What would a main idea be without important details? Readers use a graphic organizer to record key details from an informational text (a fiction text would also work). Review main idea as a concept before beginning, asking scholars...

If you're looking to set your class up for writing effective arguments, try out this idea. While originally created with freedom as a guiding idea, the activity could easily be adapted for other themes. As a class, create a chart of...

As part of a group of lessons, your class will return to the primary text for this unit, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Key vocabulary as well as close reading strategies continue to be the focus skills; however, this...

That is ground shaking news! Scholars read Earthquake in multiple reads to determine the gist, identify cause and effect relationships, and understand vocabulary. Learners complete graphic organizers to describe what happens before and...

A storm is brewing in the sea. Scholars complete multiple reads of How Does a Hurricane Form to determine gist, cause-and-effect relationships, and deepen vocabulary understanding.  To finish, they complete graphic organizers...

Learners analyze text and maps in determining the effect the world's energy resources have on human society, and make charts illustrating at least three ways each resource makes life easier for human society.

Lesson 6 of this extensive unit finally has your class begin to work their way through specific articles from the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Before examining the rights actually detailed in the...

Some literary characters are interesting, some are helpful, and some are ... well, stinky. Using the novel study in conjunction with reading Mr. Stink, scholars meet a smelly but kind person named Mr. Stink. Pupils illustrate the plot,...

Eighth graders identify figurative language and poetry in this literary analysis lesson. Using Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and a YouTube video for "The Walrus and the Carpenter," young readers complete a literary device...

What's this all about? Scholars learn the importance of summarizing skills using a summary writing graphic organizer. They work with an elbow partner to discuss summaries and complete the organizer using Middle Ages Excerpt 1. Learners...

What is an idiom, and why is it necessary that we know and understand them? This brief PowerPoint helps answer these questions by looking at examples and offering a strategy for reading new text that might contain an idiom. The final...

A continuation of the previous lesson, which is part of a larger group of lessons on human rights (see additional materials). Here, in Lesson 7, your class will explore more articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After...

Get started with The Cay. First, provide some background information and images that relate to the novel. Then pupils can create double-entry journals. Once that is complete, read the first two chapters, encouraging individuals to record...

Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this lesson plan about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in...

The Bradys, the Flintstones, and the Simpsons are some of pop culture's most memorable families. So how do the Applewhites stack up? Using a novel study for Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, scholars answer text-based...

As the final lesson plan in a larger beginning-of-the-year unit to establish routines and teach close reading skills, this plan is designed as an assessment piece. Using the story, The Librarian of Basra, learners independently...

One of the keys to success in school is organization. This resource leads learners through the process of creating an outline for a chapter from a social studies text. In addition, they review facts they have learned in their class...

Chaotic, perjury, tenacious, vague, predatory, idiosyncrasy. Using Marzano and Brown’s six steps of direct instruction for vocabulary (choose, restate, illustrate, use, discuss, play) readers of And Then There Were None engage in a...

Convey how to determine appropriate and credible online sources with a series of three lessons. After completing the lessons, class members will know what kinds of sources to use, how to identify credible sources, and how tone and style...

Laura Ingalls Wilder memorialized life in the American West with her Little House on the Prairie series. Readers explore the first book in the series using a novel study guide. Along with standard text-based questions, scholars...

Manifest, Kansas is a town where anything is possible. Scholars explore the fictional setting using an engaging novel study on Clare Vanderpool's Moon Over Manifest. After answering questions about the text and complete a vocabulary...

There are more than 260 types of monkeys in the world. With the novel study for Wilson Rawls' Summer of the Monkeys, pupils research interesting facts about the banana-loving primates. They also practice exaggeration, write...

Only one character receives a name in William H. Armstrong's novel, Sounder—the dog! With the novel study, scholars explore the author's purpose in the unusual decision. They also write similes, answer comprehension and analysis...

Need a prereading activity in line with the Common Core Standards for Language? Although designed for grades 11 and 12, the procedure detailed in this resource could be used with most grade levels. Prior to reading, select 20 – 25 words...