As you're reading Gary Paulsen's tale of self discovery and adventure, Canyons, bring this questioning strategy into your classroom. The QAR questioning strategy is meant to encourage a deeper analysis of the text, as some questions are...

Here's an activity that uses a reading comprehension strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy to focus readers' attention on key passages from Edward Bloor's Tangerine. Worthy of a place in your curriculum library.

Readers of Tennessee Williams' award winning memory play, The Grass Menagerie, will be neither disappointed nor discouraged by this prereading strategy that asks learners to consider what they know about Williams and his play, what they...

Kids learn best when asking questions about what they have read. Encourage active reading with a comprehension activity based on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, in which kids read passages from the beginning of the book and identify...

Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer...

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...

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...

An activity tests the fluency skills of young readers. Scholars match initial sound cards to letter cards. Pairs take turns and work to locate the most matches before the timer goes off. The activity ends with a peer evaluation.

Chapter 12 of The Hobbit provides the text for an exercise that asks readers to use the QAR strategy to develop and respond to questions about story.

Readers of Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry are introduced to the Question Answer Response Strategy (QAR) as a way to increase their engagement in and comprehension of the novel.

Improve your fifth graders' persuasive writing skills in four weeks. Working independently, in peer editing groups, and with instruction, writers work over the 17 sessions to craft an argumentative essay. They craft a...

Reinforce early reading skills with an activity focusing on letter recognition. Class members work in pairs to match uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

How much astronomy can you study with the naked eye? Learn more about the ways scientists explore the galaxy with a short reading passage and set of short-answer questions.

Allow your class to figure out what they will be studying through an inquiry-based anticipatory set that involves analysis of mystery documents and practice with making inferences. The lesson plan document includes a detailed description...

Students view, examine and analyze the artwork of Howard Finster along with other various visionary artists. They create and design an original piece of artwork and personalize creative spaces in the spirit of Finster's Paradise Gardens.

Students design their own emblem. In this introduction lesson, students get to know one another by designing an emblem that combines symbols that represent themselves. They express themselves to their classmates. 

Students enjoy reading independently. In this independent reading concept, students are given a finger flashlight to make silently reading a book at their instructional level more enjoyable.

Sixth graders examine the work of artist Chuck Close. They create their own image using markers that show a range of values. They develop a grid to replicate those values.

Seventh graders examine the life of artist Chuck Close. They use markers to create an image to show a range of values. They develop a grid to represent these values.

Students investigate connotation and denotation as a basis for greater examining of language. They identify the literal meaning of words and explore the greater implications and impact of word usage.

Seventh graders explore how proportion controls the image of a drawing. They examine a coordinate plane and discuss plotting. Student experiment drawing an object one size, and then drawing an identical object on a different scale.

This lesson kicks off with a PowerPoint presentation on Mark Twain. Learners examine the dialect, slang, viewpoint and setting. Then use e-mail to address three topics utilizing comprehension, synthesis, and evaluation skills.

Kindergarteners spell patterns of the long vowel phoneme /ay/. After listenting to The Birthday Day, learners work together to construct a class book that utilizes words that end in /ay/. Since the /ay/ phoneme is used so much...

Kindergarteners identify the long vowel sound /ai/ in speech and writing. The whole class shares the book, Daisy the Snail, then brainstorms as many /ai/ words as they can. The class constructs a word wall with the /ai/ words.