Keep an eye on the growth of your sixth graders' reading and writing skills with the help of this practice Common Core assessment. Working their way through the six included fiction and nonfiction reading passages, learners answer a...

Coyotes in Chicago? Yip. Middle schoolers demonstrate their ability to identify details that support the idea that coyotes are adaptable creatures.

Examine the process of summarizing a piece of text using the book So You Want to Be a President? Kids review the definitions for main idea, topic sentences, superordinate terms, and supporting details. Next, they work in small...

Third graders understand how to find the theme of a fable. In this theme instructional activity, 3rd graders use graphic organizers to record the events of a fable. Students use that information to determine the instructional activity of...

In this when did it happen in the story worksheet, students read 2 paragraphs and interactively answer 10 multiple choice comprehension questions, then click to see the answers.

Youngsters read the story of Rapunzel and go over vocabulary and answer discussion questions. They also list qualities of characters, discuss settings, make a diorama, and more.

Making predictions is an excellent reading strategy. Work on building this into your pupils' toolkit of strategies by trying out the process outlined here for reading the very beginning of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The...

Chapter-by-chapter worksheets ask readers to find specific examples of characterization, symbolism, setting, conflict, themes, and main ideas in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Also included in the packet is an assignment sheet that...

Emergencies happen. Be prepared the next time you have to call in a substitute with a lesson plan designed to meet the needs of a kindergarten class. Throughout the day, class members work with number and alphabet cards, identify numbers...

Third graders examine how finding the main ideas and summarizing increases their reading comprehension. They read "The Sea in Danger" while applying the six rules of summarization in a modeled lesson. Next, working in small groups, they...

Young scholars take notes from oral readings and lectures to create a summary of the material. They use different sizes of post-it notes to complete the activity. They practice pulling the main ideas out of the given material.

Students will investigate why comprehension is a major goal of reading. To comprehend the meaning of text, students must know certain strategies in order to be successful. Form a topic sentence that captures the meaning of a paragraph...

You're on camera! Third graders find a news story and research it to get more information. Everyone uses their found information to write a script and create their own news broadcast!

In this story structure lesson, students read the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and identify the characters, setting and main themes of the book. They answer a list of study questions about the book.

What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based...

It can be difficult to find the theme of a book or story if you don't know the questions to ask. Teach your kids to discern the universal theme in works of literature with a set of activities that promote critical thinking and...

Class members listen to a masterful reading of Act 1, Scene 1, lines 203-236 of Romeo and Juliet and then break into groups to examine how Shakespeare uses figurative language to develop Romeo's idealized concept of beauty.

Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin! Upper graders and middle schoolers read the story The Three Little Pigs and other tales related to the story from various points of view. They use the Internet to find more stories...

It's all in the details. Scholars read acts two and three of The Hero's Journey and collect important details from the text. They share their notes with their peers and listen for key words from the story. They then turn their attention...

What's it like to study snakes, reptiles, and turtles in their natural habitats? Serving as the mid-unit assessment, pupils read an interview with a rainforest scientist. Next, they analyze the text and answer text-dependent questions.

Third graders read several nonfiction texts and practice finding the main idea for the text as well as learn about various habitats. For this main idea lesson, 3rd graders read several nonfiction texts and make habitat cards. Students...

The value in this PowerPoint about the five-paragraph expository essay comes from the clear explanations and specific examples provided to illustrate each aspect; however, a complete, model essay is not included. Beware the typos!

Discuss media stereotypes with your emerging consumers. They view a television program to identify gender bias. After discussing the clip as a class, each learner writes a story showing more equitable roles. Or consider having them...

Students, in groups, read and analyze the short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor. They present their findings tot he rest of the class and then connect the various themes discussed to outside material, events...