Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...

Young learners examine different places in their neighborhood using informational texts. First they identify a place that they like to play and predict if it will be in the nonfiction book Community at Play.They will share their favorite...

Who was Bill Picket? Interested readers work through an informational passage to find out about a famous "bulldogger" from the old West. They answer several reading comprehension questions and use a seven step process to decode new...

First graders explore wildlife and habitats in the Arizona desert. Throughout a classroom discussion, 1st graders observe pictures of the desert and animals that live there. As they go on a nature walk around the school, students...

Hopefully you have a sensor interface for your physics class to use with graphing calculators when collecting data with a light sensor. If so, read on. Use this resource for learners to predict and then test whether or not the intensity...

Students discover the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. They find the length of an arc of a circle.Students use estimation strategies in real-world applications to predict results (i.e., interpolation...

After reading a case study, pupils will explore possible diagnoses, assessment, and treatment plans. Finding the definitions to medical vocabulary and sorting through patient history, they will begin to understand the process of...

Explore transparancy with a science experiment on different materials. After reading an explanation on how to determine if something is see-through with a flashlight, kindergartners decide if certain materials are opaque or not....

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...

Learners explore, discover, compare, and contrast arithmetic and geometric sequences in this collaborative, hands-on activity. They build and analyze growing patterns to distinguish which kind of sequence is represented by a set of data...

Get your class ready to read with this anticipatory set for Running Out of Time. Small groups each consider one thought-provoking statement. After each group comes to a consensus, the whole class participates in sharing ideas and voting...

At a depth of 3,000 m in the ocean, the pressure is 300 times that at sea level! In the activity, individuals predict what will happen to Styrofoam cups submerged 3,000 meters into the ocean. They then convert these units to soccer...

Learners work collaboratively to predict what life would be like as an Arctic Hare. Teams go on a hunt where scholars role play an owl, white hares, and gray hares. Independently, pupils record their findings and reflect on their...

Dig into some prehistoric vocabulary in Bob Barner's informative book Dinosaur Bones. This works best if you introduce the primitive words before reading the story. These are the focus terms in the text: ancient, climate, extinct,...

What would a main idea be without important details? Readers use a graphic organizer to record key details from an informational text (a fiction text would also work). Review main idea as a concept before beginning, asking scholars...

Before you begin reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, read over this comprehensive handout that gives you a plethora of information regarding the story's summary, organizational structure, central...

Review with your young learners what opposites are and use a fun tag board game called Auntie Alice to practice. After the class plays the game, pairs work on computers practicing with interactive matching/flashcards/concentration games...

Before your high schoolers read Julius Caesar, have them complete this thought-provoking activity! To familiarize them with some of the play's most important lines, break the class into pairs and have them create a skit around...

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

A fan of anticipation guides? This resource not only offers directions on how to craft such a pre-reading activity, but also provides a model for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

Context makes everything better! Groups use real data to create models and make predictions. Classmates compare an exponential model to a linear model, then consider the real-life implications. 

Discover possible genetic outcomes through Punnett Squares. Learners continue studying genetic traits in the 10th lesson in the 17-part series. After determining the father of Sparky's kittens, scholars now attempt to predict the traits...

While somewhat dated (students write letters to President George W. Bush about the Iraq War), this lesson could be a good way to reinforce rhetorical reading and critical thinking. Students examine information regarding Operation Iraqi...

Seventh graders write a few sentences explaining the most important events of their lives during the past year. As a class, they discuss why they chose the elements they did for their sentences. To end the lesson plan, they read a...