For scholars who need a challenge in the classroom, here is a unit for you. Learners explore topics such as animals, sports, helpers at home, the past, and funny things that have happened in their lives. Youngsters also engage...

Learn about the festivity of Mardi Gras with a series of reading and writing assignments. As class members read a passage about the history of Mardi Gras and the way it's celebrated around the world, they answer comprehension...

Nine activities boost social-emotional competencies. Read through the list and choose what best fits the needs of your class. Activities include thoughtful discussions, creating posters, listening to a read-aloud, and more! 

Is Antigone relevant to today's readers? After reading Sophocles' tragedy, scholars must decide if the themes are universal and timeless. Class members engage in a series of activities designed to have them closely consider the...

The steps of the scientific method examine a problem, make a prediction, and attempt to solve the problem—similar to the path most stories take. In the activity, individuals see how stories can explain natural events similar to the way...

An engaging video featuring William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is accompanied by six activities designed to reinforce vocabulary, story elements, and comprehension. Scholars match words to pictures, place events in sequential order,...

With the help of two activities, scholars discover what's in their favorite foods by reading nutrition labels. Activity one challenges participants to write a letter to a fictional peer about the importance of making healthy choices....

Here is an instructional activity that asks pupils to analyze poetry and sparks discussion about two different types of texts: asking how is the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling alike and different from the story, Bud, Not Buddy by...

How did those faces get on that mountain, and why did they choose those particular presidents? Learn about Mount Rushmore's construction and the history behind the men represented on the mountainside with a short reading passage and set...

Many English teachers dream of a classroom full of readers silently enjoying their books. A useful guide helps make that dream become a reality by providing book recommendations for a range of readers. Each suggestion includes the...

The Buttonhook by Mary Jo Salter is the focus of a unit that explores the immigration experience to Ellis Island. First, scholars bring in an artifact that represents their heritage. A group-exercise allows them to share and discuss...

Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson plan that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as...

A lesson spotlights the story, The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi. After a read-aloud, the class retells the story using puppets or dress-up. They participate in a thoughtful discussion about the story, answer questions relating the...

Start a lesson plan on poetic voice with a peer to peer discussion on what characterizes the strength in the voice with which a writer chooses to express himself/herself. In pairs, readers are tasked with reading and creating T-charts...

In this multi-faceted introduction to pi, participants perform a bevy of pi-related activities. Ranging from measuring household items to singing pi songs and reading pi stories, this fun and non-intimidating resource serves to bring up...

Readers of Paradise Lost draw parallels between Milton's tale and Gene Zion's Harry the Dirty Dog, an illustrated children's book.

Kids who need extra support mastering the concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on journeys, will benefit from the exercises and activities contained in this 40-page resource packet.

Here is a lesson that provides scholars with two opportunities to stretch their compare-and-contrast muscles. First, learners compare and contrast their experience reading the fourth stanza of If by Rudyard Kipling to listening to the...

Reinforce important reading skills with a set of vocabulary lesson plans. Middle schoolers complete sentences, play word games, finish analogies, and build their growing vocabulary with a packet of helpful and applicable graphic organizers.

Bring the drama of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea to class with a fun role-playing activity. Given a list of survival items, readers decide which items would be the most necessary for an adventure like...

Encourage readers to compare and contrast the information that they find in informational text with a variety of reading passages and worksheets. Learners read all about subjects in science, social studies, and literature...

Why did the Populist Party fail to ally itself with African American farmers? To answer this essential question, class members investigate the Populist Era (188-1900) and read an article written by Tom Watson, a Populist leader.

Accompany a reading of Dr. Seuss' tale, The Lorax, with a five-item learning exercise. Questions challenge scholars to list characters' names, use text details to answer inquiries, and describe the moral of the story. 

Readers of Neal Shusterman's young adult science fiction novel, Unwind, record what they know, what they want to know, how the will find answers to the questions, on a KWHL chart.