Students explore the characterization of heroes and their representation of the values and beliefs of the society in which they are created. They first examine the creation of the 'Star Wars' heroes and plots, and then develop their own...

Reading Mary Pope Osborne's Civil War on Sunday? Here's a packet crammed with activities, exercises, reading guides, and project suggestions. A must-have for your curriculum library.

If your class's knowledge of the Ice Age is limited to animated movies, use this lesson plan to strengthen their knowledge. After sharing what they know about the Ice Age, young readers explore a news article seeking to dispel...

Who wouldn't want to read a book about monster plants? Get those kids into informational texts with an engaging topic, like meat eating plants! You'll use the teaching guide to provide structured practice as your class reads to...

From traditional sports like football and basketball to more unique or extreme sports like windsurfing, caving, or bungee jumping, your youngsters will surely get a thorough introduction to the world of sports with this lesson plan!

Examine character in depth. Over the course of these six lessons, learners explore their own character traits, determine the traits of characters in the books they read, practice comparing and contrasting, and collaborate in small...

Third graders read the book, Jumangi. Then they divide into groups of four or five and choose a habitat - desert, wetlands, Arctic/Antarctic, etc. Then each group can research the habitat to learn what kind of animals live there.

Students enter and experience the world of Sherlock Holmes and hard-boiled detectives in this unit on mysteries. They review and analyze the ""Whodunit Requirements" and the "Mystery Contract" that accompany this instructional activity....

After listening to From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons, learners take a walk around their school looking for plants. They use digital cameras to photograph the plants, then construct a class book which has the identities of the plants,...

With the emphasis on incorporating more nonfiction in language arts classes the question arises about how to design activities that motivate kids to engage with informational text. How about an assignment that asks class members to...

Students investigate the concept of a hurricane by using the cartoon series "The Magic Schoolbus" to simulate the fantasy of traveling through a hurricane. The lesson uses a KWL graphic organizer in order to guide student inquiry and as...

Text marking and a T-chart format to distinguish important information from trivia help elementary readers summarize effectively. Encouraging readers to construct a chapter summary from paragraph-level topic sentences is another sound...

Fifth graders are introduced to the text, SCRIBBLEBOY, discussing the cover page for clues to the genre. They discuss the ordinary surroundings contrasted by the graffiti and the words and phrases used to provide information about the...

Students engage in a study of apples using children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Student list facts about apples and compare them while answering some guided questions. They plant some apple seeds and...

In this vocabulary activity worksheet, students consolidate key vocabulary from a unit of study as they classify terms by unscrambling words and identifying 6 films based on the categories listed.

Fourth graders participate in a play to work on seeing events from a different perspective. Some of them are reporters, some cameramen and women, and others are interviewed. They put themselves in the shoes of the people in the book...

Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. In this reading strategies lesson plan, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn Diagrams,...

Students meet an imaginative Siamese kitten pretends to be a Chihuahua when he is in time-out. In this Skippyjon Jones lesson plan, students develop an understanding of different cultures. They understand different dialects and...

Students read the epic, Beowulf and examine the nature of good and evil. They compile a list of questions about loyalty tests and take turns asking and answering them. they create Beowulf comic strips and research other epic tales.

Students explore the concept of racism.  In this character building lesson, students read a biography about a hero Matthew Henson.  Students discover the challenges he, and others, faced during a time of unfairness. 

Students listen as the teacher reads "Possum Magic" to them. They watch the movie of the book, and create a T graph illustrating the differences and similarities between the book and movie. They research an animal and print a picture in...

Students create family banners. In this early childhood lesson plan, students develop language, creative thinking, and social awareness by creating banners about their families.

Young scholars predict weather by watching the clouds, and identify different types of clouds.

Students read A Little Trouble in Amsterdam and discuss their reading. In this reading comprehension lesson, students complete pre-reading activities and post-reading activities for the book A Little Trouble in Amsterdam by Richard...