English Language Arts Teaching Resources
Explore English Language Arts (ELA) activities, worksheets, games and more teaching resources created by teachers for teachers just like you! You'll find ELA resources aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and ELAR resources that align to TEKS.
This collection of teacher-created resources for elementary and middle school teachers was designed with students and teachers in mind, including differentiated activities and worksheets ready to print and add to your lesson plan.
Each game, activity and more have undergone a careful review by a member of our ELA teaching team to ensure it's classroom — and student — ready.
What Is ELA in Education?
In most educational instances, ELA stands for English Language Arts, the subject that encompasses reading, writing, speaking, listening and language skills development in American schools.
ELA curriculum standards vary from state to state and even school district to school district, but they typically include instruction in the following areas:
1. Reading
In ELA classes, students learn to read, understand and interpret a variety of texts, including fiction and non-fiction. They develop reading comprehension skills such as identifying main ideas and making inferences while building their understanding of vocabulary.
2. Writing
As they progress through elementary and middle school, students learn the skills they need for effective written communication by learning to create types of texts — such as narratives and persuasive essays, research papers, and descriptive pieces.
They also learn to organize their ideas, use proper grammar and punctuation and refine their writing through revision and editing.
3. Speaking and Listening
While English instruction in the US was once heavily focused on grammar and reading comprehension, education experts saw a call to move toward a more student-centered means of teaching that paved the way to today's ELA curriculum ... and to the inclusion of oral communication as a focus in the curriculum.
Through speaking and listening activities, kids learn to express themselves clearly, listen actively, ask questions, participate in discussions and deliver presentations. They also learn to articulate their thoughts and understand different perspectives while developing their critical thinking abilities.
4. Language
Finally, students study grammar, vocabulary and syntax to enhance their understanding of English and how it should be used.
The curriculum includes proper sentence structure, word choice, spelling and punctuation rules. Language instruction also includes figurative language, idioms and understanding context.
ELA as English Language Acquisition
You may have noticed that we said ELA stands for English Language Arts in most educational instances. So, what else can it stand for?
In some schools, ELA is the abbreviation used for English Language Acquisition, and it's the name given to programs created to help English language learners as they tackle the language.
This form of ELA has marked similarities with the ELA described above, as it focuses on helping students build oral, reading and writing skills. However, there are distinct differences as one focuses on educating native speakers and the other on ELL students.
English vs. Language Arts — Why Is English Called Language Arts?
Some of your students may have parents who remember attending English classes as children but are unfamiliar with the concept of English language arts.
How do you explain the difference to them?
The fact is, some districts may well use the term English for what another district terms "English language arts." In other places, the two refer to very different concepts. In many areas, English is the name for courses taught on a high school level, while English language arts applies to elementary level work.
To explain why their children are enrolled in language arts coursework, it may be helpful to break down the various components of language arts — as we have done above — and their role in students' literacy growth.
What Is ELAR?
ELAR stands for English Language Arts and Reading. While much of the country's schools follow an ELA curriculum, ELAR is unique to Texas, where ELAR is an integrated subject that combines the study of language arts skills with the development of reading abilities.
This collection includes hundreds of ELAR activities, aligned directly with TEKS standards to ensure Texas teachers have everything they need for their lesson plans.
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Features of Insects Mini-Book
Learn about creepy crawly insects with a printable decodable book for first and second-grade readers.
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Literary Devices Posters
Explore the various literary devices used by authors with the set of colorful classroom posters.
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United States Patriotic Symbols - Holiday Worksheets
Build and write sentences about patriotic holidays in the United States with a group of six holiday sentence-building worksheets.
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Marine Animals Mini-Book
Learn about the animals under the ocean’s surface with a printable ocean theme mini book.
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Write With Your Senses: Daily Descriptive Writing Prompts
Inspire your students to write descriptively using our 20 daily descriptive writing prompts slide deck and graphic organizer.
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Switching Sounds - CVC Sound Substitution Interactive Activity
Practice switching sounds to spell new words with a fun fall pumpkin patch interactive.
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Short Vowel Worksheets (Middle Sounds Practice)
Identify medial or middle vowel sounds with this set of three worksheets.
