Music is a universal pleasure, but writing about it can be a little trickier. An informative handout discusses common types of music writing assignments that one might encounter in a college-level course. Individuals read about musical...

Life changes may cause stress. Here, scholars identify stressful situations in a peer's life and offer coping skills to make for a better day. A short story, "Stressed Out Sally," provides pupils with a look inside a bad day. After...

What is it that makes people keep going when they face challenges in life? Ask your class to consider this question in relation to their own experiences and as they read material from The New York Times. Using personal experiences...

Provide readers with an opportunity to practice drawing inferences by giving them this instructional activity. Kids identify the text and author, record a sentence they believe infers rather than directly says, and then write the deeper...

As the story unfolds, readers discover Matilda has a superpower. Take part in an activity that has learners talking about what superpower they would have, how they would use it, and how it could help others. Then, after reading the...

Breaking down words into syllables has two benefits: it improves vocabulary and it improves understanding of a text. The third and final resource in a series of materials designed to be used with Nature: Friend or Foe offers extra...

As the saying goes, art often imitates life ... and literature! A series of activities designed to accompany a visit to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art encourage writers to find inspiration in various landscapes. The lesson includes a...

Learn about the animals of Australia with a language arts lesson about an Australian folktale called, Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail. After reading the story as a class, kids discuss events and characters from the book, retell the...

Kids learn best when asking questions about what they have read. Encourage active reading with a comprehension activity based on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, in which kids read passages from the beginning of the book and identify...

Compare and contrast different ways that sources present information with a reading instructional activity. After readers view two short passages about blazing a trail, they note the information they found in each selection.

Reading about history is nothing like experiencing it firsthand. Encourage your eighth graders to do the next best thing with a historical narrative prompt, in which they describe the experience of a first-time traveler on the...

If you've ever received bad service or disagreed with a company's decision, writing a letter of complaint might be a good skill to have. Review the format of a letter, author's purpose, and other aspects of persuasive writing with an...

Full truth, or an exaggeration? How can you tell when a storyteller is exaggerating a story? Readers analyze a story told by Hortensia, and identify the exaggerative language she uses. Then, learners write their own narrative story using...

Four steps to Open Mic Night! The location, invitations, supplies, and party favors are all part of the process in planning and hosting a fun-filled gathering where scholars read aloud an original poem or one by their favorite author. 

In this reading comprehension worksheet, students read a short story, answer five comprehension questions and then write about a baby they like to help take care of.

Asking questions about a text is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Apply the Question Answer Response strategy to your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read each passage, they decide if the answer...

Have you ever wanted to tell a character what you really thought of him or her? Use a lesson based on Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter to encourage learners to write a letter in response to a character's actions. 

Focus on the literary themes of Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter with an anticipation guide. Kids read statements about respect, abandonment, and love, and mark their agreement or disagreement before beginning the novel. After they...

Middle schoolers describe the characters of Walk Two Moons as they write biopoems. Following the pattern provided, young writers depict their chosen characters' traits and experiences to make their poems unique.

What's it like to be a comedian? Find out with a short cloze passage about the life of a comedian. Kids use eight words at the bottom of the page to fill in the blanks throughout the passage.

Compare and contrast reading passages with the ever favorite story of Cinderella. The versions in focus include an Italian version and a Native American story followed by three questions designed to share similarities and...

Scholars read a brief informational text about the famous inventor, Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone, then show what they know by way of eight questions—six multiple choice and two short answer. 

Nineteen stylish worksheets offer lesson ideas and practice opportunities designed to reinforce summary skills. Scholars recall events over the weekend as well as favorite books—main characters, problems, solutions, the beginning,...

Looking at literature through a critical lens helps readers connect the text to the larger world. An essay examining the theme "There is no ill in the world without a remedy" forms the main part of a sample comprehensive English...