Primary readers read books in order to practice word recognition, rhyming, and play reading games. They will "read" simple books to reinforce basic reading skills in order to create a foundation. Readers are available to print out along...

Scholars explore the animal kingdom with help from two texts, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey and A Bed for the Winter by Karen Wallace. The literature and informational text set the learning stage for thoughtful discussion and...

No, not literally. Scholars read Hugo, the Lord’s Nephew to compare figurative and literal language. Readers learn about simile, metaphor, personification, and idioms with a graphic organizer. Pupils then answer text-dependent...

Help to create the next generation of friends with a lesson about accepting people who are different. As kids read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, they answer a series of discussion questions and activities about making friends...

Help young learners understand friendship and empathy with two reading comprehension lessons. Each instructional activity focuses on a story about a child with autism, and encourages readers to compare and contrast the characters to each...

What's the buzz these days? Learn some fun and interesting facts about honeybees with an informational reading passage, including the steps for successful pollination and honey creation.

Individuals match vocabulary words within a magic square, a concept that ties in nicely with math class. The words are all located in Zach's Lie and were specifically selected to increase comprehension of the text. Fifth in a series...

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...

In many places in the world, people go to great lengths to get books to read. This beginning-of-the-year activity uses pictures of people reading in extraordinary situations to stimulate effective listening and speaking using the...

Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...

Work on reading comprehension skills with a passage about doing chores. Learners read about two boys who vacuum the pool and mow the lawn, then complete a learning exercise about the details in the story.

Students identify specific passages in the Monroe Doctrine to events in early U.S. diplomacy.

What were living conditions like in the United States during The Great Depression, and how do those conditions compare with today? That's the question young scholars consider as they prepare to read John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men....

How did the Civil Rights Movement affect young people in the United States? Scholars read Christopher Paul Curtis' novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963. Next, they write compare and contrast essays showing how the main...

Gun control is one of the most hotly debated topics in the United States. Learners use a structured conversation to engage around this controversy. Using a scaffolded conversation that relies on a reading and analysis of arguments for...

How can a college board of trustees both increase cultural and racial diversity and offer all incoming students equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment? Class members debate the question using readings about how colleges use...

Amanda Gorman, the United States's first National Youth Poet Laureate, is featured in a resource from the Academy of American Poets. Class members first read Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech and note what King wanted...

It's all just an allusion. Scholars learn the meaning of allusion and read an allusion in The Lightning Thief. Learners gather in their triads and discuss questions from the text to take a close look at vocabulary words and choose...

Practice analyzing informational text with a reading passage that details the Great Depression. Scholars read about the impacts of World War I, the Roaring Twenties, and the Depression, then answer 10 true or false questions. 

Even though two passages discuss the same topic, they contain different facts and details. Scholars analyze two reading passages about the Gettysburg Address and list the ways they are the same and different.

Is there a difference in the way organizations present news via social media and in print? The third in a series of 16 lessons from The Social Media Toolbox explores news outlets and their delivery methods. Groups follow a story for a...

An activity packet about food begins with reading two texts: Stone Soup by Marcia Brown or John Muth and Where Does Food Come From? by Shelley Rotner and Gary Goss. Learners then take part in three activities. They design a puzzle...

A reading adventure pack looks closely at government with the help of two books—one fiction, one nonfiction, and a series of activities. Learners craft a mobile to visualize a balanced government, participate in a scavenger hunt around...

"Battle" or "Massacre"? Words matter, especially when labeling historical events. That's the big idea in a lesson about the 1868 conflict at the Washita River. After examining two images of the event, groups read and discuss articles...