In this ESL/ELL reading comprehension activity, students read or listen to an article entitled, "No Hip-hop Fashion for Basketball Players." They participate in both pre-reading and post-reading activities which include fill-in the...

Chopin was a lovely composer who played the piano masterfully. Third graders are introduced to Chopin, his piano sounds, triple meter, music patterns, movement, and the waltz. They listen to his music while hearing the story Butterflies...

Young literary analysts compare two poems by the same author. Readers look for slant rhyme, observe the beat and rhythm of each, and search for repeated vowel sounds. After re-reading, they observe the lack of punctuation and the stanza...

This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...

Learn about the two main components of good communication - being assertive and active listening - as well as passive, aggressive, and manipulative communication. There are skits to read out loud as well as scenarios to practice with a...

To launch a reading of The Dark is Rising, the second novel in Susan Cooper's award winning contemporary fantasy novel sequence for young adults, class members engage in a guided imagery exercise that asks them to visualize the...

In this reading comprehension Canadian history worksheet, students read a multi paragraph passage about the holiday in Canada. Students answer 12 questions.

Learners create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...

Kids explore music, history, culture, and literature in a multi-faceted lesson plan. They discuss how both historical and cultural contexts shape music, art, and literature, and then apply these concepts as they engage in a listening...

Creative projects are great ways to increase interest in topical research. Middle schoolers learning about primitive life styles in the Americas explore the importance of music to hunter gatherers. They research and create musical...

That tricky Anansi! Join him and Turtle in the story Anansi and Turtle Go to Dinner by Bobby and Sherry Norfolk, based on the African folktale. Kids answer comprehension questions and sing songs about spiders before creating spider...

When you understand the relationships between words, your vocabulary and reading skills will increase! Work on a set of analogies with multiple choices for learners to select.

It's no masquerade! If Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera is part of your curriculum, check out this three-page packet loaded with suggestions for before, during, and after reading activities.

Plants prefer classical music to rock and roll. That's one of the claims in an informational passage that makes up part of a set of standardized assessment questions. The set is part of a larger collection of English language arts tests...

Passages from Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart provide the text for a QAR: Question Answer Response comprehension activity. Readers respond to right there, think and search, on your own, and author and you questions.  ...

When everyone understands that some words have multiple meanings they build a foundation for better writing and develop deeper reading comprehension skills. This presentation provides learners with several examples of words with multiple...

Who is Aimee Mann? Read the New York Times article "P.S. I Loved You," included here, and have your readers answer a series of reading comprehension questions. Afterward, encourage your class to brainstorm ways in which they...

Combining art, music, dance, and reading comprehension, this activity is geared to reach all ability levels. After reading a variety of fables and discussing story elements and character traits, class members select a moral to use as the...

Students participate in a informal survey of their listening habits, then read a news article about the possibility of portable music players harming kids hearing. For this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a...

For this listening comprehension interactive worksheet, students listen to a clip about Alcatraz and complete the cloze activity. There are twelve fill-in's to complete.

In this listening log worksheet, students share their personal opinions and characteristics about music by answering nine short answer questions.

In this Henry VIII worksheet, students read through an article associated with Henry VIII and answer twelve comprehension questions regarding the article.

There are different types of reading meant for different texts. Discuss four of these with your emerging readers. When does one perform an extensive or intensive reading? When does one skim or scan a text? How are these all different? 

Do you play any musical instruments? Consider using this question to interest readers in this short passage. Then, have them read the passage and answer the multiple-choice questions that follow.