Here's a fresh approach to the dreaded personal narrative required by most college applications. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the anchor text for a unit that, through modeling and guided practice exercises, encourages the...

Crispin: the End of Time is the core text for this teaching guide, a valuable resource for those who use Avi's trilogy as whole-class reading, in book circles, or as independent reading.

Fact and opinion passages inform readers about the seasons on the prairie and Zambia in Southern Africa. Then, test scholar's knowledge with multiple choice and short answer questions.     

While designed to supplement a viewing of the PBS Masterpiece Classic The Diary of Anne Frank, this resource can also serve as an excellent informational text and activity source for your students on the historical context and timeline...

It's time for the feast! Young historians complete their study of the First Thanksgiving by completing an online activity, watching a slideshow, and examining a First Thanksgiving timeline. After answering text-dependent questions to...

Learning how to craft a cogent argument based on a solid claim, supported with evidence and solid reasoning, is an important life skill. Teach middle schoolers about argumentative writing with a lesson asking them to analyze the claims,...

The history of the northern states' involvement in the slave trade is not widely known. This resource uses the PBS documentary, Traces of the Trade, and the nonfiction book, Children of the New England Slave Trade, to examine this aspect...

How do writers introduce and develop the central ideas in a text? To answer this question, ninth graders closely examine "The Age of Honey," the opening chapter in Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos' Sugar Changed the World: A Story of...

Support young learners as they expand their cultural awareness with this list of children's literature on countries from around the globe. Including both fictional and non-fictional texts. This resource will help...

How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...

Elementary schoolers investigate nonfiction stories by analyzing facts and opinions. They read nonfiction stories about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Pupils utilize a T-chart to list the facts and opinions on opposite sides, and then...

Explore how the library or Internet resources function as textual information. Young writers research a chosen topic then read and comprehend the collected information. They structure the information with texts and graphics for a...

Upper elementary and middle schoolers recognize symbols that influence the choices that we make consciously or unconsciously in everyday life. They look at the symbols and choices that others make. They identify and apply knowledge of...

The animal kingdom is full of interesting organisms that have unique ways of surviving. Children read about different insects that have special tools for building homes and protecting themselves. When finished, learners identify the main...

In this persuasive text instructional activity, students read an excerpt from an advertising leaflet and identify the persuasive words and phrases used in the text. Students then read the text about a Greenpeace campaign to identify...

In this non-fiction text learning exercise, students read the passage about spring flowers. Students then underline the sentences about Daffodils and Primroses.

Learners understand the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and good health.  In this health lesson students read text then create their own pamphlet on the cardiovascular system, weight gain, treatments and health risks. 

Students investigate the concept of the rainforest through the use of nonfiction texts. The teacher reads to the class to give some information. Then they read their own books to find further information and perform the follow activities...

Fourth graders participate in think-pair-share reading strategy in this instructional activity. They identify their purpose for reading as well as purposes for reading fiction/nonfiction. They list and discuss several prereading...

This PowerPoint includes illustrations and explanations of each of the 4 stages in the life of a butterfly. The text provides appropriate reading material for students to practice nonfiction reading comprehension strategies. The text is...

Begin the year with a review of the parts of a book. Exercises in the unit plan ask emergent readers to identify the information on the cover of a book and on the title page, to explain the purpose of a table of contents, and to describe...

The teacher doesn't always have to be the expert in the classroom. The first in a series of three supplementary activities Nature: Friend or Foe uses hands-on research tasks and projects to enhance readers' understanding of non-fiction...

The only way that a heinous act of genocide can succeed is if citizens of surrounding groups and countries turn their backs on those suffering. A thorough language arts module addresses shared central ideas with three separate units,...

Third graders read several nonfiction texts and practice finding the main idea for the text as well as learn about various habitats. In this main idea lesson, 3rd graders read several nonfiction texts and make habitat cards. Students...