Walt Whitman's poem "As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days" offers scholars an opportunity to practice their noticing skills. They first examine a postcard of the Newport News Shipyard listing things they notice about the image and how...

Class members come together to study Amanda Gorman's poem "New Day's Lyric." After a close reading of the poem, learners watch a video of Gorman reading her poem, and then craft additional lines for the poem where they offer suggestions...

What do a cheetah, Audi commercial, and air have in common? They're all topics of an engaging inquiry-based, hands-on workshop for educators about background knowledge, reading strategies, the CER model, and argumentative writing. The...

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...

How could you decide which of your late mother's possessions are important enough to take to college with you? Decide which items would be the most valuable to you with an activity based on Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter. After...

Text annotations help readers track essential ideas. Pupils continue reading and annotating an informational article about Sudanese tribes, connecting it with A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They also begin writing about their...

How much screen time is too much? Scholars explore the question as they consider whether the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) should increase its screen time recommendations. With group discussions, close readings, and a jigsaw...

Put on a happy face. Using an interesting resource, pupils read an informational text about Hawaii's endangered Happy Face Spider. Next, they participate in a jigsaw discussion to find the gist of the article. 

In this reading comprehension worksheet, students are instructed to read a book with their family, note the title and author, then reread the story silently. Next, students answer 3 questions about the story. Worksheet is designed to be...

Introduce your little ones to the wonders of phonemic decoding. They practice along as you sound out simple cvc words in the context of a sentence. 

The letter m is the first letter in many of my favorite words. It has the best /m/ sound ever. Get your little ones excited about letter m with this super simple, super short lesson. They work with the teacher to practice saying,...

Readers of Freak the Mighty employ a KWHL strategy to explore the topics of bullying and friendship prior to reading Rodman Philbrick’s story that is “like truth serum. . . whether it really happened or not.” Research could be extended...

Take a trip through history with a lesson on historical fiction. With instructions for games, reading activities, and literary analysis assignments, this resource would be a great addition to any reading unit with a historical fiction...

Primary students will use the five "W" questions for reading comprehension as they read silently to themselves so that they can understand and remember what they have read. They then read The Velveteen Rabbit aloud, discussing the five...

The class reads the description of the "Drawing of an African Burial Ground Grave In Situ" then completes a work sheet. They act like archaeologists and answer a series of critical thinking questions to better understand the historical...

Prior to reading Maus I and II, class members fill in a KWL chart to determine what they want to learn and how to find information about World War II and the Holocaust. Consider gathering packets of information and research sites before...

Travel to New Orleans for their warm, sweet beignets, or bring a piece of New Orleans to your classroom by baking the delicious treats with your third and fourth graders! If baking them isn't possible, at least review the recipe for a...

Take a vacation into French with lots of vocabulary and plenty of activities. This collection of worksheets includes instruction as well as practice and invites French language learners to hone their translation skills.

The SAT. The ACT. AP exams. The very mention of these exams can cause the college bound to feel anxious. One way to combat Test Anxiety is to provide high schoolers with models of these tests and give them opportunities to analyze...

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...

What is your strategy? Scholars read "The Border" and work with a partner to practice reading strategies to use while independent reading. They identify difficult parts where they practiced rereading by marking them with sticky notes,...

Identify the rhyme scheme in a worksheet that features "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Readers use the nursery rhyme to reinforce poetic elements in four comprehension questions.

How did the 1921 riots in Tulsa start? Pupils read information about the riots that occurred in Tulsa. Following the reading, they answer multiple-choice questions and guided reading questions to help them along the way.

Attitudes toward women have changed radically in the last hundred years. The first activity in a six-part unit that uses Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" as an anchor text begins with a shared reading of "The Role of...