Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...

Connecting meaning to a given word via image or sentence can really help learners build their vocabulary and in turn enhance their reading ability. The class constructs a chart where they define each new vocabulary word, come up with an...

Model for young readers how to make the shift from passive to active reading by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections. After a series of activities that provide guided practice, the focus shifts to making text-to-words...

What is a philanthropist? We can all be philanthropists! After assessing the needs of the school and listening to literature about how they can help others, primary learners develop a class project and maintain a journal of their...

Even lawyers can find the US Constitution to be very wordy! Help learners create a foundation for understanding the Constitution with several analysis essays. Multiple activities complement the reading and allow for active and meaningful...

Home in on the quote on this page to explore setting, the author's and character's voices, and plot in Willa Cather's My Antonia. Pupils draw a picture of what is described in the quote, discuss the content, and make connections to their...

Practice makes perfect when it comes to reading fluency! Walk your emerging readers through a familiar passage, slowly pointing to each word to keep every learner with you. While looking at a projected passage, scholars read one word at...

Reinforce comprehension of informational text. This is a one-on-one lesson intended to build an internal dialogue the reader can use to boost overall comprehension. They work independently with a tutor or teacher to read a nonfiction...

Photos can capture a complete story in a single image. Class members closely examine a photo of a homeless camp and attempt to read the story told by the picture. They then read the caption for the photograph and compare their notes with...

Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the instructional...

Dive your class into a reading of Island of the Blue Dolphins with this in-depth study guide. Breaking the novel into three parts, the resource begins each section with a focus activity that identifies a specific theme or question...

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/And treat those two impostors just the same. . .” After concluding Fever 1793 class members engage in a reading strategy that asks them to connect their thoughts about the self-reliance theme in...

What does it mean to mourn something? Scholars continue reading paragraph four from "Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison" to better understand the mourning process for refugee children. Working with a partner, pupils then read...

During this lesson, which is all about making connections, learners watch a documentary about the teenage brain and connect it to Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, their own lives, and the world.

Although this vocabulary-in-context activity is focused on Judith Viorst's book Alexander, Who Use to Be Rich Last Sunday, the strategy can be applied to any book budding learners read with you. First, introduce the three...

Combine counting and vocabulary in context using Jacqueline Rogers' Kindergarten Count to 100. Suggested words for this text are: first, fountain, salute, second, and third. By introducing the terms before reading the text,...

No one likes being sick; use Aamir Bermiss' book I Hate To Be Sick as the context for a vocabulary study of illness-related words. Acquaint pupils with this unhealthy vocabulary (dizzy, faint, fever,...

Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest...

As a summative assessment for this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders listen to and read informational texts in order to demonstrate their ability to take notes, write summaries, and draw connections. Young scholars first listen as...

First graders participate in a guided reading lesson plan. In this guided reading lesson plan, 1st graders read David's Drawings by Cathryn Falwell, which is a realistic fiction book on the DRA:16 level. They determine the author's...

Readers draw connections between Bud, Not Buddy and Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford University commencement address and cite evidence from the two texts to support their analysis.

Franklin the turtle is on another adventure in Paulette Bourgeois' book Franklin Goes to the Hospital, and there are plenty of new words for your young readers to explore as they hear this story. Although you can include more,...

Make your classroom a supportive and communicative place to be before beginning a unit on the Holocaust. Working together as a class, learners reflect on their previous experiences of classroom discussions before establishing a...

We are very dependent upon other life forms around us to survive. Here, scholars explore relationships in the ecosystem with the help of Auntie Litter and the pollution patrol. They imagine a world without grass, making connections to...