Explore expressive reading through the read-aloud Summertime: From Porgy and Bess. Readers will make predictions about the text and listen to the song Summertime. They will also identify how the story relates to the song lyrics.

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...

Teach children that just because something is old, doesn't mean you have to throw it away with a reading of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. Engaging children with an arts and crafts activity in which they patch the...

Conduct a Reader's Theater. Third, fourth, and fifth graders rewrite books with a baseball theme to a Reader's Theater format. They form groups of four or five, practice reading the script, and then perform it for an audience.

Spruce up a class reading of the children's book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback with this fun series of activities. Starting with a list of reading comprehension questions and key vocabulary to address during a teacher...

Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...

Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...

Fourth graders read passages of Koya's Cousin Del before answering questions in a discussion setting. They listen to a variety of musical pieces before detailing how the music makes them feel in a short piece of writing. They share their...

Students research poetry on the Internet in preparation for a read-aloud performance. By consulting online experts and searching databases, they hone performance skills while also locating material. The lesson can be used to support...

Reading is reading, whether it's for drama or English class. Boost reading fluency, accuracy, intonation, and comprehension while fostering creative acting skills. Kids read the provided tale of "The Lion and the Mouse" several times in...

After examining a piece of art, scholars discuss what they see, paying close attention to details and space. A read-aloud introduces the topic of family traditions. Pupils interview their family members about a tradition in preparation...

Engage your class with a poetry slam. A poem is read aloud using a podcast. A few days are provided for learners to listen to the podcast and make a slam (connection) between the original poem and another poem. After everyone has had a...

Young readers explore reading comprehension by creating a class presentation. In this storytelling lesson plan, puils read an assigned text in class and analyze the characters, settings and story. They create an illustrated presentation...

Young scholars create an illustration based upon a read-aloud. In this visual arts instructional activity, students listen to the book The Tarantula Scientist and listen for details. Young scholars create a picture based upon what they...

As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the...

Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...

The danger of mob mentality is on display in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Get your class thinking with some challenging quickwrite questions, then assign characters from the play to be read aloud altogether. Links to worksheets...

Assign parts to read aloud Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag and have your young mimes act out their roles. This story focus on how beauty within is more important than outward appearance. Conclude by having your class provide an illustrated...

Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...

Students compare and contrast the characteristics of insects and arachnids through research, observation, and discussion. They write accurate statements describing insect and arachnid life cycles and anatomies. Afterward, they listen as...

What a fun idea! The class discusses, and then writes free-verse poems using sensory detail. They get into small collaborative writing teams to compose their poems. Next, they pantomime the actions from the poem while their teammates...

Students engage in a activity that is concerned with the skill of reading comprehension while reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as a class. They read the story while identifying the different types of food with the help of food cards.

Students listen to a read aloud of Alan Baker's, White Rabbit's Color Book while identifying shapes and lines throughout the book. They use shapes and different types of lines to create a bunny of their own. They must use five shapes to...

Young scholars practice identifying and pronouncing the short letter "u" sound. In this phonetic awareness lesson, students access the Starfall.com website and follow the directions on the screen to reinforce the short "u" sound. Young...