How many people and animals can cram into a single bed? Find out with this cross-curricular math and language arts activity. Following along with a reading of the children's book The Napping House by Audrey Wood, young...

Kids explore the world of news media by creating a wiki page. They will create a wiki page on the Internet in order to comment on and question the stories that take place in the world. They will practice creative writing by summarizing...

Such an ambitious activity! Third graders with special needs listen to an audio recording of the novel, Moby Dick. They stop often to discuss each of the main characters and analyze their actions in the story. They then make puppets of...

Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...

Just as no man is an island, no country is totally independent of other countries. To understand the impact of individual consumer decisions on the global natural environment, class groups consider how the stuff they...

It's easy to spot a scheming character out on the street, but spotting scams in the financial world takes some know how. Youngsters learn about common scams and schemes that plague the financial world. After scams, schemes, and fraud are...

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...

Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...

Discover that Kenyan children aren't much different from your young scholars as they read Kelly Cunnane's story For You are a Kenyan Child. This story is an excellent resource for vocabulary in context, and introduces new words...

Why is a letter a better way to learn about a person than a different primary source? Explore Thomas Day's ideas and advice to his daughter in a letter from 1851, which details the struggles of the American South before the Civil War....

Scholars get to know famous Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, as an artist as well as a person. After reading personal letters and analyzing paintings, participants paint two self-portraits that represent their personality. Then, write a...

Get fancy with Jane O'Connor's story Fancy Nancy as scholars learn some elegant new words in context: accessories, chauffeur, plume, stupendous, and tiara. After introducing these new terms (do any scholars...

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,...

Familiarize budding readers with new vocabulary in context as they listen you read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, which can be found on YouTube if you don't have in on hand. Recommended focus words here are: considerate, creative,...

Who doesn't love this book? A Pocket for Corduroy provides excellent vocabulary practice in context for budding readers (although this strategy could be used with any text). Before reading it aloud, go over the new...

Learn new words in the context of Kathleen Hague's whimsical alphabet book, Alphabears: An ABC Book (note: you can use these strategies for any text). Get pupils ready by introducing the new words they will...

Give beginning readers a chance to practice with unknown words and context clues using the pictuer book Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner. Choose several vocabulary words to focus on as you read the picture book, or use the ones provided...

Looking for a vocabulary lesson relevant to MLK Day? Try this reading comprehension idea designed around Jean Marzollo's biography Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King. Go over new terms (freedom, justice,...

Key parts of an introductory paragraph (grabber sentence, connecting information, thesis) are highlighted in a presentation that uses color-coded sample paragraphs to illustrate how these parts combine to form a complete opening paragraph.

A reader's journal can help pupils comprehend, connect to, and remember a text. Have them follow the prompts here to write journal entries for any literary text.

Help learners on the autism spectrum comprehend the social consequences of their actions by connecting kind and hurtful words to physical, tangible experiences. The worksheets in this resource prompt students to consider things they say...

Analyze point of view and how it affects a literary work with this instructional activity. Middle schoolers create a written piece that focuses on point of view. They review the literary term "point of view," and explore examples of the...

Connect Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech, "I Have a Dream," to The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Taylor refers to the speech in his dedication, which creates a natural segue into talking about the speech and how it relates to the novel....

Bring U.S. history to your language arts class with this lesson. Middle schoolers complete an interview for an oral history project, and discuss the importance of oral histories - and how they embellish written accounts. They write...