What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...

Ideas like this are highly effective for helping build better reading comprehension. The class listens to an excerpt from a grade-appropriate text, and they discuss what clues or words helped them visualize the scene. They then read a...

Mathematicians can be famous, too! Introduce your class to Eratosthenes with a reading passage. After they complete the passage, learners respond to five questions, some of which require opinions and others reading comprehension skills.

Everything you need to know about informational text features can be found in this resource. Recognizing these types of text features and how they are used in text allows readers to better understand information. Teachers...

Readers respond to a series of questions focused onJuliet Marillier's young adult novel Wildwood Dancing, and crafted to reflect the levels in Bloom's Taxonomy.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a famous suffragette that paved the way for equal rights for women. Readers respond to before, during, and after reading questions based on her story. The resource is a great addition to a lesson during...

Here is a wonderful online language arts activity for your emerging readers. Learners play an interactive game where they look at two characters who are engaging with each other. They must choose the word from a word bank that best...

Here is an oddly formated presentation that does have some great information and neat ideas. It includes images and text describing the causes and effects of the Great Depression, FDR, Herbert Hoover, and Eleanor Roosevelt. It also...

How do you assess what your pupils have learned over the course of the year? Find out how competent they are at reading and analyzing age-level literature with the ideas presented here. Included in this resource are two suggested...

Examine the life of steamboat inventor, Robert Fulton, through reading comprehension worksheet that includes both multiple choice and short answer questions. Then, take part in a word search and write definitions, words, and...

Scholars voice their opinions about animal consciousness with an article that challenges common ideas about nature. After reading the article, learners engage in a thoughtful discussion before writing out their arguments...

The story of Helen Keller is a fascinating one for young scholars; use it to practice reading comprehension and new vocabulary as learners listen to you read David Adler's picture book (hint: this strategy can be applied to any book)....

A key challenge in teaching kids how to read informational text, particularly primary source documents, is finding suitable resources and then developing questions that guide readers. Never fear, help is here in the form of a series...

If your class is reading A Day at the Apple Orchard by Megan Faulkner, be sure to use this guide for vocabulary in context. Go over the orchard-related terms (cycle, harvest, orchard, pollen, and ripen) before reading...

The African plains come alive as scholars learn vocabulary in context through Verna Aardema's story Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (tip: this strategy can be applied to any book). Precede reading by...

Are your learners curious about new words? Take them on an adventure with Curious George as they learn vocabulary in the context of H.A. Rey's book, Curious George Rides a Bike. Prepare budding readers by introducing the terms...

Combine counting and vocabulary using Francine Bassede's book George's Store at the Shore, which has learners exploring new words and numbers 1-10. Suggested words for this text are: arrange, assortment, customers,...

Dinosaurs don't go to school...but what if they did? Use Jane Yolen's book How Do Dinosaurs Go To School to explore vocabulary in context. Find this on YouTube if you don't have the text on hand. These in-text words give some...

No one likes being sick; use Aamir Bermiss' book I Hate To Be Sick as the context for a vocabulary study of illness-related words. Acquaint pupils with this unhealthy vocabulary (dizzy, faint, fever,...

Beautiful illustrations and tender memories of cultural identity make Kam Mak's story My Chinatown an ideal resource for budding readers learning four vocabulary words in context: fortune, scraps,...

Here's a calendar that helps readers keep track of the major events in The Wednesday War.

A rhyming activity challenges scholars to sort picture cards according to their rhyme. Four picture cards line up across the top of a pocket chart. Learners take turns choosing from a face-down stack of picture cards and sort them...

Scholars explore an expository text to answer questions about its structure.

Did the Confederate Army really consist of southern volunteers? Using primary sources, historians examine the story behind the "Twenty Negro Law" and realities of conscription during the Civil War. A letter and a lithograph (included as...