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...

Can authors speak to each other across works, genres, and centuries? Study the conversation between Christopher Marlowe in his poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and the responses by Sir Walter Raleigh and William Carlos Williams...

If you've ever wished you could respond to an author's message, an instructional activity that connects three poems with the same concept will appeal to you. Based on the first few lessons' focus on Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate...

Provide the building blocks to a strong education with a packet about sight words. Kids work on the words little, we, do, and all with tracing and matching activities, as well as games and flash cards.

Choose a side! Pupils watch and read several nonfiction resources about zoos. After gathering their research, they choose a side either for or against closing zoos. Scholars complete KWL charts, anticipation guides, flow charts, and...

Students explore, analyze, study and read a variety of poems and listen to jazz that have their roots in the Harlem Renaissance. They then discuss the similarities and differences of themes in the works of different poets and composers.

Class members watch the clip of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in which Benvolio persuades Romeo to go with him to the Capulet ball to see Rosaline. Pairs then examine Act 1, scene 3, lines 64–100, and consider how Shakespeare develops...

A great resource for informational texts as well as writing topics, the New York Times website provides writing prompts about various news articles through The Learning Network. This particular worksheet provides a very short...

Tacos are the theme of a lesson plan all about adjectives. Scholars list as many adjectives as possible to describe tacos and play a game of Not Like the Others before reading Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin. Peers guess their favorite...

Socratic seminars are a great way to encourage the development of critical thinking, speaking, and listening skills. And Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a perfect text for such a seminar. Use the questions in the packet to...

Americans love to learn about their rights, especially those that protect them from the government's power to invade their privacy. Young people are especially engaged by this topic. An informative lesson explores four Supreme Court...

While it's quite an ode, this short poem uses the long /o/ sound repeatedly in words like code, note, alone, and phone. Kids read the selection and answer three comprehension questions about the text.

The chapter-by-chapter questions on a Wuthering Heights reading guide are sure to help readers keep the events straight in Emily Bronte’s masterpiece. One can well imagine unquiet slumbers for the readers of this tale of love and revenge.

Second graders read The Piano and become familiar with racial discrimination.  In this racial discrimination book lesson plan, 2nd graders answer comprehension question to focus on the importance of the book.  Students discuss...

Have your class examine the issues surrounding same-sex marriage, civil rights, and proposition 8. They read a New York Times article entitled "Proposition 8 Struck Down" and then answer 10 who, what, when, where, and why questions....

Learners read about Liza's first spelling bee before answering six reading comprehension questions. Skills include identifying similarities, making inferences, drawing conclusions, and answer questions based on explicit information in...

Bring nonfiction into the classroom with this high-interest op-ed piece from the New York Times about love, marriage, and relationships in the 21st century. Pupils read a short article on the topic of cohabitation and offer their own...

FamilyRadio.com publicized that the Rapture or Judgement Day would happen on May 21, 2011, it didn't. Informed learners read a New York Times article on the topic, then answer nine related comprehension questions. 

Ten multiple-choice questions make up an interactive practice designed to increase reading comprehension. The topic of the informational reading is the North Carolina Colony.

An interactive practice tests scholars' reading comprehension skills. Learners read an informative text, then answer 10 questions.

Explore the meanings of tier two vocabulary words. In small groups, young learners listen to a read-aloud story and evaluate new vocabulary words for their meaning.

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...

They always say to write what you know. This approach is used to get middle schoolers prepared to write novels of their own. Using a favorite book as a model, potential novelists respond to prompts that ask about characters, plot, main...