The story Hansel and Gretel is used to build new vocabulary in context. The class reads the story together. They then focus on 2-3 new vocabulary words, using the context of the story to help define them. This lesson is fully scripted...

In order to make evidence-based claims, one must be able to draw explicit information from text. From here, learners take that information, analyze the text to develop a deeper understanding, and connect with the information in order to...

Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...

For the end-of-unit assessment, scholars engage in small group Socratic seminars to connect the lyrics of two songs to texts they read and studied. They discuss how the songs "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and "Lift Every Voice...

What does it mean to mourn something? Scholars continue reading paragraph four from "Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison" to better understand the mourning process for refugee children. Working with a partner, pupils then read...

A reading activity boosts scholars' level of fluency while reading connected text. Working collaboratively, pairs read a word list three times and a specific text while their partner gauges their accuracy and speed.

This lesson plan pairs high and low leveled readers together to make partner reading beneficial for both. Learners read a selected text as a team, when the lower leveled reader is stuck, his partner is there to help him out. And by...

When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...

It's time to put it all together! Using the resource, scholars complete an end-of-unit assessment. They write a multi-paragraph essay comparing Audre Lorde's "From the House of Yemanjá" or "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton" to...

Only a thorough understanding of history can save us from repeating it. Practice close reading skills with an eighth grade unit that focuses on 19th century America, including European immigration into Ellis Island and Frederick...

There are many different ways to build accuracy and fluency when reading. This exercise employs repetition and timed drills to get the job done. Learners time each other as they read a passage, recording each other's time and accuracy.

Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the instructional...

Readers' theater is a fun way to get kids reading with expression and improve their fluency! There is a full script here for The Three Bears with five characters to assign.

Why is it important to make connections across texts? Scholars discover the answer with instructional activity 12 of 14 from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series. Pupils analyze the development of ideas in three nonfiction texts,...

Practice makes perfect when it comes to reading fluency! Walk your emerging readers through a familiar passage, slowly pointing to each word to keep every learner with you. While looking at a projected passage, scholars read one word at...

Following the formative assessment of this unit, young scholars present the information they gathered on their specific colonial trade to the rest of the class. Working in groups, learners create posters describing the particular job...

The accusations begin in Sophocles' Oedipus the King, with troublemakers and enemies abound. As learners delve deeply into the sights unseen, they review textual evidence from their readings to write about the importance of timing in the...

English is not the only subject that requires its own set of vocabulary words—geography does too! A series of language development lessons designed to be used with Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails helps introduce readers to key vocabulary...

With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...

Do you have a lot of different reading levels in your class? Pair kids up by level and have them choose a book to read independently. They will make predictions, ask questions, make connections, etc. Consider creating a general reading...

Help young mathematicians make cents out of the US currency system with this two-part math lesson plan. Children first learn the names and values for each type of coin, before learning to count and compare the values of coins using the...

Decisions, decisions. Scholars take a close look at making decisions by discussing the character Sam in chapters one through eight of Frightful’s Mountain. Partners discuss whether Sam should interact with Frightful and then...

In preparation for the unit exam, groups employ the strategies they have been practicing to formulate an interpretative claim about the connections between Christopher Paul Curtis's " Bud, Not Buddy, and Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford...

Introduce your class to encoding text. Pairs work together to create a protocol to send text prior to learning ASCII encoding. Groups then collaborate to send and translate ASCII codes creating a formatted text message.