The children's book Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann is a great story for teaching young learners about teamwork and the importance of following rules. In a detailed, read-aloud lesson, children learn to use both the words and...

Through this three-day lesson plan, learners will develop an understanding of several elements of narration such as plot, characterization, setting, point of view, and theme. Reading several fiction texts and taking notes using...

Discuss the environment of the Arctic tundra using this resource. The focus of this lesson is the story A Walk in the Tundra by Rebecca L. Johnson. The appealing illustrations are bound to captivate your class! After reading the story,...

How did the ancient people of Egypt preserve their dead so well that their bodies are still recognizable today? Learn the painstakingly complex process they used for preservation. Young scholars read and summarize a narrative detailing...

Investigate rocks and non-fiction reading strategies. The class observes and sorts rocks, and then identifies non-fiction text features in Remarkable Rocks. Given strips of paper labeled with headings from the table of contents, pupils...

Upper graders recognize and hone the skills needed to complete a valuable summary. They complete a group summary, and then reread their summaries to find the main idea and supporting details. They put practice to the test as they...

A fun lesson that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is a...

How are disasters addressed by the Federal Government? This New York Times lesson, based on the article "Disaster Aid: The Mix of Mercy and Politics," prompts middle schoolers to discuss the idea of using a disaster declaration as a...

This story is bound to motivate your class. Learners read a story called Elena by Diane Stanley. The story is about a young woman who marries for love but is soon widowed during the Mexican Revolution. She takes her children to...

The comprehensive study guide packet for Richard Connell’s "The Most Dangerous Game" challenges young readers to reflect on hunting as a sport and what it means to be civilized. Using various graphic organizers, including a Cornell Notes...

As scholars begin reading more difficult text, they need to acquire an arsenal of comprehension strategies. Here are few helpful ones to guide new readers through the informational text About Trees, which is linked here for printing....

With resource links, a detailed procedure, embedded primary source documents, and a Readers Theater script, you're ready to teach! Re-enact historical events in order to boost historical perspective, discern main ideas, and draw...

Introduce various perspectives of the civil rights movement to your middle schoolers by having them take on roles in groups. They read a projected excerpt describing a house (linked) from either the perspective of a real estate agent or...

The first verse of A.A. Milne’s poem, Beetle, is the basis for a model of how to summarize a text. The two-page worksheet also includes a short story for guided practice, as well as summarizing questions, a story sharing activity, and an...

Use the title of a book to determine the main idea. Readers will view the cover of The Wedding and predict what the story will be about. Graphic organizers help chart important information and build new vocabulary. Other stories are used...

Upper graders read the book Holes as a class or by themselves. In groups, they identify symbols and discuss how they are connected  among the many plots in the story. They create a timeline in which they sequence the main events to end...

Even a cumulative review can include main ideas, key events, supporting details, and critical thinking. An excellent 8th grade history review is yours for the taking. It includes topics that range from the thirteen colonies to post Civil...

New ReviewTeach the class how to survive! Scholars work together to learn the meaning of theme and determine the message  in A Long Walk to Water. After the class discusses possible ideas, they work to identify one central theme for the text. The...

New ReviewWriters use the Short Response Graphic Organizer: The Border to learn how to answer short response questions. After completing the organizer, they rotate among classmates conducting peer critiques of their work.

New ReviewFind your voice. Readers look at a passage from A Mighty Long Way and discuss what it means for Carlotta to find her own voice. After discussing figurative language and idioms, learners listen to the the song "This Little Light of Mine"...

New ReviewVerbs are deceptive and like to disguise themselves. Young linguists identify verbals, specifically gerunds, infinitives, and participles in the context of analyzing the third stage of Carlotta's journey in the novel A Mighty Long Way....