PRESTO PLANS BLOG

If you’re looking for a creative Earth Day lesson for middle school ELA students, mid-April is a great time for your class to sharpen their research skills, and present their vision for a cleaner, greener planet. In schools, April 22 is a time of reflection and action, giving students and teachers the chance to share […]

If you are teaching “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, you may be looking for tips and ideas to make the most of this beloved poem in your ELA classroom. Whether you are building an entire middle school poetry unit or looking for a standalone series of lessons, I’m sharing my best tips for […]

I have to admit that April Fools’ Day is one of my guilty pleasures. I love to play funny, lighthearted pranks on my family (my husband still talks about the year that I changed his Facebook language settings to “pirate” – arrr matey!). There are plenty of ways to incorporate April Fools’ Day ELA activities […]

Did you know that St. Patrick’s Day – or the Feast of St. Patrick – is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador (where it is observed on the closest Monday to March 17th)? While we might not have the day off in our […]

If you are teaching “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, you may be looking for strategies and tips for analyzing this powerful short story. Not to fear as I’m sharing my best tips for helping you navigate all elements of the text with your students. “Thank You, Ma’am” centers around a boy named Roger, who […]

If you are teaching “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara, you may be looking for strategies and tips for analyzing this story. Not to fear as I’m sharing my best tips for helping you navigate all elements of the short story with your students.  Set in the 1950s in Harlem, “Raymond’s Run” follows the story […]

Groundhog Day, which occurs on February 2nd each year, is a fun and lighthearted opportunity to teach your middle school students in an ELA lesson about the changing seasons, folklore, and weather prediction. According to the tradition, if the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If you are like […]