Students examine customs of rural Mongolia. They read and discuss a letter, discuss families, locate Mongolia on a map, reenact scenes from the letter, and write a prediction of how life change in rural Mongolia during the next 50 years.

Your young charges practice identifying the /i/ sound in this instructional activity. The class looks at words on cards and identifies which word has the target sound. They continue their practice using Elkonin letterboxes to spell words...

After reading Chicken Soup with Rice, by Maurice Sendak, incorporate some of these great extension activities into your lesson plan. Ideas include focusing on knowing the months of the year, or studying the illustrations and how...

Individuals use words or illustrate what they experience during a reading of a passage from chapter eight of Gary Paulsen's Canyons. Complete directions for the guided imagery exercise, and a suggested passage, are included with the...

Even if they hate exercise, this lesson could be a great way to practice writing and answering questions for your ELD pupils. First, a tape-script about exercise (which could be read aloud by the teacher) provides them with information...

Budding novelists work on character development by relating to the characters in their stories. They imagine their own hopes and dreams and recall those of characters from books they've read. Learners also consider struggles the...

Students practice fluency in their reading. They practice reading smoothly and with more expression. Students read "Three Little Pigs." They read the book silently then choose a group member to read the book out loud. Students read the...

Students are divided into small groups, read a section from an assigned book, and draw a picture of what they read. They list the main characters, theme, setting, and plot of the book. They share their information/drawings with the...

Students create a Valentine's Day booklet. In this creating a book lesson, students write and illustrate their own book describing love.

Students practice reading with expression. After discussing how reading with feeling and expression can enhance the text, students listen as their partner reads a story with expression. Individual students read selected passages with...

Students investigate the human eye. In this biology lesson, students read the book Look At Your Eyes and locate the various parts of their eye. Students play the game "I Spy."

Students investigate the concept of the number one million. In this number concepts activity, students read the book How Much is a Million? and brainstorm questions, such as "how many leaves are on a tree" and "how many hairs are on your...

Sarah Stewart’s The Gardener and Food from Farms by Nancy Dickmann display the importance of community farms. After reading these short picture books, class members draw connections between farms and the food we eat each day. As a...

Students explore the life cycle of a butterfly. In this life cycle lesson, students read the book the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Students use this book throughout the year to create a year round bulletin board showing the stages of the...

Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another...

Explore the impact a narrator's point of view has on a story with a reading of the children's book, Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Written in four different voices, the story is told and retold from different perspectives to...

Help readers understand the roles of authors and illustrators and why they have been recognized by medals of excellence. Your class will discuss and then create illustrations for a book. When they have finished, you can hold your own...

Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...

Demonstrate gift giving as an act of caring about someone versus gifts for show (or gifts from the purse). Elementary learners practice giving gifts from the heart by creating a poem for someone special to them.

Third graders investigate how temperature and motion (energy) create a chemical change that turns cream ( a liquid) into butter (a solid). They create a class pictograph of their favorite mils choices (white, chocolate, or strawberry)...

Fifth graders explore historical fiction. In this genre study instructional activity, 5th graders go on a text feature scavenger hunt to identify the parts of a historical fiction text. Additionally, students read the book, My Secret War...

Colors and crayons are the inspiration for this collection of activities! Kids illustrate the real world, come up with their own names for colors, make their own crayons (with teacher assistance), create artwork they can eat, and more.

Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...