The story Hansel and Gretel is used to build new vocabulary in context. The class reads the story together. They then focus on 2-3 new vocabulary words, using the context of the story to help define them. This lesson is fully scripted...

Learners discuss their personal connections with stories they've read in the past and identify techniques to connect with more stories. They create illustrations, construct task cards, and complete sentence stems based on books they read...

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...

Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...

Ask budding readers, "How do you make an apple pie?" You may get many answers, but Marjorie Priceman takes the cake with her idea in How to Make an Apply Pie and See the World, an adventurous tale full of wonder and new vocabulary....

For the end-of-unit assessment, scholars engage in small group Socratic seminars to connect the lyrics of two songs to texts they read and studied. They discuss how the songs "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and "Lift Every Voice...

Practice reading strategies using Elizabeti's Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen. Readers utilize decoding and comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading the story. A detailed list of text features, high frequency words,...

Fourth graders investigate visual imagery to aid reading comprehension. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders discover how visual imagery helps in comprehending a story. Students use a reader's notebook to record connections.

Looking for a Halloween-themed vocabulary lesson? Study words in context using Zoe Hall's story It's Pumpkin Time, an excellent informational text for budding readers. The spooky suggested words are: buds, gather, hollow,...

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...

Show your scholars that they make inferences every day and might not even know it. Through scaffolded instruction, they break down the process of drawing information from context. Using example sentences and didactic questioning,...

Five hundred schoolchildren first performed the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in 1900 to celebrate President Lincoln's birthday. Scholars listen to the historic song and discuss the lyrics with partners. They continue preparing notes...

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.

Become acquainted with Robert Frost's life in order to allow your class to fully appreciate how his background influenced his poetry. They analyze specified poems in relation to theme, setting and the use of imagery.

Although this vocabulary strategy would work in the context of any text, it's a piece of cake if you're reading Judi Barrett's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Go over the terms they will hear so pupils are ready to...

Explore universal themes in literature with a literacy and multicultural awareness lesson plan. Elementary and middle schoolers make real world connections between themes in books from several cultures. They make inferences and locate...

When Ruby Bridges entered an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960, she also entered history. Scholars consider what the experience must have been like for the young girl using two books that document her experience as well as a double...

Students, through observation and discussion about the Coffin of Djed Mut, make connections between hieroglyphs and the English writing system. They create their own visual story using symbols that represent words.

Signal words are one way that authors make the relationships between their ideas clear. Allow your learners the chance to investigate cause and effect in texts by identifying signal words. They locate and analyze cause-and-effect...

It's time to put it all together! Using the resource, scholars complete an end-of-unit assessment. They write a multi-paragraph essay comparing Audre Lorde's "From the House of Yemanjá" or "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton" to...

Students make connections to the story When the Relatives Came by answering questions during the reading. In this reading lesson plan, students use the think - pair - share activity to voice their thoughts.

Mentor texts are a great way to demonstrate how to write with purpose. Pupils will be reintroduced to two well-known books and then asked to think about them from the writer's point of view. They will see that the author had to use basic...

This vocabulary-in-context strategy can be applied to any book that learners read with you; however the activity here is designed around Byron Byrton's fiction book, Airplane. First, introduce the new words you will learn: attendant,...

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...