Reciting poetry is a great way to build oral language skills and build classroom community. Pupils look at the text elements of poetry and choose a poem to read aloud. They focus on rhythm, fluency, and expression. This is a great way to...

Build literacy through social studies and reading strategies. This lesson focuses on using pre-reading, vocabulary building, and comprehension questions to boost literacy while educating learners on international trade, NAFTA, and...

Elementary schoolers observe and demonstrate a variety of strategies for reading with expression. They listen to the teacher read A Fine, Fine School with and without expression and discuss the differences. Then in pairs, read the...

Was it the War against Northern Aggression or the War to Unify the Union? Scholars investigate the key battles and strategies of the American Civil War to determine just why the North was victorious in the end.

Have you ever wanted to tell a character what you really thought of him or her? Use a lesson based on Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter to encourage learners to write a letter in response to a character's actions. 

Learn new words as you read Marc Brown's story, Arthur's New Puppy. This is focused as a vocabulary-in-context activity (though this strategy could be used with any book and set of words). Introduce the new words you will focus on:...

Clifford the Big Red Dog is here to introduce some new vocabulary terms in context to young readers. Although this activity is designed around Norman Bridwell's picture book, the strategies are applicable for any text. Introduce the new...

Explore the life inside trees as scholars learn vocabulary through Debbie Miller's informational text Are Trees Alive? Familiarize pupils with the new words they will hear like anchor, disease, awaken,...

Practice the strategy of decoding to become fluent readers with young scholars. They interact with the correspondence ee=/E/ as it deals with speech and text. The tongue twister, "Why did Lee and the bee flee to the tree?," is also...

Readers of Avi's young adult novel, Nothing But the Truth reflect on events in the story through a series of journal responses.

Students explore note taking. In this study skills and nonfiction comprehension lesson, students complete a two column main idea chart while reading a nonfiction passage.

Students learn to use prediction to think more deeply about literature. In this reading comprehension instructional activity, students chart predictions in order to more fully understand text.

First graders listen and read along as a story is read to them. They discuss what they read when finished with the text. Students discuss the story vocabulary and the word meanings. They practice decoding unknown words and complete a...

Young scholars participate in visualization exercises as a reading comprehension strategy. As the teacher reads a poem, the students visualize the setting, then read the poem "Daddy's Making Dinner" and create a drawing of what they...

Prior to reading Fever 1793, class members are introduced to vocabulary drawn from the text of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel with a bingo-style activity. The vocabulary list, a teacher copy with definitions, and the bingo template are...

Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...

Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori presents a vivid picture of Japanese culture and history. As kids read through the third chapter, they find novel-specific vocabulary to enhance their understanding and use context clues to...

First graders practice oral and silent reading using beginning  comprehension and decoding strategies. In this guided reading lesson, 1st graders take a picture walk and make plot predictions prior to reading the book Rain by Robert...

Strategy-based programs that are executed with consistency are the best for achieving growth in any learner with a learning disability. Here is a seven-step lesson plan that is highly structured and is intended to help learners with...

Learners explore the benefits and joys of reading. They review the reading comprehension strategy cross-checking. They then are introduced to the library and are encouraged to check out an independent book they would independently...

Pupils one main goal when reading is to comprehend, and one strategy to improve reading comprehension is summarization. As students begin reading expository texts, it is vital for them to be able to pick out and summarize the main...

Students work to develop comprehension strategies. Through modeling and guided practice they develop a series of questions as they read Where the Wild Things Are. They apply these questions to find answers about the text and make...

Students work to develop comprehension strategies. They focus on the five 'w' questions for summarizing: who, what, when, where, and why? Through modeling and guided practice, they apply these questions to summarize several passages.

“The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable. . .” After reading “The Aftermath,” the final chapter of Hiroshima, class members use a Question Answer Response (QAR) strategy to reflect on issues raised...