There is nothing more exciting than allowing learners to express themselves through a creative medium. In groups, they write narrative stories, focusing on building a strong storyline and dialogue. Next, they transform their stories into...

Learners of all ages discover the importance of reading fluently by viewing celebrities reading children books and telling about their personal paths to fluency. They participate in a fluency reading routine that connects them with a...

Explore non-violent protest in this social values and world history lesson. After viewing the movie Gandhi, and discussing important events in Gandhi's life, young orators write a speech defending Gandhi's position on the value of...

Literature circles can be so enjoyable and enlightening, but it's tough to make it around to each group in a short amount of time. This lesson suggests that each group records their discussion, and a different reading strategy is used...

Students discuss their favorite book. In this book discussion lesson, students name the title and tell what makes the book special. Students also review the setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Students make a book that tells all of...

Wait, what am I supposed to affix? Explore the concept of roots/affixes with your class. They use discussion questions to discover the meaning and usage of specific roots and affixes. They watch a video explaining Latin and Greek roots...

Which is better for a harvest party, apple juice or apple cider? Are there many black bears in your state? How soon in advance do you need to plant pumpkins in order for them to be ready by October? Find the answers to these questions...

What is happening to our newspapers? In the context of the current trends of media and the ever-declining print news industry, this handout includes two political cartoons for pupils to analyze, both created by artists working for...

What is the difference between accept and except? Affect and effect? Brilliantly advise your class with the advice in these slides. Definitions of commonly misused words from A-Z help clarify meaning and usage.

Who cares about manners anyway? According to the New York Times, Mrs. Mason does. Learners read and consider an article which addresses the decline of manners and the impact it has on society. They answer seven critical thinking...

There are a lot of different ways a learner could respond to this New York Times article discussing the effects of modern culture on childhood. After reading the article, pupils construct a thoughtful blog post. The guiding questions...

Measurement tools, yardsticks, scales, and thermometers, are the subject of a reading comprehension worksheet that asks kids to answer a series of questions based on the provided article.

After examining a short article on fractions and decimals, readers draw information for the text to respond to a series of reading comprehension questions.

Critical thinking and social justice are central themes for this resource on bias and crime in media. The class views and discusses an incisive PSA that highlights assumptions based on race. Small groups read newspaper opinion pieces...

On your mark, get set, match! Learners use a complete set of letters, matching each to its outlined letter on an arc. As they choose letters, they name them aloud. For added difficulty, another arc is missing most of its letters to...

Practice letter recognition using this fun alphabet game! Focusing on a suggested six target letters, this partner activity has learners saying and recognizing letter names as quickly as possible. Using a randomly chosen letter as the...

A memory activity engages young learners in letter-sound correspondence. Pairs take turns examining two sets of cards lying face down. They flip one image card and one letter card, then name the initial sound. If the sounds match, pupils...

Young scholars spin their way to letter sound fluency. While tomes, pairs spin a spinner and make the sound of the letter on which it lands. They add a counter to their cup for each sound they make correctly. At the end of the game,...

Scholars work in pairs to drill and practice alphabet sounds, keeping track of their progress on a chart. Working one at a time, each partner flips letter cards, saying the sound and letter. If they get it correct, it goes in the YES...

Scholars time each other as they work through a sheet of all 26 letters. They test each other to see how many letters sounds they can identify in one minute.

Learners time each other as they read as many rime words as possible.

Peers take turns timing each other for one minute and reading as many high-frequency cards as possible.

Here is an interesting take on the old timed-fluency activity. In pairs, learners work together to see how fast they can read two sets of high-frequency words. Peer one reads a word from his list; peer two works fast to find that word in...

Taking turns, pre-readers time each other as they read high-frequency words.