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Adverbs Google Interactive
Provide your students with engaging, interactive activities to help them improve their usage and identification of adverbs.
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Dinosaurs - Vocabulary Cards and Writing Prompts for Second Grade
Inspire young paleontologists to read and write about dinosaurs with a dinosaur-themed writing center and word wall.
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Informative Writing – Fire Safety Worksheets
Discover engaging fire safety worksheets that help primary students practice their writing skills while learning essential fire prevention tips.
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Ocean Writing Center
Build stronger vocabulary and writing skills with an ocean-themed writing center.
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Fire Safety Bingo Game
Review Fire Prevention Week vocabulary with a fire safety Bingo game.
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Community Helpers: Firefighter – Comprehension Worksheet
Kick off Fire Prevention Week this October with a decodable firefighter reading passage and comprehension worksheet.
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Prose, Poetry, and Drama Teaching Presentation
Teach your students the difference between poetry, prose, and drama with an interactive Google Slides teaching presentation.
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Identifying Character Traits Interactive Activity
Get your students identifying character traits with this engaging digital quiz that helps students understand how language reveals personality in writing.
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4th Grade Writing Worksheets: Tornado Text-Based Writing
Enhance your students' comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills using 4th Grade writing worksheets and a high-interest reading passage about Tornadoes.
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Henry Ford Worksheet- RACES Writing Strategy
Provide students with Social Studies and Writing instruction using the RACES strategy for constructed response paragraphs.
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Benjamin Franklin - Constructed Response Worksheet
Learn facts about Benjamin Franklin with an informational reading and writing activity focusing on the constructed response format.
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Sojourner Truth Constructed Response Worksheet
Learn facts about Sojourner Truth with an informational reading passage and writing activity for third grade and up.
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Character Analysis Task Cards
Get your students to perform a character analysis for any fictional character using this set of 20 task cards.
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Alphabet Google Interactive – Letter E
Build letter recognition skills and phonemic awareness with a Letter E Google Slides Interactive Activity.
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Prepositional Phrases Practice Task Cards
Make prepositional phrases practice engaging with this set of 20 task cards, designed to help students identify and use prepositional phrases.
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Moving West- Constructed Response Writing Worksheet
Teach your students how to write a good constructed response and integrate grade level Social studies concepts with a Westward Expansion-based Constructed Response worksheet and graphic organizer.
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Mexican Cession- Constructed Response Passage Worksheet
Teach your students how to write a good constructed response and integrate grade level Social studies concepts with a Mexican Cession-based Constructed Response worksheet and graphic organizer.
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Verb Tenses Sorting Activity
Explore verb tenses through an engaging, hands‑on sorting activity that helps students confidently identify past, present and future tense sentences.
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End of Year Scoot and Glyph Activity
End the school year with an activity in which students get to share their summer plans, get moving, and create a work of art.
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Dressing Up A Sentence - Interactive or Printable Activity
Encourage students to add more descriptive language into their sentence writing with this activity.
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First Grade Informational Writing – How To Prompt Worksheets
Help your first graders learn how to write an informational piece using these handy writing prompt worksheets
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Reading and Writing Nonfiction Text: Earth Day Close Read Worksheets
Enhance your students' comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills with this nonfiction Earth Day passage and accompanying activities.
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Positional Words Worksheets – Where Is the Dinosaur?
Download this differentiated set of dinosaur-themed positional words worksheets, designed to support learners at different levels.
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Sentence Starter Task Cards
Practice writing simple sentences with these 16 sentence starter task cards.
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Figurative Language Telephone Game
Play this figurative language game with a group to practice recognizing and inventing metaphors, similes, and personification.
- English Language Arts Worksheets
- English Language Arts Games
- English Language Arts Templates
- English Language Arts Posters
- English Language Arts Flashcards
- English Language Arts Word Walls
- English Language Arts Projects
- English Language Arts for Pre-K
- English Language Arts for Kindergarten
- English Language Arts for 1st Grade
- English Language Arts for 2nd Grade
- English Language Arts for 3rd Grade
- English Language Arts for 4th Grade
- English Language Arts for 5th Grade
- English Language Arts for 6th Grade
- English Language Arts for 7th Grade