A well-designed book on beans teaches kids about the anatomy of a bean. They cut out parts of a bean and paste them together. There are a lot of good descriptions of the parts of beans, such as the embryo, stored food, and the seed coat....

Revision is an important part of the writing process. Focus on revising topic sentences and details with the plan described here. This is part of a unit, so pupils have already filled out a graphic organizer about traveling...

It's important that writers leave their readers with a strong and satisfying conclusion. Help your young writers develop the skills to compose a concluding sentence with the steps outlined here. After class members have had a chance to...

Elementary learners create an ABC grammar book. The project begins with class members taking digital pictures of items that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Depending on level, they then add a word or a complete sentence to...

Stella Louella’s Runaway Book launches a study of point of view and storytelling. After reading the tale, class members retell the story from the point of view of another character. The scripted plan, developed by a teacher candidate,...

Pop, pop, pop! Can you hear the sound popcorn makes when it's being made? Start the day by reading The Popcorn Book. Youngsters will love stringing together popcorn necklaces and learning about popcorn. There are separate prompts and...

Travel through Europe with ten-year-old Teddy Roosevelt in this writing activity, which uses the picture book My Tour of Europe: by Teddy Roosevelt, by Ellen Jackson. After reading the book, readers compare it to passages from The...

As a before reading strategy, class members select a tale from mythology, examine several picture book versions of the myth, and fill out part of a Venn diagram with observations about the hero in particular and the myth in...

Encourage your young writers to thoughtfully plan and organize their work. First, model how this is done and vocalize your thought process as you work. Next, create a class list of strategies that they can use during independent writing...

Ease into informational text with the lesson suggested here. Part of a unit series, the lesson draws from previous lessons and acts as a natural moment to add in informational text. Class members read one section of My Librarian is a...

Continue work with an informational text by following the procedures detailed here. The plan, part of a series, focuses on My Librarian is a Camel. Class members complete text-dependent questions and then prepare for and participate in a...

Questioning a text is a very effective way for kids to develop their reading comprehension skills. Designed to engage all class members, a reading activity prompts pairs to develop and share their own questions about the ending of Neil...

Supervise the final drafting of a well-organized paragraph by following the steps outlined in this plan. Using the included sample paragraph as a model, class members brainstorm criteria for quality work and then compose their paragraphs...

Practice making informed predictions. Have your class create a paper fortune-teller and ask questions about the future. They compare the fortune-telling process to the more informed kind of predictions they make while reading. They...

Students identify and differentiate between the eight parts of speech. After diagramming a sentence as an introductory activity, students create a set of flash cards to aid in the remembrance of the usage of the eight parts of speech. ...

Students explore biology by listening to an in-class lecture. In this plant science lesson, students sing songs with their classmates regarding anatomical parts of a plant and create plants from arts and crafts materials. Students listen...

Students create a class book award. In this book award lesson, students review the book awards already created (Caldecott or Newbery) and look at books that have received these awards. They come up with their own award and nominate new...

Young scholars complete a diagram of sea horse body parts.  In this sea horse lesson, students review the story Sea Horses A True Book, complete a sea horse diagram using Internet sights to help, make new entries in their KWL charts...

Students identify spider body parts. For this arachnid lesson, students review the story Amazing World of Spiders and discuss the various spider body parts. Students fill in the correct body parts on a copy of a blank spider...

Students create a class alphabet book. In this letter recognition instructional activity, students use line and color to draw an object whose name begins with a specific letter. Students use adjectives to create a sentence describing the...

Students read Poke and Look Learning Books and complete predicting activities, reading, questioning, and more. In this Poke and Look Learning Books, students do this for 13 different books.

Students, utilizing technology and its avenues, create, produce and publish a variety of works. They generate a bubble map to brainstorm words that describe a specific vacation spot as well as create a pattern book with graphics about...

Learners explore the concept of design, and identify items in their lives that have been designed. They explore the concept of book design and create and arrange their own page layout.

Everyone deserves to read a great book! Here, pupils write a persuasive letter to the school's librarian detailing their favorite story and why it should be found on the shelves. Class members' persuasive reading passages are shared with...