Using chapter 1 of Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed, middle schoolers write a personal memoir based on Spinelli's style and a Six Trait writing activity. The lesson suggests several ways to activate prior knowledge, including a picture book and...

Support your writers! Clear procedures and appropriate support make this a superb resource for elementary writing instruction. Ready your class to compose original descriptive paragraphs inspired by the episode in Roald Dahl's James and...

Young scholars, after reading Chapter 1 in the book, "Cyprus," design and create a nature journal for an imaginary trip around Cyprus. They identify animals and plants that in their minds live in Cyprus as well as describe the landscape...

Students, after reading Chapter One in the book, "Estonia," design and create a nature journal for an imaginary trip around Estonia. They include animals and plants that in their minds live in Estonia. In addition, they illustrate the...

Students, after reading Chapter One in the book, "Lithuania," design and create a nature journal for an imaginary trip around Lithuania. They include animals and plants that live in Lithuania as well as illustrating the landscape of...

Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main...

Young scholars explore food. In this nutrition lesson, students investigate multiple facets of healthy eating and how the fast food industry impacts our society. They will participate in class discussions, read from their text-book, and...

As your class finishes the novel Dragonwings, use these culminating projects. A vocabulary list is given for chapters eleven and twelve and either an epitaph or letter activity concludes the book. The final project consists of creating a...

Students write a funny story and illustrate it in a comic strip. In this comic strip instructional activity, students study comic strips and determine the plot of each story. Students then write a short story and illustrate it using a...

Analyzing the sequence of actions in dramatic stories leads to deeper comprehension of story structure. The class identifies the main actions in each section of a story and develops frozen tableau's for the identified actions of the...

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Students, after reading Chapter One in the book, "What the Land Means to Americans," research from a variety of resources Tlingit totem poles. After their extensive research, they create a totem pole to present to their peers to...

Examine the technique of writing a script and complete a worksheet in which young writers summarize a favorite chapter in a Harry Potter book. They practice public speaking by acting out the summarization scenes for classmates. Handouts...

Bring writing to life with this lesson plan in which elementary and middle schoolers create a display of the imagery they identify in a series of Gary Paulsen books. They read the suggested materials, identify imagery and descriptive...

A visit to the local zoo launches an integrated life science/ language arts research project into the habitat, feeding habits, offspring, lifespan, and other interesting facts about animals. Each group selects two animals to photograph...

Students create a book jacket that covers a book they have chosen to read. They present their jacket to the class in a creative fashion. Students outline the main ideas of each chapter. They design their book jackets and complete a...

Pupils choose chapter book and prepare front cover for the chapter using a drawing made with any art materials. They can include a scene from the chapter, title, author etc. They then write a summary of the chosen chapter.

Students read a chapter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and define new words for their dictionaries. In this vocabulary lesson students choose two or three assignment from a list of projects and complete it using...

There's no need to run around trying to plan a unit for the book Maniac Magee, the work has already been done for you. Through a series of whole class, small group, and independent lessons and activities, students practice...

Students engage in reading comprehension activities for the story "Pinky and Rex and the Just Right Pet". In this reading comprehension lesson, students make prediction drawings before reading the story, create new illustrations for...

Pupils explore the importance of learning to read. They work with other students to create audiobooks to share with younger pupils, or classes.

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...

Differentiate instruction with this crafty approach to demonstrating comprehension. Learners choose a fictional book at their reading level, and afterward create a quilt square. The square is "decorated" with words, illustrations, and...

Students read a chapter book of 100-200 pages in length. They create a story map and multimedia book report. Pupils review the elements of a story map such as: characters, setting, problem, important events, solution, etc.) Students...