Your class has finished reading The Cay. Now what? Try out this idea, which invites learners to examine the author's values and how they relate to the novel. Pupils watch a quick video about the author and take notes in a provided...

Keep your class on track with their independent reading by assigning these novel activities. As readers move through their novels, the assigned questions and activities become more complex. For example, the first round of questions, due...

Where do writers draw their inspiration? Introduce your class to the people behind the novels, poems, and text you read in class. It really is interesting to delve into the lives of the writer and analyze possible sources of inspiration....

Explore the book The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss with your class. They will design a pattern for the cat's hat. They will create color pattern designs with candy and frosting. In the end, they will describe their pattern.

Individuals examine a book's components, including key events, characters, and vocabulary and develop "chain book reports" with their peers. Strips of paper containing the book's important events are staples together and hung.

Young scholars explore types of awards for children's books. They design a new award. Students review books and select one to receive the newly designed award. Young scholars create a "medal" for the book jacket. They write an...

Students explore the Project Gutenberg website and conduct a webquest to answer questions about well known literature and authors.

What book are you currently reading? If you want your class to delve into the life of the author, give them this author study worksheet. Basic questions like where the author lives (or lived), what hardships the author encountered, and...

Students select an author who has written a number of children's book. They work in groups and the read as many different books by the selected author. Students discuss the illustrations in the books and how they relate to the story....

Explore poetry by reading the poem "The Walloping Window Blind" by Charles E. Carryl, and completing an analysis with your class. The worksheet provides the entire poem, a graphic organizer to help with summarizing and paraphrasing, and...

Choose a book (preferably about following directions and listening) and examine the parts with beginning readers. They listen as you introduce the title, author, and illustrator, then read the story. Although the different parts of this...

Introduce your class to the personal essay with this learning exercise. Learners identify the subject of an essay and then record examples from the essay that represent the author's thoughts and feelings regarding the subject. While this...

Your authors create news stories that share a familiar fairy tale from a new perspective. They review a familiar fairy tale, select a character to "interview," and write original news stories from the perspective of that character.

Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...

Use an early reading worksheet to help learners illustrate and author their own books. They will cut out and assemble an eight page mini-book. On each page, they complete the sentence "Look at the       " and illustrate it. This is a...

Imagine a kindergarten author study. Did you know that Angela Johnson writes about families while Eric Carle writes about insects and animals? In small groups, the class examines a basket of books sorted by author and records...

Identify fiction text features and practice story comprehension with young readers. They will identify features such as title, author, and illustrator, then listen to the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Periodically stop...

Learn more about making texture prints with a variety of objects. Young illustrators are introduced to Turtle Splash! and Scoot! in order to examine the collage illustrations. They create their own illustrations by making paint prints of...

Kindergarteners learn about Ezra Jack Keats. They will explore the Ezra Jack Keats' Website, watch a video about Keats, construct a winter collage, write a story to go with their collage, read books, and listen to books on tape. Spend...

Explore publishing by utilizing a document camera with your class. Readers will examine a real book and practice identifying the author, illustrator, and other parts of the title page. They then discuss the importance of these elements...

Help readers understand the roles of authors and illustrators and why they have been recognized by medals of excellence. Your class will discuss and then create illustrations for a book. When they have finished, you can hold your own...

Need a graphic organizer to help young readers list the events in a story? This worksheet includes the story title, author, setting, and characters split into four sections. Make charting story elements easy with this resource.

Young scholars identify the title and author of stories. They create a database that supplies both graphic and written information to identify a book.