Enter the world of Harry Potter and learn new vocabulary at the same time. A high-interest reading passage provides insight into the history of Harry Potter. Follow-up activities incorporate key vocabulary strategies, such as using...

Good books are accessible through a variety of literary lenses. To consider how the same story can be seen in different lights, groups develop a storyboard for a movie teaser that would focus on one of six concepts found in Suzanne...

Reading comprehension and note-taking skills are practiced as young ecologists embark on this journey. Explorers visit a website where they will read about three ecosystems that are in danger. They use interactive programs to build a...

Where does inspiration come from? Where do writers get their ideas? What about visual artists? A PowerPoint and a video introduce middle schoolers to children's author and illustrator Eric Carle and how he found inspiration in the work...

To conclude a study of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members sharpen their critical thinking skills by engaging in a Socratic seminar discussion of Martinez's novel.

After completing Chapter 5 of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, readers make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections to Victor Martinez's novel by crafting journal entries addressing comments and questions to characters in...

A series of reading activities is sure to engage your young readers! Based on comparing and contrasting ideas, the packet provides opportunities to compare characters, themes, texts, and other elements of fiction.

Discover the life of Abraham Lincoln with help from the story Abe Lincoln Remembers by Ann Turner. After listening carefully, scholars reflect on what they deem as Lincoln's most influential life event and how it relates...

What would you do? To prepare for the final scene from Arthur Miller's The Crucible, readers are presented with a series of moral dilemmas and asked to consider what they would do in the same situations.

Encourage your readers to make predictions about Edward Bloor's young adult novel, Tangerine, with an anticipation guide that presents statements that introduce key issues in the novel.

Young poets demonstrate their understanding of a character from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street by crafting a biopoem that captures the essence of this person.

Get deep! Teach scholars how to make connections between texts to deepen their understanding of a topic. Using the resource, pupils read and annotate a short informational text about Sudan's Civil War and refugee crisis. Next, they...

It's puzzle time! Pupils participate in a jigsaw activity to discuss the various uses of water, including personal, agricultural, and industrial uses. They also conduct a close reading of The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman and answer...

Students use the comprehension strategy question-answer to improve reading comprehension. They read a passage out of their textbook, and the teacher models the question/answer strategy by asking about key points mentioned in the reading.

Students read a narrative selection and select a literature circle role. In this reading comprehension lesson, students work in groups to identify vocabulary, make text connections, or other reading comprehension strategies. Students...

Learners investigate animals that hatch from eggs. In this hatching animals lesson plan, students investigate which animals are born alive and which hatch from eggs. Learners read It Started As An Egg and practice reading comprehension...

Learners answer reading comprehension questions using the "story grammar" technique. They listen to a story and then answer questions using the technique: main character, setting, main events, and resolution. Students complete an...

Students practice their reading comprehension skills. In this reading skills lesson, students use the R.E.A.C.T.I.O.N. model to identify story elements in books that students elect to read independently.

Help your pupils discover the power of context clues by teaching the this vocabulary strategy. Designed to go with words from Willa Cather's My Antonia, this exercise focuses on having individuals use their own words to define new...

Can your learners stump you with questions? Find out with this question-centered activity! After reading a portion of My Antonia by Willa Cather, pupils question the teacher. Once the first round is complete, the class reads more and...

Have you used the directed reading thinking activity in your classroom? Doubling as either a prereading strategy, or a during reading strategy, it helps readers connect the historical background of the text to the text itself. As the...

Discuss movies and movie enjoyment with your middle school language arts class. They interpret movie review information, determine appropriate movies, and then write film reviews to share with the class. Focus on using context clues to...

Craft your own fairy tale based on Momotaro, a Japanese story referenced in Kyoko Mori's Shuzuko's Daughter. A list of nouns guide learners in writing their own story, and predicting what might happen in the novel.

Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...