Everyone celebrates traditions in different ways. Young writers share the ways their families celebrate Thanksgiving with a journal writing prompt and discussion activity.

Pupils create movements to music that reflect focused listening, write story using complete, coherent sentences, design and perform class play speaking clearly and at an appropriate pace, and retell Peter and the Wolf story, including...

Students assess their daily use of water and write stories about how water is used in their lives and communities. Students read about water usage in Ghana and Kenya and compare and contrast water usage and resources between the countries.

Second graders explore technology and its uses. They explore Kid Pix software and create pictures displaying their interests. They review their spelling list words and use Kid Pix to choose tools to demonstrate their words. They write...

Explore Native American gardening traditions with a lesson on companion planting. Based on the concept that certain crops grow better when planted near other specific crops, kids research the gardening method with background links and by...

Focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and analysis while reading A Weave of Woods, a colorful picture book by Robert D. San Souci. Young learners use worksheets to preview, predict, practice paraphrasing, and make comparisons. The...

Students define and discuss personal pastimes, listen to the story Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, discuss owling as rural pastime, demonstrate comprehension by writing responses to story, and discuss how climate and geography often determine...

Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...

Students role play different situations. In this respect lesson, students read Mr. Lincoln's Way, identify the story elements and answer comprehension questions. Students discuss how they can always treat others with respect and role...

What do you see? Young reader tap into the visualization process as they listen to or read a fiction story and fill out a graphic organizer. Model this first with a think-aloud, showing scholars how you visualize a familiar story. For...

Interested in a special folktale to read with your class? Then this lesson might be for you. Readers will build an understanding of the food chain while creating a storyboard that includes the characters, setting, and plot of the story....

Get your little readers moving with a fun lesson about Eric Carle's Little Cloud. After reading the book together, they engage in a series of locomotor and manipulative activities to illustrate how different elements of the story...

Model for emergent readers how to write a story by interpreting picture clues. For guided practice a second book is used, and then pupils work independently or with an adult to write their own stories based on illustrations.

Explore expressive reading through the read-aloud Summertime: From Porgy and Bess. Readers will make predictions about the text and listen to the song Summertime. They will also identify how the story relates to the song lyrics.

With both rhyme and a fun storyline, Polly Cameron's story "I Can't," Said the Ant is a useful resource for vocabulary in context. Emerging readers focus on five key words: cooperate, mend, nimble,...

This is a strange question; but what kind of vessel would you be and why? After examining images of a large Inca jug, the class sets to writing a creative narrative that answers that very interesting question. They start by researching...

Scholars take part in a grand conversation after they examine facts and stories about the Women's Suffrage Movement. Eight discussion questions bring light to influential women, the importance of voting, citizenship, and voting rights.

This clever lesson has your learners listen to story about bugs, work together to brainstorm list of "ing" words that describe bugs, create t-chart of words, choose words to place in poem template to create class poem about bugs, and use...

Readers are presented with a list of three questions and asked to actively listen to a story or article to answer them. They verbally answer the questions to learn the strategy. Next, read a story to them or have them silently read a...

Learners write a friendly letter. They write a friendly letter to author, Cynthia Rylant, after reading a number of her books, and watch a presentation by the teacher that describes how to write the letter. They word process their...

Learn new words as you read Marc Brown's story, Arthur's New Puppy. This is focused as a vocabulary-in-context activity (though this strategy could be used with any book and set of words). Introduce the new words you will focus on:...

Take your budding readers on a literary trip to pick blueberries as they learn vocabulary from Robert McClosky's book, Blueberries for Sal. By pre-teaching the words pupils are prepared to raise their hands when they hear...

Lilly is jealous when her new little brother is born; explore vocabulary in context through Kenvin Kenkes' story Julius the Baby of the World. Suggested words for this text are: constantly, disguise, disgusting,...

If your class is reading Jane Yolen's Letting Swift River Go, explore these vocabulary words in context: faint, quench, remain, and sacred. Before reading the story aloud, acquaint learners with these words briefly....