Students read the Mark Twain short story, Encounter with an Interviewer. They study "the interview" and discuss the role of the interviewer and the person being interviewed. They conduct mock interviews, constructing questions and...

Seventh graders use the Internet to research the holiday of Kwanzaa. Using the information, they create a brochure to promote the holiday to others. They email the information to a friend to end the lesson plan.

Students explore individual differences. In this literacy and self-esteem instructional activity, students listen to the story Elmo by David McKee, then describe what characteristics make Elmo special. Students complete a T chart showing...

Students identify that comprehension is an essential component or reading and in order to be efficient and fluent readers. They interpret what they have read through various strategies. Finally, students use one of the strategies,...

Students practice visualizing as they read to aid comprehension. They then read a chapter in their history book and visualize what they read so that they can answer comprehension questions about the chapter.

Pupils read a fraction word problem and find the solution. For this fraction word problem lesson, students read the word problem about fractions and find a solution. Pupils use the links to find different solutions to the problems.

Students sing "I Believe I can Fly".  In this singing instructional activity, students discuss strategies for solving problems and perform the song.

Students read various articles related to transportation and land use. They cite textual references as they engage in panel discussions, shared inquiry discussions and debates. They write a persuasive essay on the topic.

Young scholars explore the creative aspects of problem-solving and practice creative problem-solving strategies in the context of a story problem. They decide where to locate ice cream stands in a town so that no one has to travel too...

Sixth graders examine the Creole language known as Gullah which is a form of speech comprised of a number of unrelated languages. They determine how slaves used this to communicate so that slave masters would not be able to understand...

Pupils write a personal reading history about how reading has influenced their lives. They identify their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences as readers through a survey. Students examine what goes on in their minds while they read...

Students work in groups to make an instrument the Meteorologists use to measure the speed of the wind after the teacher reads them a poem about the wind. Students then review vocabulary that they studied from their lesson.

Young scholars observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. As a class, they silently read an article about panda bears from "Ranger Rick" magazine and answer comprehension questions. They answer the five "W" questions, and...

Students work together as a team to solve the hypothetical common problem of litter. They give examples of organizations that focus on trying to help others in significant ways (volunteers). Each group maps out their strategy, a tree...

Students, after reading and analyzing the poem, Selflessness of Mind, by Joe Gurknecht, brainstorm and discuss specific recent student acts of selflessness. They develop strategies to tie those acts of selflessness to themselves and...

Students explore the short /a/ sound. Taking turns, they pick short /a/ sight word apples from a bulletin board apple tree. Each student reads the word and then chooses someone from the class to identify the /a/ sound in the word.

Fourth graders read the problem and brainstorm for ways to solve the problem - list these on the board for the students to refer to as they solve the problem. They work in pairs and focus on the strategy selected.

Second graders examine facts that can be found in nonfiction books. They listen to a read aloud of Patrick's Dinosaur, with time before the end for student predictions. They make dinosaur t-shirts using facts from the book.

Second graders examine the designs on nickels before 2004 and after when the new Peace Medal nickel was minted. They research the events that preceded the new design and explore the symbols of friendship on the new coin. They work in...

Students complete spelling activities. In this online spelling lesson, students watch a clip that uses 'ai' words. Students try spelling the words and discuss spelling strategies. Students work in pairs to spell their own names and their...

Students practice a summarizing strategy in this lesson. They are given a copy of a "National Geographic Kids" article and are encouraged to read it silently. They then use the steps provided to write an individual summary of the article.

Students review the concept of silent reading. They listen to an article and, through guided practice and modeling, create a concept map of what they hear. Then, in groups of two, they read another article on their own and map it the...

Students participate in a reading literacy lesson that focuses on the skill of visualization and the metaphor of a movie is used to explain images in the mind. This lesson teaches children how to make a movie in their head from what is...

Students solve weight equations. In this equations instructional activity, groups of students weigh and separate pennies to find information necessary to solve simultaneous equations. The teacher provides equations based on the weight of...