You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but feel free to find the silver lining in a worksheet about common proverbs and adages. Learners read six popular adages and write their literal definitions on the lines provided.

Look deeper into the text with a reading strategy based on asking critical thinking questions. While reading Reading the Fountain by Kate Klise, learners think of questions that help them describe, compare, associate, analyze,...

You can prevent bullying in your classroom by addressing kindness, empathy, and acceptance with your littlest learners early on. After reading Don't Laugh at Me by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin, kids discuss the ways that words...

Your plane has crashed in the Sahara desert. What do you do? Explore the possibilities with a role-playing activity based on Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince. In groups, kids decide whether they would walk to find help...

If you were stranded on a desert island, what items would be the most important to have with you? Decide whether you'd want a five gallon can of water, a radio, shark repellent, or any other item with an activity designed to prepare kids...

Close your eyes and picture a time where you decided to tell the truth to someone. What were you wearing? How did you feel? Such prompts begin a guided imagery activity for Zach's Lie. Directions for creating an environment conducive to...

Start off your young English language learners with this packet of materials, which covers three weeks of instructions. After completing the unit, kids will have practiced the letters K through Z, read several story books, talked with...

The story of Helen Keller is a fascinating one for young scholars; use it to practice reading comprehension and new vocabulary as learners listen to you read David Adler's picture book (hint: this strategy can be applied to any book)....

Provide access to new vocabulary words (envy and mysteriously) in context as emerging readers listen to Leo Lionni's Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Explain these terms before reading the story aloud and help kids utilize...

Explore vocabulary in context with emerging readers using Leo Lionni's whimsical story Matthew's Dream, which you can find on YouTube if you don't have it. Kids expand their word base as you pre-teach the...

Lorinda Cauley's book Clap Your Hands is a fun way to expand budding readers' vocabulary in context (although you could use any book for this strategy). To prepare kids, introduce the following terms before...

Do any of your budding readers have parents who work the night shift? Eileen Spinelli's book Night Shift Daddy, which can be found on YouTube if you don't have it, examines this family dynamic in a positive light and is an...

Franklin the turtle makes a new friend as youngsters learn vocabulary in context using Paulette Bourgeois' story (tip: this strategy can be applied to any book). Brief kids on the new words so they can raise their hands when they...

Mr. Snowman wants to help emerging readers understand compound words, so he segments some familiar words to help them see that they are made of two distinct words. Learners repeat the words, both segmented and blended, and observe them...

Examine the text of Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter with a reading guide. With questions that prompt kids to refer to the reading as well as to their own experiences and opinions, the guide is an effective way to keep them engaged...

While reading Chapter 8 of Number the Stars, learners write down any words they encounter in their reading that they find interesting, strange, or confusing. They record why they chose each word, and after completing the reading...

Explore soil, genetic traits, natural resources, and pollution in a series of lessons that focus on biodiversity. Kids complete experiments to learn more about the importance of varied genes and organisms in an ecosystem.

Who would ever think to go to sea in a sieve? Only Edward Lear's Jumblies! The poem "The Jumblies" is the inspiration for these poetry reading and writing activities that ask learners to think about how strangers are different, consider...

Second graders explore technology and its uses. They explore Kid Pix software and create pictures displaying their interests. They review their spelling list words and use Kid Pix to choose tools to demonstrate their words. They write...

In this word recognition worksheet, students recognize high frequency words. Students read a story and circle all the most common words each time they appear. They also complete fourteen fill-in the blank questions by placing the high...

In this online interactive vocabulary skills worksheet, students match the 10 vocabulary terms in the word bank to the appropriate definitions. Students may submit their answers to be scored.

If figurative language makes your kids feel blue or under the weather, use an activity focused on idioms to help them feel on top of the world. Kids complete a chart with seven idiomatic phrases, adding the meaning of each along with an...

Make a connection between empathy and bullying with a reading passage that has readers thinking about other people's feelings. After reading, learners respond to ten reading comprehension questions involving short answer and multiple...