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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Contractions Dominoes
Build vocabulary and spelling skills and have fun with contraction word games.
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Onset and Rime Clip Cards - Reading Center
Form words by blending onsets and rimes using an Onset-Rime Clip Card Center.
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Descriptive Adjectives SCOOT! Game
Build vocabulary and grammar skills with a game of Adjective SCOOT!
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Readers' Theater - Itsy Bitsy Spider Read and Retell Activity
Engage young readers in texts with a dramatic reading of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and accompanying story retelling activity.
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Soccer vs. Football -Differentiated Paired Passage Worksheets
Differentiate reading instruction with nonfiction texts, compare and contrast activities, and response to text writing opportunities.
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Using Commas in Dates and Series - SCOOT! Game
Practice using commas in dates and series with a whole-class SCOOT game!
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Multisyllable Words Google Interactive
Build multisyllable word decoding skills with upper-grade students with a Google Slides interactive activity.
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Creature Creator - Verb Tense Task Cards
Create a mystery creature using past, present and future tense verbs.
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Third Grade Dolch Sight Words -I Have ,Who Has? Game
Encourage reading fluency with a lively classroom game of I Have, Who Has?, working with third grade high frequency words..
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Quiz and Swap - 3rd Grade End-of-Year Test Prep Game
Get your students up, moving, and practicing third grade test prep skills with an End-of-Year Quiz and Swap Review Game.
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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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Writing Sentences in Past, Present, and Future Tense Worksheets - Grades 1/2
Provide students with additional verb tense practice with worksheets focusing on changing sentences into past, present, and future tense.
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Past, Present, and Future Tense Worksheets - Grades 1/2
Provide students with additional verb tense practice with worksheets focusing on changing verbs into past, present, and future tense.
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Idioms Bingo Game
Build vocabulary and have fun with a classroom game of Idiom Bingo.
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Letter-Sound Correspondence Games - A-Z Alphabet Race Bundle
Practice letter-sound correspondence with a set of 26 Alphabet Race printable games.
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End of Year Writing Craftivity - Summer Plan Gumball Machine
Excite your students for the upcoming summer with a writing and craft activity.
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Has/Have Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using has and have correctly.
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Was/Were Subject Verb Agreement Task Cards
Practice using was and were correctly using a set of Subject-Verb agreement task cards.
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Opinion Writing for 1st Graders - Worksheet Bundle
Help your first graders learn how to write an opinion piece using these handy writing prompt worksheets.
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Google Interactive Sight Word Study-Kindergarten Dolch Words
Read, write, identify, and build all 52 Dolch kindergarten sight words in an interactive Google Slides presentation.
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Blends and Digraphs Clip Card Reading Center
Practice identifying digraphs and blends in word through interactive Google slides and traditional PDF printable formats.
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The Lost Library Card – Whole Class Escape Game
Use inference and problem-solving skills to decipher the puzzles and uncover the hidden code.
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Short and Long Vowels Google Interactive Activity
Read and identify short and long vowel sounds and place the pictures into the correct columns.
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Where is the Dinosaur? - Positional Words - Differentiated Worksheets
Use this set of differentiated worksheets to practice positional words (prepositions).
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Women's History Month Word Wall
Celebrate important terms, events, and people in women’s history with this set of 37 vocabulary cards for your classroom word wall.
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Cursive Handwriting Posters
Display this set of 26 posters with upper and lowercase cursive letters and directional markings to help students easily write the cursive alphabet.
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100 Day Mini Book
Create a mini-book by completing the 100-item writing prompts and illustrating each page.
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Sentence Starter Task Cards
Practice writing simple sentences with these 16 sentence starter task cards.
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Irregular Plural Noun Practice Worksheet
Practice identifying and using common irregular plural nouns on this single-page worksheet.
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Differentiating Long and Short Vowels - Interactive PowerPoint
Practice differentiating between long and short vowel sounds with this interactive PowerPoint.
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Sight Word Hunt — 2nd Grade Dolch Words List Activity
Practice reading 2nd-grade level sight words from the Dolch high-frequency words list with this activity.
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Phoneme Spotter Story – /oo/ Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the /oo/ sound.
- 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
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- English Language Arts for 6th Grade
- English Language Arts for 7th Grade