Turn your passive readers into active readers with an engaging lesson on reading informational text. Focused on compare and contrast structured essays, the activity prompts elementary learners to jot down questions and think-aloud...

Learning how to deliver good literacy instruction is key to becoming a successful teacher. This resource isn't so much a instructional activity as it is a guide to leading children in an interactive read-aloud session to increase...

Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...

Prepare your class for a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with an activity that works for pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading. Learners fill out a K-W-H-L chart to reflect on what they already know, what...

Utilizing a video camera, learners will read a story while being recorded. Later, they analyze the footage. After identifying their strengths and weaknesses with the teacher, they discuss reading fluency techniques. Adaptation: Instead...

Get your young scientists excited about geology through the study of dinosaur tracks! They will use their power of observation to learn how tracks are made and use critical thinking strategies to suggest a scenario in which they were...

What makes a poem difficult? Explore that topic and more with your class as you work through the instructional activity detailed here. Using materials from Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, individuals or small groups...

This activity may have writers evaluate short compositions, but their subjects are quite tall: great Americans. Pupils read one another's compositions and closely examine how specific phrases and diction contribute to shaping American...

Encourage learners to think deeply about the information they read or hear. Through a series of life skills worksheets, your pupils will consider the need for objectivity, identifying missing information, and problem solving.

A puzzle isn't about the individual pieces, but how they work together. Scholars assemble a puzzle and discover missing pieces. They write a description of what they expect these pieces to look like, including as many details as...

Imagine waking up to find a giant bug staring back at you in the mirror! Think about the plight of Franz Kafka's Gregor in The Metamorphosis with a group discussion activity. Class members reflect on what it would be...

What types of questions help readers learn the most? Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders learn how to ask four types of questions from the Question Answer Response (QAR) reading strategy to help grow their comprehension of Touching Spirit...

The New York Times article “Online Diary,” launches this study of websites and how to assess them. Richly detailed, the lesson includes warm-up activities, procedures, journal prompts, discussion questions, and links to valuable...

Your class won't be a bunch of squares from using this well-rounded activity! Instead, they'll be expressing thoughtful questions using the cubing strategy. The class brainstorms questions of increasing rigor about Zach's Lie in the...

You don't need to be planning a museum tour to take advantage of this graphic organizer that teaches kids how to read a work of art. The student version directs viewers' attention to the content, color, and composition, while the teacher...

Here’s a cross-curricular program music activity that uses Peer Gynt to engage class members. Groups take one section of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” choreograph their section of the tune to represent the story as they imagine it,...

The class reads the description of the "Drawing of an African Burial Ground Grave In Situ" then completes a work sheet. They act like archaeologists and answer a series of critical thinking questions to better understand the historical...

After listening to a story learners engage in a kinesthetic activity to answer comprehension and critical thinking questions. Finally, the students identify three main facts about the story. Extensions include a fact and opinion...

Eleventh graders read and study Hamlet. Then they are introduced to close reading as a means of understanding what is being read--not only understanding the printed word, but also the nuances and connotations of language as it is used by...

Foster critical thinking skills by using the DR-TA Strategy with Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Class members read portions of the essay, stop and discuss what is happening, make predictions based on evidence from the text, and...

Explore the many types of feelings and how people express them with a lesson compiled of kid-friendly activities that spark critical thinking, self-reflection, and reinforce language and writing skills. Scholars delve into the variety of...

How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...

Young writers study similes and then complete a writing activity for similes. They complete a teacher-led activity for similes and then work independently to write sentences using the given similes. A solid lesson!

A four corners pre-reading activity introduces class members to the major themes in Victor Martinez's award winning novel, Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida.