Free Printable Reading Response Journal Activities and Rubric for ELA (English Language Arts)

Kids get tired of doing the same ho-hum book reports and worksheets. The best way to teach any subject is with hands-on activities. Teach reading and literature study with interactive, personalized reading response journals. Get students interact with books, to take stories apart and live them, to explore characters, themes, symbols. Here are 50 printable activities to do that. They're multi-sensory, and employ HOTS (higher order thinking skills). I've included a template for a student activity calendar to organize response activities. Note. One of the activities is to create Facebook social profiles for characters. Optional Activities for an ELA (English Language Arts) Response Journal Rubric

Free Printable Memorial Day Worksheets, Crafts, Games, Activities, Lesson Plans

 Memorial Day, celebrated the last Monday in May--May 26 in 2014, is more than just a summer kickoff. It's Remembrance Day and we honor veterans and those lost in U.S. wars. It's also Decoration Day, when we commemorate loved ones lost by putting flowers on their graves. Teachers, homeschoolers, parents, use these free printable lesson plans to teach students about Memorial Day. Printables include history lesson plans, social studies worksheets, patriotic American crafts and games, military and United States coloring pages, puzzles, word searches, crosswords for party games and loads more. I've listed music and movie suggestions for a complete educational Memorial Day unit.

About.com lists pages of free printable patriotic holiday games, word searches, crossword puzzles, writing activities and coloring pages. Why not print the packet and use for homework. Or let kids complete it while listening to stories on American war history. They could also watch one of these Memorial Day movies. Check my blogs Film Femme Fatale for educational movies for Memorial Day.

Homeschool Deals links to several free resources for Memorial Day printables and activities. There are Medal of Honor and soldier coloring pages, history worksheets, holiday games, reading and writing lessons and patriotic printable crafts. There are poems and literature-based activities. When I was young, teachers would have us write out seasonal poems in our best penmanship and create our own illustrations. Then she'd mount poem and picture on construction paper. This made a nice take-home project.

Free printable Memorial Day activities are suitable for 4th of July and Veterans Day, DL-TK offers pages of holiday printables. There are greeting cards, coloring pages and crafts. My favorite is a printable mini-book on Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's stirring World War 1 poem "In Flanders Field." The poem is the basis for the poppies worn on Memorial Day. Print the booklet in black and white so students can color images.

* Patriotic Coloring Pages at Raising our Kids has dozens of free printable American history coloring pages featuring, military, national memorials and landmarks, soldiers, historic images, national liberty symbols and more. Have students use these as greeting cards. Assign them to color images and write a message on the back. Mail or better still hand-deliver to seniors in nursing homes. Memorial Day is particularly poignant for elderly who remember wars and lost so many loved ones.

Free Printable Spider-Man, Avengers Captain America Civil War coloring pages

The epic Marvel Comics "Captain America Civil War" opens May 6 and features a clash between Marvel Avengers Captain America and Iron Man. But word is the most exciting part Captain America Civil War is the introduction of Spider-Man to the cast. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is attracting fans like flies! So now Avengers fans can see Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Venom and all their superheroes in Captain America Civil War. Sounds like some pretty "Marvel" ous fun! Captain America v Iron Man, Batman v Superman--2016 promises to be a summer of brotherly brawling! How about free printable Spider-Man coloring pages to keep you tied up till Captain America Civil War opens?

Start your Spider-Man "web" adventure (pun intended) at Pic Gifs. It's home to a ginormous collection of freebies, including over 100 free printable Spider-Man coloring pages. Access Spider-man clipart, gifs, animated graphics, wallpapers, cursors and icons by typing "Spider-Man" in the search box. Got a child who wants a Spider-Man themed birthday party? You can do it darn near free, printing the clipart and making homemade birthday cards, party decorations and invitations.

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2 superhero sequel, the mutant man with spider reflexes and graceful arachnid moves thrilled fans. What's not to love about superhero who needs no fancy gadgets and shoots webs from his hands? If your Spidey senses are tingling, swing on over to Coloring-Book.info for a bunch more free printable Spider-Man coloring pages. These print in black and white and could be made into bedroom wall art. Kids could color them, write messages on them and send like greeting cards. Or you might laminate their colored images and make them into placemats. Snag these free printable Spider-Man coloring pages too.

And don't forget your free printable Captain America coloring pages. Disney Family has loads offree printable Avengers Captain America Civil War crafts. Print masks for Captain America, Iron Man and Hulk. Print an entire Thor costume with helmet, wings and war hammer. You could use them for Spider-Man, Avengers, Iron Man or Captain America Civil War birthday party themes. Want to learn more about spiders? Then, get spinning and crawl over to KidZone for free printable spider lesson plans. Learn about spiders with these games, crafts, puzzles. math activities, songs and stories, writing prompts, science worksheets and diagrams and reading lessons. This should keep you busy till Captain America Civil War. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 movie is in the works too!

Free Printable Spring Seasonal Lesson Plans, Coloring Pages

March 20-22 marks the vernal equinox, the first day of spring in many countries. For those of locked in ice and snow and cold, this date can't come too early. Many have had a long winter and are pretty happy to hear those cheery little birds singing and see tiny crocuses bravely trying to poke their lavender heads up through the snow. How about some free spring coloring pages, Easter holiday activities and spring crafts to occupy those children who are sick of winter and school?

Coloring Book Fun free printable spring coloring pages are simple enough for the not yet seasoned colorers, and yet offer more challenging pictures for veteran colorers. This site has a huge stock of free printable spring coloring pages and spring crafts based on seasons, weather, Easter holiday activities, topics, Bible based pictures, multi-cultural and animals. You can find just about any cartoon character from G.I.Joe to Barbie to Pokemon to Rug-rats to Rainbow Brite to Dragon Ball Z to Dora, plus all your Disney favorites.

DL-TK provides all sorts of free printable spring coloring pages, seasonal spring crafts, lesson plans, puzzles, crafts, projects, scissor practice, sequencing practice, music, song sheets, stories, spring crafts and Easter holiday activities. DLTK has all kinds of pre-school activities that will reinforce pre-reading, letter and number recognition, fine motor practice, telling time, tying shoes, counting, tracing and other skill builders based around a theme. You will find printables for baby animals, new life, butterflies and other insects, plants, flowers, rain, and more. You'll find some really cute Easter holiday activities and spring coloring pages as well!

Print Activities has a really large data bank of banner and ad-free printables with educational themes, There's no sign up or registration, very few if any pop-ups and easy one click printing. I found many styles of cross-word puzzles, calendars, tracing, mazes, word scrambles, word sorts, connect the dots, connect the dot using math problems, Sudoku, fill in the blanks, color by numbers, color by math (students complete math problems and complete a code to color pictures. All these spring crafts and puzzles are themed on seasons, but you can find other topics with themed puzzles: Easter holiday activities, seasons, animals, It may take a moment to load, but it is worth it.