Students complete a variety of language arts based activities based on the book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling. After reading each chapter, they complete worksheets related to multiple meanings, character...

Students investigate the concept of the rainforest through the use of nonfiction texts. The teacher reads to the class to give some information. Then they read their own books to find further information and perform the follow activities...

Students demonstrate literal meaning of a fiction book. In this reading comprehension lesson, students listen to the book, If You Give a Mouse a Muffin and practice the "m" sound during the read aloud. Students answer questions about the...

Students retell a story by filling out a record sheet. In this retelling lesson plan, students fill out a record sheet that gives them prompts about the beginning, middle, and end of a story.

Students practice their reading comprehension skills. In this reading skills lesson plan, students use the R.E.A.C.T.I.O.N. model to identify story elements in books that students elect to read independently.

Students are introduced to a new method of writing developed by Robert Gay. In groups, they practice retelling or rewriting one of their fellow classmates stories. They are also introduced to the technique of transcribing and write in...

Learners learn to use prediction to think more deeply about literature. In this reading comprehension lesson, students chart predictions in order to more fully understand text.

Students are introduced to various types of folk tales. During a read-aloud, they predict what they believe is going to happen next and practice following the story line. To end the lesson, they answer comprehension questions and...

Bloom's Taxonomy is a great way to address the many levels of comprehension. With explanations and examples of each level, you can create questions that focus on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Eighth graders practice passive and active listening skills. They discover listening skills help them communicate more effectively. Students analyze the benefits of having someone to listen to them actively and the benefits of being an...

Enrich your unit on Arthur Miller's The Crucible with a list of reading questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Kids answer questions and provide context for the knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and...

How much does your class know about World War II? Before reading Art Spiegelman's Maus I, lead your class in creating a KWL chart. Knowing the background and setting of the novel are extremely important in understanding this survivor's...

While reading Chapter 8 of Number the Stars, learners write down any words they encounter in their reading that they find interesting, strange, or confusing. They record why they chose each word, and after completing the reading...

Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida is used in an activity that models how to develop questions to aid in comprehension of a text.

Learners can chart what they know, what they would like to know, how they plan to learn, and what they have learned from Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Using questions about women's rights, kids study the themes of the novel...

Whether used to review prior to a reading assessment or as a way to generate ideas for an essay, this activity is sure to encourage critical thinking about Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. Kids create a six-sided question cube with each...

Several activities supplement the study of Bible verses that tell the story of Easter week (Luke 19:28-40 and Psalm 118:27-28a). Young religious scholars apply what they learn from listening to the reading to a crossword puzzle, word...

Have you used the directed reading thinking activity in your classroom? Doubling as either a prereading strategy, or a during reading strategy, it helps readers connect the historical background of the text to the text itself. As the...

The class uses Chain Reaction, a magazine, to build a better understanding of Latin and Greek roots found in scientific vocabulary. They use two attached worksheets to help them read a scientific article, using visual clues and their...

Your young historians will have the opportunity to practice their reading comprehension skills with this straightforward lesson on Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China. Class members read through a reproduced textbook chapter on the...

Encourage close reading of the text and a focus on how Sandra Cisneros' develops her characters with an activity that asks teams to sort, group, and label character descriptions from The House on Mango Street.

To set the stage for reading Paradise Lost, class members compete an anticipation guide containing statements that connect to themes in Milton's epic poem.

In this comprehension check worksheet, young scholars define 13 vocabulary words, define 5 literary terms, and respond to 23 short answer questions pertaining to chapter 1 of The Lord of the Flies in order to help them better understand...

Learners explore the benefits and joys of reading. They review the reading comprehension strategy cross-checking. They then are introduced to the library and are encouraged to check out an independent book they would independently...