Focus on chapter two of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a questioning activity. After teaching and modeling several types of questions, learners work with partners and then independently to answer and...

Vladek's attitudes are difficult for many young learners to understand. Prepare your class for the events represented in Art Speigelman's graphic novel with a pre-reading activity that has them read articles about and interviews with...

Before beginning The Things They Carried, class members are asked to use a KWHL chart to record what they know about war, what they want to know, and where they might find answers to their questions. Groups then research...

Primary learners complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book First Day of School. They will  complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and much...

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas became a quick hit in the young adult literature genre before its adaptation in the 2018 film of the same name. Use a thorough instructional activity, discussion guide, and series of activities to...

In many places in the world, people go to great lengths to get books to read. This beginning-of-the-year activity uses pictures of people reading in extraordinary situations to stimulate effective listening and speaking using the...

What should readers do to prepare for reading an informational text? What should they do during their reading? What should they do after completing such a text? Introduce your pupils to reading strategies and techniques to gain meaning...

Before your class reads the book James and the Giant Peach, check out this very handy set of learning activities. The reading guide provides you with several excellent ideas for building vocabulary related to the text and reading...

Teach kids about the beginnings of the Braille writing system with a lesson about Louis Braille. A series of discussion questions guide young readers though A Picture Book of Louis Braille by David A. Adler, and once they finish the...

Prior to an in-class reading of "What Sally Said" and"Red Clowns," two vignettes from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street, class members complete an anticipation guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of...

What does stew have to do with bartering? Learners will find out how by reading the story Saturday Sancocho, discussing the text, participating in a bartering activity in class (once with goods only and once with money), and...

A think aloud activity is a great way for readers to develop critical thinking skills. This resource models for readers how to use this strategy to think critically about a passage from Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven.

Lesson 10 in a series of human rights lessons focuses on the skills of finding evidence and summarizing. Your young readers work to compare the two texts they have read in this unit: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

Boost comprehension with an excellent reading guide for chapter 3 Of Mice and Men. Learners define four vocabulary words, note one allusion, define five literary terms, and respond to 31 short answer questions regarding the...

If you were stranded on a desert island, what items would be the most important to have with you? Decide whether you'd want a five gallon can of water, a radio, shark repellent, or any other item with an activity designed to prepare kids...

The first in a series of three resources designed to accompany a reading of Kate Chopin's The Awakening provides readers with background information about Chopin, Creole culture, literary realism, and women's suffrage.

Get ready to read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 with a lesson about historical fiction. Spanning several centuries, the resource prompts learners to guess the historical era of a story based on a word or phrase...

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is one of the most prominent and influential books to come out of the existential movement. Host a group discussion in which learners list different characteristics of existent art, group...

Teach your class about saving, spending, and goal setting with a story about a couple of bunnies who went shopping and related activities. Learners keep track of the bunnies' spending, practice identifying long- and short-term savings...

The eighth lesson plan in this series continues the focus on vocabulary and increasing young readers' awareness of academic language. Pairs of learners participate in a short vocabulary review activity called Interactive Words in which...

Jane Eyre offers scholars an opportunity to practice reading comprehension skills. Pairs are assigned a word from the text, use their prior knowledge, and consider the context, connotation, and denotation of the word to posit a...

Fourth graders investigate visual imagery to aid reading comprehension. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders discover how visual imagery helps in comprehending a story. Students use a reader's notebook to record connections.

Examine the use of vocabulary squares to aid in reading comprehension. Assessment and graphic organizer included.

Young scholars use several strategies in poetry to convey tone and speaker. In this language arts lesson, students read and build vocabulary as they gain a larger understanding of how to write poetry. Young scholars then work in...