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.

Provide pairs of learners with a three-page Fact vs. Opinion packet. The first page of the packet provides a definition of these terms and an opportunity for guided practice. Partners then share their ideas to complete the practice...

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...

Fourth and fifth graders practice the skill of organizing their writing to convey a central idea by sorting 14 facts about the dogwood tree into four categories of facts. The categories, which are written on the board, are; Governmental...

Good readers visualize. And in our image-rich culture it is imperative that children are provided with opportunities to practice this important skill. A selection from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and Bridge to Terabithia,...

In this comprehension check worksheet, learners 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 the...

Students, after listening to The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Anderson, become more aware of their relationship to human rights in regards to equality, justice, fairness, civil rights, and social justice.

Students demonstrate listening comprehension skills. They listen to an audio reading of two newspaper articles, identify verbs, answer discussion questions, and complete a cloze activity.

Students access a variety of resources on the Internet related to basic computer operations and parts. They examine the parts of a computer and the history of computers, view timelines, play games, and read tips on Internet safety.

Discuss movies and movie enjoyment with your middle school language arts class. They interpret movie review information, determine appropriate movies, and then write film reviews to share with the class. Focus on using context clues to...

A thorough resource for intermediate English learners addresses reading comprehension of informational texts, adjective forms, vocabulary acquisition, and writing in a journalistic style. Specifically, the class reads about stem cell...

Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...

Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...

Your clever kindergartners will enjoy a series of activities based on the West African folktale, The Clever Monkey, adapted by Rob Cleveland. They sequence the story with pictures, copy sentences, illustrate idioms about cats,...

Here's an exit slip activity that asks readers of The Last Lecture to identify three lessons from "Part III: Adventures and Lessons Learned" that resonated for them.

Looking for a vocabulary lesson relevant to MLK Day? Try this reading comprehension idea designed around Jean Marzollo's biography Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King. Go over new terms (freedom, justice,...

Puff the Magic Dragon remains a childhood landmark for budding readers (and singers), but did you know it also makes an excellent vocabulary study? By focusing on several in-text words (in this case: billow, cease, fearless,...

Craft your own fairy tale based on Momotaro, a Japanese story referenced in Kyoko Mori's Shuzuko's Daughter. A list of nouns guide learners in writing their own story, and predicting what might happen in the novel.

Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...

Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes may be surprised to learn that in addition to stories of the famous deductionist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is also the creator of Professor Challenger. An irascible, unpredictable scientist, Challenger was featured...

Help readers learn to create their own open-ended questions for any text you are working with. Using Bloom's Taxonomy, learners begin on the lower levels and work their way up to form questions that focus on synthesis instead of simple...

Readers of Twelfth Night use a KWHL chart to record information about what they know about Shakespeare's play, what they want to find out, how they plan on finding this information, and what they have learned or still want to learn about...

The fourth installment of the seven-lesson unit focused on African Americans elected to and serving in the US Congress looks at the period from 1971 through 2007. Class members read a contextual essay that provides background information...