Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...

Keeping readers focused during literature discussion circles can sometimes be a challenge. Check out this worksheet that ensures accountability by establishing six very specific, very different roles for group members: facilitator,...

Connect to real-world experiences by having your primary learners create an award certificate based upon literal and inferential information from a story. They present the award to a character from a story and explain the criteria used....

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...

Explore water transport in plant stems using this fun experiment! Your scientists will start by reading Stems by Vijaya Bodach. Then, activate prior knowledge about plant stem functions and water transportation....

Though the discrete content here is a pair of New York Times articles about a 1998 military strike on Iraq and the coincident impeachment by the House of Representatives of then-President Clinton, this detailed plan for creating,...

Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...

Although this legislative process lesson is designed to accompany a specific text, it is valuable independently. Young learners participate in a picture walk (worksheet included) through My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View...

Learners of all ages read and discuss books about Asian America. In this Asian-America lesson plan, different books for every age group are listed and various teaching strategies are suggested. Great tips cover virtually every grade level!

Help young readers learn to read and interpret complex text independently. Teach young children to ask interpretive questions and use the text itself to answer them. Use art, word play and drama to provide a deeper understanding of...

Upper graders read the book Holes as a class or by themselves. In groups, they identify symbols and discuss how they are connected  among the many plots in the story. They create a timeline in which they sequence the main...

Make connections between Esperanza Rising and human rights with the activities outlined here. The instructional activity starts out with a brief quiz and review of the novel. After that, pupils circulate and share quote strips that you...

Learners discuss how Washington Irving is considered an important 19th century-American storyteller. They create their own version of a passage from 'The Legend' after listening to the story.

Investigate the significance of adjectives with a newspaper activity that addresses effective language. Readers probe teacher-provided articles in search of the mighty modifiers, and practice by replacing them with a different word, and...

Students write a personal reading history about how reading has influenced their lives. They identify their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences as readers through a survey. Students examine what goes on in their minds while they read...

Third graders access prior knowledge of the monarch butterfly and discuss what they would like to know.  In this Monarch Butterfly lesson,students read Monarch Butterfly and discuss the life cycle of the butterfly. Students gather...

Students examine and draw conclusions from an excerpt from a slave narrative. They analyze excerpts from two recently discovered slave narratives. They draw connections among the narrative excerpts and historical texts by investigating...

Twelfth graders compare/contrast the Greek myth to explain an aspect of nature. They create an explanatory myth about some aspect of nature and design a mythological business card using Microsoft Word.

First graders explore language arts by reading a classic story in class. In this word choice lesson, 1st graders read the story of Johnny Appleseed and identify the descriptive words and sentences the author used to entice the reader....

Students read different pieces of literature and practice using narrative reading strategies to gain meaning. They use conflict resolution techniques found in literature and apply it to a real world situation. They discover how important...

Young scholars discover the general life cycle of a plant, the parts of a plant, and what it needs to grow. They plant bean seeds and discuss the parts of a plant and what it needs to grow.

Students examine and identify the characteristics of the different genres of literature. After being read and reading various stories, they identify how different books by the same author carry the same story elements. They discuss how...

Young scholars discuss energy and where they can find it. They will then discuss the sun and how it functions as an energy source. Next, students get a piece of black paper and some coins. They go outside and make a design with the coins...

Students read the book "Blueberries for Sal" and complete various computation math activities with blueberries. In this computation instructional activity, students complete number sentences, play guessing games, and solve story problems...