: In this lesson plan students focus on the grammar used in a book by their favorite author.
• ESL Lesson Plans: Resources for ESL teachers, including grammar lesson plans.
• Grammar: Parts of Speech: Adjectives: Lesson plans for teaching about adjectives. The plans are provided by the University of Missouri.
• Noun Lesson Plan: Teaches students the difference between common, compound and proper nouns.

Handwriting

Language Arts studies are commonly the time when students learn handwriting skills. Print, cursive and even block letters can be offered. Many times, lesson plans for English teachers separate handwriting instruction first by type, i.e. cursive or print, and then by letter. After students have mastered the type and letter, teachers then focus on combining letters. This last step is particularly important in cursive writing.

Language Arts lesson plans typically focus this pattern, meaning that they sequentially introduce more advanced handwriting skills. However, because of the significant increase in typing as a means of communication, it is more frequently being taught in these lesson plans. Whether typing is considered a part of a Language Arts curriculum, depends on the school. Regardless, the last step in any handwriting lesson plan is mastery; students should produce legible, neat words using traditional writing instruments.

• Handwriting Teaching Themes: Discusses the general aspects of creating a handwriting lesson plan and provides sample lesson plans.
• A Different Order of Teaching a Child to Write the Alphabet: This page provides a general outline for creating handwriting lesson plans. 
• Handwriting: Discusses the main components of a handwriting lesson plan and sample lesson plans. 
• Cursive Letter Handwriting: Provides cursive-letter English lesson plans for teachers.
• Cursive Writing: Recommended by the Fairfax County Board of Education in Virginia, this page contains lesson plans and for teaching cursive writing. 
• Beginning Handwriting: This lesson plan is geared towards students at the initial stages of learning how to write.
• Handwriting Worksheets: Enables teachers to create handwriting lesson plans suitable for their classrooms.
• Learn the Alphabet and Handwriting: Through these lesson plans, teachers can instruct students how to write upper and lower case letters.
• Numbers Worksheets: These lesson plans focus on teaching children how to write numbers.