This detailed overview of a curriculum unit suggests using travel literature to engage and stimulate your third graders’ interest in reading. The suggested reading list includes fiction and non-fiction materials and offers urban children...

Explore the text, Cold and Hot, with comprehension strategies for young readers. First, give them a purpose for reading: find out what the boy wore outside in the snow! Then have them use one-to-one matching and picture clues to...

After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms...

While reading either a non-fiction or fictional text, have your class record new and unknown words. This graphic organizer has space for six words and their definitions, so challenge your kids to find at least six unknown words. 

Being able to identify and understand the point of view of fictional characters across a wide range of time periods, places, and cultures is a skill that is necessary for becoming a proficient reader. It is also a skill identified in the...

What if the unit of money changes tomorrow? Would you be prepared? Learners calculate currency conversions using fictional units of money. The fictional unit's base is 60 rather than 100, which can connect to time or even degrees.

The Great Wall of China is a wonder of the world. Learners explore the history and construction of the incredible feat using both non-fiction and fictional works. The resource includes multi-day lesson plans that contains ideas for...

Young voyagers face the challenge of the wide dark sea, travel with Yunmi and Halmoni, and even get trapped by the ice as they explore the reading selections offered in these enrichment activities designed for the Houghton...

The impressive story of Benjamin Franklin, including his rise from a printer’s apprentice to a statesman, color upper-level scholars’ understanding of the possibilities of life in colonial Philadelphia. But not everyone had the...

Is it possible to tell a true war story? Tim O’Brien says that fiction is for “getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” To get at the truth about war, class members examine primary source materials from the...

Students study the effect of history on fictional or dramatic works of art by reading, Arthur Miller's, The Crucible. They examine the ties between a nation's history and culture with the literature it produces.

Students in pairs explore the transmission of the Plague, through experimentation. Cooperative groups use the scientific method to solve the fictional problem of a bacteria spreading in the Amazon. Groups also create a vector to visually...

A remotely operated vehicle approaching a volcano was engulfed by molten sulfur where the plumes of fluids contained the highest concentrations of aluminum ever recorded. This isn't science fiction or an April fools joke, though it did...

Let’s learn about frogs! Young readers are led through “Freaky Frogs,” a non-fiction article. Teach learners how to edit an article so there are fewer details to sift through. After talking through the article, they learn the six steps...

Students read fiction or nonfiction books that stretch their reading levels. They reflect on the books they read with classmates and select a dynamic scene, colorful setting, or appealing characters to illustrate in a visual book report....

Students read both fiction and nonfiction books with desert themes. Then they write desert stories and reports, reviewing texts for information to include in writing. Students also design desert scenes with details and setting elements...

In this geography research worksheet, student examine books, newspapers, or the internet to find information about the history of flooding in the United Kingdom. They write a fictional account in a news report, TV interview, or a blog....

Sometimes modeling is the best approach to working with microscopic particles. A lab investigation models a fictional element using pasta. The setup uses three different pasta types to represent three different isotopes. Learners...

This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...

Students examine gravity, mass, and friction. In this speed and motion instructional activity, students investigate how straight line motion is impacted by gravity, mass, and fiction as they participate in a hands-on activity.

What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this lesson, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that a...

Discuss the history of slavery by analyzing historic photography depicting slavery. Learners write fictional stories based on these photographs. This is a creative and motivating way to launch a discussion of these topics. 

Students consider the role of women in the food industry. In this gender exploitation lesson, students work in groups to examine unfair labor practices. Students watch a video and write a fictional letter from a female laborer. This...

Good question are the heart of great discussions. To prepare for a book club discussion, introduce young readers to the characteristics of good conversation-starting questions. Practice crafting questions for a text the class has...