Reading comprehension is the name of the game! After listening to the teacher model and share personal prior knowledge about small children and what they do with food, the class discusses how they too can use prior knowledge to...

When does trash become litter? Use this litter awareness activity to help them understand the importance of trash disposal. Get learners engaged by reading Nancy Loewen's Lady Lulu Liked to Litter (not included). After discussing...

What important facts about Dr. Seuss influenced the Read Across America movement...? This is the driving question of a research project that requires scholars to find information about Dr. Seuss' life and work. Class...

Down on the Farm is the theme of this series of ESL lessons designed to support reading, speaking, and listening skills. Over three weeks, your learners will have the opportunity to sing songs, play guessing games, create masks,...

Everyone loves the tales involving King Arthur and his knights. After reading Knights of the Round Table by Gwen Gross, learners draw inferences and conclusions, analyze story elements, and discuss figurative language, including...

Use the story "Bearstone" by Will Hobbs to explore issues related to growing up. In this work, a troubled teen finds himself through an adventure in the wilderness. Learners practice summarizing, drawing inferences and conclusions, and...

The Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars, is a 160-page chapter book about a family going through a difficult time. Complement your reading of Byars' book with this detailed outline of each chapter. Every section includes comprehension...

How did the ancient people of Egypt preserve their dead so well that their bodies are still recognizable today? Learn the painstakingly complex process they used for preservation. Young scholars read and summarize a narrative detailing...

A very thorough lesson plan focuses on what plants need to grow and stay healthy. There are excellent reading activities and worksheets included in this fine plan. A terrific way to introduce a unit on plants and their needs.

Reading Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, launches this lesson appropriate for children who recognize coins and have been introduced to coin values. Using addition and subtraction skills, the class tracks Alexander’s spending...

Ideas like this are highly effective for helping build better reading comprehension. The class listens to an excerpt from a grade-appropriate text, and they discuss what clues or words helped them visualize the scene. They then read a...

Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique high schoolers' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book,...

Identifying themes in literature is the focus of the language arts lesson plan presented here. Learners read short pieces of fiction and practice the skill of identifying the themes present in each one. The bulk of the lesson consists of...

W.W. Jacobs' story "The Monkey's Paw" provides plenty of foreshadowing which readers use to make predictions in this tightly composed, sound instructional plan. Your class reads the story, recording predictions and checking for veracity...

Middle and high schoolers read and discuss articles about the mussel industry in Arkansas. They pay close attention to the history of pearling and button making industries on the Black and White Rivers of Arkansas. This impressive,...

For the warm-up in this cool climate instructional activity, you will need to click on "Mapping" and then "US Mapping" once you arrive at NOAA's "US Climate at a Glance" page. Earth science explorers realize that 2012 was a warm winter...

Incorporate technological fluency with a search for examples of active and passive voice in online resources. Discuss how use of active or passive voice influences mood or tone and contributes to author's purpose. List of...

Immerse your class in Dickens's London and classic story of A Christmas Carol. Here, a SMARTboard presentation and WebQuest build background of the setting for the novel (or the play A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley.) Learning about...

A basic instructional activity on personal narrative writing is here for you. In it, learners are asked to imagine they're going to share an experience of their own with someone who did not participate in that experience. They verbally...

Through a series of readings and handouts, learners will study the shifts in perception that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. The history lesson focuses on periods of change in post WWII German history that led to a changed...

While an interesting lesson idea involving the exploration of a story about an Asian American boy named Imduk, a teacher would need to have assess to the Scott Foresman reading program to make this work. If not, a teacher could use...

While this lesson focuses on the birds and fish found on the Hudson River, it could be adapted for use in any classroom. Using a vocabulary list, learners explore the meaning of words like adaptation, habitat, barbel, and more. Then,...

Kindergartners practice the important skill of placing things in their correct categories. They must discern between items of clothing and items of food. The use of the Inspiration 7 educational software is effectively used in this...

Did you know that the world's first novel was written by a woman? Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, was published in 1021. Class members research Eastern and Western cultures in the 10th and 11th centuries, view modern adaptations of...