Make note of what readers know, what to know, and have learned during a unit on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As class members read the book, they jot down their ideas on a KWHL chart, and consider what they have...

Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...

Prior to reading Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members are presented with a problematic situation and to rate their responses as well as predict the responses of a character from the novel.

Before beginning a reading of Wuthering Heights, class members respond to a series of statements on an anticipation guide.

Extend the exhilarating learning experience of Dr. Seuss with five activities designed to reinforce literacy skills—site word reading, dialogue writing, story mapping, and more! Featured stories include The Lorax,...

Use this packet as a companion to your study of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. The resource breaks the novel up into several chunks, and for each chunk provides activities, background information, vocabulary, graphic organizers, and response...

Once upon a time are four words most children are familiar with when reading a fairy tale. But do they know that fairy tales are a great way to learn the literary elements of reading and writing? Use a thorough fairy tale unit...

Learners create and publish a newspaper that reflects and explains pioneer and medieval societies. They become newspaper writers for a specific time period. They adopt a holistic approach to exploring community life in medieval and...

The words of Henry David Thoreau on Civil Disobedience seem particularly relevant today, as are his writings and those of other transcendental thinkers who ask what it mean to live deliberately and what are the responsibilities of...

Learn about the study of paleoecology with a resource about Dr. Grace Bush and her contributions to the field. After reading a one-page passage, learners answer comprehension questions and explore their personal interests in different...

Check out a resource made up of two separate exercises. The first page lists a series of higher-level questions about "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika. Use the questions to encourage discussion or as an assessment. Since they...

Reading a scientific article about cross-species synchronization may sound like a yawner. But "Monkey See, Monkey Do" is a fascinating tale that just happens to be about yawning, within and across species. After a close reading, class...

Grab a partner! Scholars partner up to take a second look at the verse novel Inside Out & Back Again. They discuss questions about and connections to the novel and then learn how to complete a Quick Write task properly. To finish,...

Scholars refer to a British Dialect/Slang anchor chart as they answer text-dependent questions over section eight of Pygmalion. While learners work on the questions, the teacher conducts check-ins on the progress of their independent...

It's all connected. Scholars use pages 24-26 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World to identify the relationship between the plants and animals in the rainforest. They answer and discuss questions about the relationship with a...

Model  for your class how to make text-to-text connections by following the script presented by this resource. No specific texts are offered as examples.

Students answer questions to a worksheet called Connect with Cultural Connections in order to read for meaning. For this read for meaning lesson plan, students read and answer 5 comprehension questions.

Middle schoolers read library books daily for ten to fifteen minutes, log information on Free Reading Chart, giving a brief summary of what they just read, and write brief reactionary response to the reading.

Students improve their reading comprehension through predicting, connecting with text and summarizing. Students should have already read the book Seedfolks and made predictions based upon what they had seen from the cover and pictures...

First graders participate in active read aloud of Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In this read aloud instructional activity set, 1st graders practice the "turn and talk" technique as they listen to Chrysanthemum. They listen to the story...

Students read patterned sentences. In this guided reading lesson, students use one to one matching and picture clues to aid comprehension. Cross-curricular activities are provided.

Students discover shapes on a playground. In this guided reading lesson, students discover new vocabulary words related to shapes as they read Shapes Where We Play. In small groups, students use picture clues and one to one matching to...

Students blend phonemes. In this guided reading lesson, students create words by blending isolated phonemes. Students read a book discussing families.

Students discover basic concepts of print. In this early literacy lesson, students discover basic high frequency words. Students make predictions as they read. Cross-curricular activities provided.