As your 3rd grade class finishes reading Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, the eighth lesson plan of this unit helps readers from an understanding of the very specific information on the final page of the book. As with the entire unit,...

In the third activity from this unit based on the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, learners focus on using specific details from the text-to-answer questions about the habitat of bullfrogs. While reading the text, young...

A visual literary lesson provides learners with OPTIC (Observations, Predictions, Themes, Inferences, Conclusions), a reading strategy to help them understand and interpret visual and written texts. Scholars practice the strategy with a...

Learn about how the seeing eye dog program began with a reading lesson about Eva Moore's chapter book, Buddy, The First Seeing Eye Dog. With vocabulary words, discussion questions, and extension resources, the lesson is a...

Just what did Ben Franklin read? By juxtaposing Ben Franklin’s reading material as a young man with an analysis of his developed ideas, learners gain the opportunity to see how the influences of his youthful reading played out. Roman,...

Building upon previous lessons, scholars take to asking and answering questions about a frog's habitat. A partner discussion follows a read-aloud of an informational text in preparation for a worksheet that boosts reading comprehension...

Boost reading comprehension skills with a lesson all about freaky frogs. A poem hooks scholars and takes them into a reading of an informational text followed by peer discussions. A three-page worksheet focuses on text features and...

After reading background information about Kate Chopin, pupils complete their shared reading of her short story, "The Story of an Hour."  Participants then consider the irony of the ending.

Bridge subjects ancient history and English language arts together with a unit all about the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Eleven lessons begin with a read-aloud followed by a whole-class discussion in preparation for practice by...

Are your scholars reading Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee? If so, use this textual analysis packet and instructional activity guide to drive deeper thinking about the characters, create personal connections, and apply...

Can you find the themes from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in other books? What about picture books? Compare the novel to a picture book with a lesson about making predictions and finding textual evidence.

Here is a great little reading and vocabulary development lesson created just for learners with special needs. The lesson is constructed with both core content and necessary adaptations in mind. The group will use PECS, pointing/gesture,...

Rafael Trujillo was president of the Dominican Republic in the 1930s. Pupils read and analyze the first six paragraphs of Julia Alvarez's autobiographical essay "A Genetics of Justice," in which the author describes Trujillo's impact on...

Trading in Colonial America is the focus of a lesson plan that boosts reading skills. As a class, scholars examine the informational text for crucial details, use their newfound knowledge to share information with their peers, and write...

Let's party! Class members spend the first 25 minutes celebrating their independent reading efforts through an activity the teacher chooses. They then take a glimpse into the next unit of study, Pygmalion Myth Read-aloud and discus...

Can you tell everything about a character based on their actions? Delve into the prominent characters of Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" with helpful reading tips and discussion questions. A thorough lesson...

Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 

Review one of the most memorable cases in the history of the United States. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, young scholars read and select court transcripts and other primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys Trial of 1933....

How does word choice influence the meaning and tone of a text? To answer this question, class members listen to a masterful reading of a passage from David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and then work with a partner to conduct a close...

Class members continue reading "How Bernard Madoff Did It" and annotate how the author refines his idea that the Madoff scandal grabbed the attention of a public fascinated with crime stories.

Help your learners take pride in their reading with a packet of words. Each page has a letter of the alphabet in the upper corner, and plenty of room for kids to jot down the corresponding words that they can now read.

It's time to think deep and narrow. Scholars focus close reading on one short text but task take their thinking to a deep level. Readers use a Rhetorical Analysis Chart to analyze The Gettysburg Address and determine how Lincoln used...

Address annotation, word choice, and tone in the same language arts instructional activity. Ninth graders read a section of Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" and track character development based on supporting...

Finding the central idea in a text can be as simple as deciphering the correct pieces of supporting evidence. As your class reads Stage 4 of "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell, they analyze the interactions...