As a final assignment in a unit study of Edward Bloor's Tangerine, individuals assume the voice of Paul Fisher and craft the witness report Paul mentions in the final pages of the novel. A great way to assess the...

Learners time each other as they read as many rime words as possible.

Young scholars spin their way to letter sound fluency. While tomes, pairs spin a spinner and make the sound of the letter on which it lands. They add a counter to their cup for each sound they make correctly. At the end of the game,...

A memory activity engages young learners in letter-sound correspondence. Pairs take turns examining two sets of cards lying face down. They flip one image card and one letter card, then name the initial sound. If the sounds match, pupils...

Look back at the third chapter of The Cay with your class. Pupils will conduct a close reading, taking a second look at a chunk of text and responding to a series of text-dependent questions. Wrap up with an analytical writing prompt...

Readers' theater is a fun way to get kids reading with expression and improve their fluency! There is a full script here for The Three Bears with five characters to assign.

This lesson plan pairs high and low leveled readers together to make partner reading beneficial for both. Learners read a selected text as a team, when the lower leveled reader is stuck, his partner is there to help him out. And by...

Get in touch with the emotional side of writing by reading Words By Heart. The writing assignment helps learners make personal connections with the text and hone their writing skills by exploring a time that they had to forgive...

How do people solve problems in healthy ways? Writers explore a topic of interest in their multi-genre writing assignment exploring Zach's Lie. The final resource in a series of seven includes multiple scaffolds and organizers for...

An activity tests the fluency skills of young readers. Scholars match initial sound cards to letter cards. Pairs take turns and work to locate the most matches before the timer goes off. The activity ends with a peer evaluation.

Scholars listen to a read-aloud of fiction and nonfiction books, The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, and Snow Is Falling, written by Franklyn Branley and illustrated by Holly Keller, then take part in four creative...

Teach learners to reflect on their reading with a lesson about double-entry journals. As they read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, class members note interesting passages from the text on the left side of their...

While reading A River Runs Through It, have your high schoolers work on their final project, a multi-genre research paper. There are 10 clear steps for completion but not much additional help. For early high schoolers (or...

Being able to recognize rhyming words is a step closer to understanding the phonemic blends that are necessary for building early reading skills. Little learners use the provided picture cards to make a rhyming pie. They glue rhyming...

Reading readiness can be a fun skill to foster. Scholars manipulate phonemes to change one word into another. They pick picture cards, say the object's name on the card, then change the final phoneme to create a new word. They then find...

The second interactive in a series of 10 introduces young scholars to character archetypes, archetypal plot patterns, and archetypal motifs, including the use of color. Learners read passages explaining the term and study examples from...

The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing...

Discussing great works of literature with peers is an excellent way to both comprehend and celebrate reading! Learners work in literature circles during a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and share paragraphs that...

Listen, or read, to a first-hand account of how 15-year old Adama survived being bullied. Scholars gain insight into Adama's experience while reinforcing reading comprehension and vocabulary skills using context clues.   

What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...

To conclude their study of James McBride's The Color of Water, class members create their own memoir, focusing on a family member who help shape their life.

What was Shakespeare's intent? That is the question at the heart of a summer assignment designed for AP English Literature. Class members focus on five scenes from The Tempest and compare the interactions of Prospero, Caliban,...

Scholars make new words out of old ones by manipulating phonemes. Pupils mix and match initial, medial, and final phonemes to change words like cap into cup or head into bed.

An in-class and at-home assignment, young math stars find and list items from home and school that they think are one foot in length. Once the list is made, provide everyone with rulers to measure and find the actual lengths of their items.