Let's take the big W. Scholars analyze the model newspaper article Sandy wreaks havoc across Northeast; at least 11 dead and look to answer who, what, when, where, and why. They work in groups of three to complete a Five W’s web...

When your class members have completed the novel Esperanza Rising, they will be ready to write an expository essay on how Esperanza responds to events and what this says about her character. Set your pupils up for success by...

Working in groups, the class will use what they know about whole number operations to solve a real-world problem involving a number line. They will focus on using the number line to correctly label the placement of whole numbers,...

Learn more about the history and five pillars of Islam with an extensive resource that focuses on the religion's connection to art. Focusing on calligraphy, textiles, and architecture, the packet illustrates the beauty of the artistic...

Your learners will be tantalized by this inquiry-based, collaborative activity as they discover how to write an equation that represents the height of an ice cream cone. Given the scenario based on the poem, "Eighteen Flavors," and...

Young scholars get familiar with money during this series of engaging math activities. A game has class teams accumulating money and using symbol and number cards to display their total amount correctly on a pocket chart. All the symbol...

Turning 11 comes with a range of emotions. Explore those emotions by reading the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. Readers analyze the main character's reactions to the events of her day. Then, they write an essay describing what...

Write with the senses! Try using art to inspire writers to consider all of the senses. Here, the class is divided in half. Each group looks at one of two images, imagines the senses that would be engaged, and records answers to five...

Prepare your pupils for making excellent presentations. Class members discuss elements of a successful presentation, work in groups to come up with their own scripts for the featured video, compare their work to the original...

Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....

Bookend your study of Peter and the Starcatchers with a KWHL centered around treasure and power. Pupils work in small groups to compile knowledge and questions and then revisit this chart after reading and research.

Convey how to determine appropriate and credible online sources with a series of three lessons. After completing the lessons, class members will know what kinds of sources to use, how to identify credible sources, and how tone and style...

Start off your day with a quick reading comprehension quiz about chapter three of Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. After they complete the quiz, pupils participate in a discussion and look closely at the text. A strong Common Core...

The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing...

What would your class like to learn about Japanese culture? Prepare them for a novel unit about Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter with a KWL chart. After listing what they already know about Japanese culture, they write questions...

Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...

Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource...

Perry the dog is Sarah's best friend and her guide to the visual world. Young readers learn about guide dogs and communication with Looking Out for Sarah by Glenna Lang, through a series of discussion questions and activities.

Young scholars investigate new vocabulary words with a fun, collaborative activity. Given a deck of word cards, pairs of students flip over one at a time and independently look up the term in a dictionary. They then take turns rolling a...

Looking for a hot date? Pick any day in August, statistically the hottest month in the United States. The 15th lesson in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily temperature...

As a practice writing test, fourth graders use the West of the West's documentary Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island and two print resources as source materials for an informative article that identifies information that is...

An activity promotes reading comprehension. Readers analyze a text of their choice while activating prior knowledge and asking and answering questions. Scholars enforce multiple strategies to improve comprehension.

Here is a nice set of activities and discussion questions to accompany your class reading of No Pretty Pictures, a memoir of a young girl's experiences and struggle for survival during the Holocaust.

In a hands-on learning activity, pupils read about and recreate the experience of Harriet Jacobs, author of one of the most famous slave narratives of all time in which she describes her years of hiding from her master in a confined...