How does a new version of a Shakespearean play change in the adaptation process? Use this New York Times' Learning Network lesson to consider texts that have been produced in different media. Middle schoolers examine the latest...

Your little learners listen to the story Chicken Little in order to explain how behavior affects interpersonal communication. They engage in a class discussion to determine the differences between truth and gossip.

Use this lesson to reinforce the effect of passive and active voice in writing. First, middle schoolers write several sentences, and then use the attached worksheet to identify whether the sentences are written in active or passive voice.

Inspire your class to look at their environments as if they were seeing them for the first time in order to gain a better understanding of the concept of perspective. After exploring their communities and keeping a journal of major...

Students read a variety of electronic Aesop's fables to define fable and moral, and write and illustrate an original fable. They then publish their fable using PowerPoint.

Students create questions to pose to adults working in Middle School. In groups, students create a video interviewing the Middle School staff. They edit the video and format present it as an introduction to Middle School for perspective...

These activities center around acting out a play to help create fluent readers who use expression and emotion. As readers work through the play the first time, they also practice decoding strategies. In small groups of four, they then...

What is liberty rhetoric? Examine how people have used it in four different time periods and situations. High schoolers investigate original source documents and compare them with the Declaration of Independence to decide how liberty...

Students write their own folktales based on "Cathal O'Cruachan and the Cowherd." In discussions they examine the animal symbolism in the story, as well as the characters, events, problems, and solution. With partners, they select...

Young scholars discover the importance of matching verbs to their subjects through a discussion of a whimsical video on verb agreement and a read aloud of the book, "To Root, To Toot To Parachute". They practice verb agreement in...

W.W. Jacobs' story "The Monkey's Paw" provides plenty of foreshadowing which readers use to make predictions in this tightly composed, sound instructional plan. Your class reads the story, recording predictions and checking for veracity...

Tenth graders analyze the use of literary elements in W.W. Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw." Literary analysis is accomplished by a review of the plot and order of events in the story. Learners work in pairs to match the events from the story...

In this reading worksheet, 1st graders read 6 passages and answer multiple choice comprehension questions about them. Students complete 25 questions.

Have your class explore active reading strategies! In this guided reading lesson, learners make personal connections to characters having a bad day as a prior knowledge activation discussion. After reading Gettin' Through Thursday, class...

Review subject-verb agreement with your class. Demonstrate the different verb forms when the subject is singular, plural, compound, and an indefinite pronoun. Not too long, this presentation is nonetheless thorough, especially for...

What makes a story interesting? Complex characters! As part of a series of worksheets that prepares middle schoolers to write their own novel, the exercises included explain the role of the protagonist, the antagonist, and the supporting...

William Steig's story of a witty mouse couple will have scholars intrigued as they listen for new vocabulary words and context clues. Doctor DeSoto can be found on YouTube in case you don't have it. Emerging readers expand...

Franklin the turtle is on another adventure in Paulette Bourgeois' book Franklin Goes to the Hospital, and there are plenty of new words for your young readers to explore as they hear this story. Although you can include more,...

Read Allen Say's classic tale Grandfather's Journey as scholars expand their vocabulary in context (note: this strategy could be done with any text). Wondering what words they will learn here? Although you could easily include...

No one likes being sick; use Aamir Bermiss' book I Hate To Be Sick as the context for a vocabulary study of illness-related words. Acquaint pupils with this unhealthy vocabulary (dizzy, faint, fever,...

Looking for a Halloween-themed vocabulary lesson? Study words in context using Zoe Hall's story It's Pumpkin Time, an excellent informational text for budding readers. The spooky suggested words are: buds, gather, hollow,...

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

Class members may "think themselves accurs'd" when they first hear of an assignment that asks them to create a motivational speech. After studying the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry V; however, they will count...

Dazai Osamu’s short story, “A Sound of Hammering” is the focus of a three-day investigation of modern Japanese literature and life in post-World War II Japan. The events in Osamu’s story mirror those in his own life, and give a...