Small groups read assigned chapters from the book, Letters to Rifka, then work together to fill out comprehension worksheets associated with their chapters. This fine, 13-page lesson plan culminates with each group getting together to...

The Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars, is a 160-page chapter book about a family going through a difficult time. Complement your reading of Byars' book with this detailed outline of each chapter. Every section includes comprehension...

A thorough lesson plan takes your first grade class through Jane Yolen's beautiful Owl Moon. It crafts the unit with clear objectives, high-level guiding questions, cloze activities and sentence frames, and extension...

Andrew, Katrina, Irene. Recognize these names? They are all retired hurricane names. Investigating why these storm names were retired is just one activity in a 33-page packet designed to be used in conjunction with a study...

Director George Pal’s film The Time Machine, based on H. G. Wells’ 1895 science fiction novella and starring Rod Taylor, Alan Young, and Yvette Mimieux, is the focus of a lesson that considers the consequences of time travel. Viewers...

Your readers explore plot patterns in mysteries by identifying problems first in Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald J. Sobol and then in  The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. To gain access to the worksheets, graphic organizers and...

Pupils visit websites about the books, authors, and illustrators who received the King awards. They view illustrations from Kadir Nelson's award winning book Ellington Was Not a Street. They read excerpts from books and author interviews.

Students examine books nominated for the Mark Twain Award. They visit various authors' Web sites and read stories, explore the authors, and perform related activities.

Students visit links about Utah's Beehive Award. They investigate which books received nominations and read reviews about them. They explore other sites to participate in various games and activities.

Students construct relationships between written narratives and book illustrations, and between the narratives in formal visual art and the subject of the visual art. The use of picture book literature provide a context for the...

One book, two main characters, and a Venn diagram; it's time to discuss similarities and differences in order to compare and contrast two characters from the same book. The class listens to the book Toot and Puddles as they complete a...

Students analyze the title, text, and pictures to determine the main idea. In this language arts lesson, students predict the main idea by looking at various features of the book. As students listen to the story, they illustrate and...

An important part of reading informational text is being able to discern fact from opinion. The class reads chapter one from the book, Penguins by Lynn M. Stone. They analyze specific sections of the text to determine if what...

Students investigate the Nebraska Golden Sower Award and nominated titles for the current year. They explore the Nebraska Golden Sower website, read a chapter from a Golden Sower book using the jigsaw method, and create a concept map and...

Fourth graders examine the Caldecott award. They recognize the medal and explore books/illustrators that have won the award in the past. They vote for their favorite.

Students observe and listen to nonfiction books about the life cycle of pumpkins. They practice early reading skills in a shared reading related to pumpkins. They observe the life cycle of a pumpkin including growth and decay.

Students read Newbery award books. In this Newbery book instructional activity, students look online to find all the books that have received this award and look through online reviews to find one they would like to read. After finishing...

Students list the five best films of the year, in their opinion; brainstorm a list of criteria for a "good" film. They compare their own lists with the nominees in this year's Academy Awards; consider patterns in Academy Award winners of...

What makes a book fiction or nonfiction? Kindergartners discover ways to find out if a book is real or made up. They examine a fictional picture book as a group and decide what clues help them decide. There is an independent worksheet...

First graders characterize fiction and non-fiction books, they discover the characteristics of each type of book and compare two books (one fiction & one nonfiction) about the same subject. They make a list that describes what...

Introduce young readers to the word of non-fiction. They examine the features found in non-fiction books such as, facts, dates, and realistic pictures. They discuss how the images in the book Your Pet Dog depict real dogs...

Students read a book about leopards and create a title based on the details they read about the book. In this titles lesson plan, students read the book In the Wild: Leopards with the title covered up.

Factual books about animals are great for sparking interest in non-fiction text. Little ones will love learning about the foods animals eat as they practice identifying facts in a text. They chart the information they've learned by...

Familiarize your class with the genre of biography. After some direct instruction about biography, work together to discuss historical facts and significant events from A Picture Book of Anne Frank by David A. Adler. In order...