"Chicago Changes" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how Chicago changed from a small town to a large city. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining...

A lesson plan in which students read a text and record the main ideas and supporting details on a graphic organizer. Students then complete the organizer by writing a summary of the text. Materials are included.

This Daily Teaching Tools collection provides graphic organizers for writing. Elaborate graphic organizers for the following areas are provided: persuasive essays, expository essays, paragraph writing, fiction pieces, narrative writing,...

Explore the effects that an invasive species can have on the environment. In this interactive lesson, learners learn how Lyngbya, a destructive form of algae, is creating environmental problems for the plants and wildlife in the Crystal...

[Free Registration/Login Required] During this MEA simulation, kindergarten students will be given a set of criteria. To help the character Hopping Hippo for her TV show, students will use the criteria to select shoes. Guided reading,...

In this interactive lesson, students examine Thomas Edison's character traits and how they contributed to his becoming one of the greatest inventors in history. In this interactive lesson, students watch videos to gather evidence about...

Students join Buster Baxter on a ancient Egypt, in this geography lesson. Students learn about Cairo, ancient Egypt, the pyramids, the Nile River, and relevant vocabulary terms. Then students write about what they've learned in the form...

Working on higher-level thinking skills with your readers is made easier with this lesson. You will have your students connect with and analyze a mystery story at their grade-appropriate level. Lesson plan, printable worksheets, and...

Tremendous resource containing six lessons that use Charlotte's Web to teach various life cycles. Includes useful handouts in the appendix.

[Free Registration/Login Required] For this lesson, students will use What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to identify the main topic and key details using the illustrations and text. Students will work...

In this interactive instructional activity, young scholars will increase their understanding of the important role that freshwater mussels play in our watershed. Students will learn about freshwater mussel species, how mussels improve...

Contains plans for three lessons that introduce a nonfiction prereading strategy with the acronym THIEVES, which stands for Title, Headings, Introduction, Every first sentence, Visuals and vocabulary, End Questions, and Summary. In...

This lesson will focus on the writing you do in high school. Whether you write expository and persuasive essays or short stories, your first steps are to determine and define your audience. After that, you will begin to generate ideas...

Unit plan containing five lessons designed for tenth graders. They center around reading and writing nonfiction, and they teach skills such as identifying the features of nonfiction and writing expository texts. All are aligned to...

To help students comprehend expository text structures, teachers can acquaint them with the signal or cue words authors utilize in writing each of the structures and use the graphic organizers offered in this article

Used as a follow-up lesson after reading the novel and viewing the entire video of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, students will analyze the opening title credits which show the cigar box and its contents which Jem and Scout have found in the...

This is a student led activity in which students have to accomplish the task of choosing the most entertaining way to relay written expository information. Art/self expression along with technology are utilized to develop a classroom...

Following a reading of O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi," students write an expository essay based on the connotative definition of "gift." The essay is then presented as a holiday gift. The lesson plan can be adapted to a variety of...

Here, parents and teachers can find tips for helping young readers understand the expository writing found in textbooks.

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, you will learn how to make the information in your expository essays relevant and your inferences valid.

Using a famous quote from Maya Angelou as inspiration, students learn and practice writing informative essay related to hisotric events.

By using the children's book, Squirrel's New Year's Resolution, as an example, students learn to write responses to the story and explain their own resolutions for the year. Site requires registration, but it is free.

[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] This lesson will teach you how to write and organize an essay so that it addresses different purposes, different audiences, and different contexts.

[Free Registration/Login Required] During this MEA simulation, kindergarten students will be given the power of slelecting a classroom pet. Students, working in collaborative groups, must collect data about different potential classroom...