Avoid the horror of readers straining to recall details of Joseph Conrad's complex Heart of Darkness. Instead provide scholars with a frame for their note taking. As they read, class members record evidence to support their responses to...

Prepare your class for a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with an activity that works for pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading. Learners fill out a K-W-H-L chart to reflect on what they already know, what...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...

Enhance the reading experience with a set of lessons designed to improve textual analysis. Seventh graders use guiding questions to read both informational text and literature closely in the first part of the unit. Next, they work on...

Get the most out of your guided reading lessons with this collection of literacy materials. Offering a system for using color-coded tags to mark pages while reading books, as well as an assortment of comprehension and grammar...

Designed to be used with an independent reading book, this activity provides practice with identifying and explaining literary terms. While they read, individuals find instances of literary devices and elements in use in their books....

A read-aloud anthology explores Colonial America. Third graders listen to informational texts, discuss what they heard, and participate in extension activities and writing. Take-home materials, assessments, and remediation opportunities...

As you read a story or novel, have your class members put together and fill out a journal. They will have the chance to illustrate a cover page, draw and write about various topics, respond to a focus questions, and draft a paragraph.

Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...

Third graders listen to read-alouds and participate in extension activities about European Explorers—Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce de León, Hernando de Soto, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, John Cabot, Henry Hudson, and Samuel de...

Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...

An activity work alongside a narrative text of your choice. With reading comprehension at its focus, readers complete worksheets covering character descriptions.

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...

Strengthen the bonds of friendship within your class with a reading of E.B. White's award-winning novel, Charlotte's Web. Focusing on the unique characters in the story and the relationships they develop, young readers draw...

Can you tell everything about a character based on their actions? Delve into the prominent characters of Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with helpful reading tips and discussion questions. A thorough lesson...

It can be difficult to begin a novel when you don't know what it's about. Take the opportunity to begin S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders slowly, making predictions and answering questions about the book's first nine pages.

Instill the positive study habit of reflecting on learning by reading this passage with your class. The passage describes how reflection can be a powerful learning tool, and how learners can start reflecting. After reading, class...

Discover activities to help learners increase self-awareness, build peer and family relations, and develop positive self-esteem. Here you'll find six suggestions for instilling a sense of confidence and self awareness in youngsters. Each...

With the help of a prewriting activity, scholars reserach a topic and compose an expository essay to show what they know about a topic of their choice. 

Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before...

Extend learning through summer with these activity ideas! Individuals can choose one or all nine of the activities, which range from a summer reading goal to an examination of local insects (with accompanying story prompt). See the...

Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and...

Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.

If you've ever wished you could respond to an author's message, an instructional activity that connects three poems with the same concept will appeal to you. Based on the first few lessons' focus on Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate...