It's time for scholars to be on their own. Individuals work independently reviewing sources to answer their research questions. Learners read "Are Your Clothes Made in Sweatshops?" to help complete the mid-unit assessment. After...

Scholars reflect upon their reading strengths and challenges to create personal reading goals. Participants use goal-setting verbiage in an accordion-style graphic organizer, a first step in writing a letter that details their reading...

Readers of Tuesdays with Morrie are directed to use a K-W-H-L chart to record what they know, what they want to learn, how they will find information, and what they learned about a particular topic related to Mitch Albom's book.

Readers continue to learn how natural resources are important to Canada's economy. They read, annotate, and answer text-dependent questions about Natural Resources and the Canadian Economy. They then discuss key terms in the text.

Judge Learned Hand's "Spirit of Liberty" speech delivered during the July, 1944 "I Am an American Day" celebration is the subject of a close reading activity that models for learners how to approach a dense, difficult text.

Scholars work in pairs to decide whether leaders wrote the Declaration of Independence for the rich and powerful or for every man. To draw their conclusion, pairs read excerpts from two historians and complete a graphic organizer...

Twenty insightful questions follow a read aloud of the story, Amos and Boris by William Steig. Scholars then show what they know through completion of a cause and effect chart, reading fluency assessment, and a written...

Help your learners grow their critical thinking and analytical skills by asking them to examine logical fallacies. After reading an example, pupils determine if two sets of premises and conclusions are logical fallacies or not and...

Scholars take part in a philosophical discussion about truth, thoughts, and feelings following a reading of Tiger-Tiger is it True? by Byron Katie and Hans Wilhelm. 

Scholars investigate the Holocaust through the eyes of an Auschwitz survivor. They analyze and research a firsthand account of events inside the gas chambers moments before hundreds died. Using Holocaust Reading Passages and...

Add an outstanding resource to your repertoire. The first installment of a 36-part module looks at the relationship between addition and subtraction through an activity using tape diagrams. Pupils develop the identities w – x + x =...

Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical...

Scholars submit their final performance task, a letter to a publisher about an athlete's legacy. As a culminating activity, they share their work with classmates in small groups. 

Develop the fluency of beginning readers one sound at a time with this phonemic awareness lesson plan. Through a series of whole-class instruction, independent practice, and collaborative learning activities, children practice...

The poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the focus of a unit that asks readers to consider how an artist's life and changes in society influences his or her work. After careful study of Whitman's and Dickinson's perspectives on...

Memories of and interpretations of history change—that's the key takeaway from a instructional activity that has young historians compare the story of the Reconstruction Era as told by the historians of the Dunning School to the view of...

Seventh graders get the option of choosing their own text from a selection to read and gather more information as part of their research. Learners discuss the difference in reading for research and reading for pleasure. They also begin...

Read like a writer. Scholars read a model literary analysis in preparation for a similar writing assignment before annotating each paragraph for the gist. Next, pupils devise a list of qualities of a strong literary analysis essay. 

It's time to choose a position! Scholars read a model position paper about fracking to practice identifying the topic and argument. Then, working with a partner, they use a rubric to assess the essay. 

After reading The Great Gatsby, groups return to the text and note passages where Fitzgerald uses symbols and color imagery in his narrative. They then develop a presentation that explains the context, the implications, and possible...

What do consumers need to know about overfishing before buying fish? Scholars consider the question as they prepare for their performance task, which is to create a consumer guide for people about purchasing fish responsibly. After...

What can you contribute? Scholars read text to determine how ants contribute to the rainforest. First, they categorize and sort facts gathered from reading. Next, readers focus on specific terms in each paragraphs of the text Ants by...

Get the facts straight. Scholars complete their mid-unit assessment by reading a text, watching a video, and observing a picture about howler monkeys. They take notes about the facts they discover to use in future lessons.

Let me draw you a picture. Scholars read a quote from Roger Tory Peterson and discuss his views on drawings. They then create their own drawings of an ant or butterfly to add to their science journals.