What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...

Do your young readers have difficulty visualizing what they read? Although the activity described here is for The Call of the Wild, the strategy could be used with any narrative. At the conclusion of each chapter of Jack London’s novel,...

Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 

Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...

This unit introduces book clubs/literature circles to lower elementary classes, but could be adapted to higher grades. It outlines the anticipatory activity that includes a WebQuest, a discussion to clarify questions about the unit,...

Listen to the book Madeline, and identify rhyming words with learners as they hear them in the book. Learners will engage in a class discussion about rhyming words. After listening to Madeline, they will circle pictures of words that...

Seventh graders explore the current tensions in Asia by completing a graphic organizer.  In this Asian politics activity, 7th graders examine a Powerpoint slide and news article which gives them the information needed to fill in...

Students construct and interpret a "favorite classroom books" graph. In this literacy and math graphing lesson plan, students choose a reduced size copy of the book cover that corresponds with the book(s) they chose to read during their...

Second graders interact with the story of Alexander's horrible day by connecting it to their lives. They practice predicting, writing paragraphs, reading aloud, discussing his problems, making a card to cheer him up, and designing a pair...

The book Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, is read aloud,and students listen for regular and irregular plurals in the story. They record their words on a worksheet which is embedded in the plan. This lesson provides good practice...

Students read about the Three Sisters of the crops that helped the Native Americans and plant a garden based on companion planting. In this crops lesson plan, students complete garden designs and then create their garden.

Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....

  Did you know that 50% of all Americans can trace a relative who traveled through Ellis Island? Relive these journeys with your class and then provide sentence strategy templates for them to use to compose their own informative...

Challenge your class to connect to the text of "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros with this activity, which prompts them to write a personal letter from the main character's point of view. The story, prompt, and letter template are all included...

Third graders complete a variety of reading and writing activities related to the book "Flat Stanley." They create an illustration and write a short summary for each chapter, and write a letter and send a "Flat Stanley" to a friend or...

Pupils explore human anatomy by participating in hands-on activities. In this digestive system lesson, students read the book It All Began With a Bean and discuss the process of food digestion in our body. Pupils utilize soda crackers, a...

Students write a story about an animal using rhyme. In this literacy lesson plan, the teacher shares different versions of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with the class and that becomes the basis for the creation of a picture and story for...

Eighth graders read writings from Elmaz Abinader. In this author analysis lesson students read an essay from Abinader and discuss the story "Just Off Mainstreet." Students re-read the text and complete close reading activities.

Students describe unique adaptations of organisms that live in the coral reef habitat, read various books pertaining to coral reefs and ocean life, and construct a wheel demonstrating the relationships between certain coral reef...

Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre.  Based on what...

Students examine wordless books and other pictures in order to learn how the teacher "reads a picture" to tell a story about it. In this early writing lesson, students then create their own picture for story telling by painting....

Students complete a tree poster activity to learn about Earth Day, stewardship, and the environment. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students read The Story of the Tree and discuss stewardship with trees. Students act out tree...

Second graders analyze the proper form of a friendly letter and send flat Stanley letters all over the United States. For this letter writing lesson, 2nd graders read the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and create their own Flat...

A thorough lesson introduces learners to Hans Christian Andersen, the nineteenth-century author who created wonderful tales. They read the original texts of several of his stories, including "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid,"...