Questioning a text is a very effective way for kids to develop their reading comprehension skills. Designed to engage all class members, a reading activity prompts pairs to develop and share their own questions about the ending of Neil...

Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this lesson, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-lesson on participial phrases and reading the picture book Dancing in the Wings, pupils use a...

Literature circles give learners a chance to explore a novel in a unique way. An educator's guide for the book Savvy uses literature circles as part of the novel study. Additional activities cover elements of figurative language and...

Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.

Explore ocean habitats with a lesson that showcases the home of manatees and loggerhead turtles in Belize. Here, pupils compare and contrast the homes of ocean animals to those of humans, listen to an original short story about...

Students locate the parts of a book and respond to a read aloud of that book. In this literacy lesson, students participate in an interactive read aloud of Nadia's Hands in which they locate the cover and title of the book. They discuss...

Students use wordless picture books to examine elements regarding a story, the plot, and characters. In this wordless picture books lesson, students select a book to creatively discuss. Students then listen to the teacher read the story...

It's a fact: kids love bugs! With this lesson, young learners explore reading informational texts and conducting research while learning about their favorite insects. Spark learners' interest by reading a book about one kind of bug and...

Here is a wonderful lesson designed for students with special needs. This well-thought-out lesson uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping Quilt is used in the main part of...

In this reading guide worksheet, students answer multiple choice, true and false, and essay questions based on the reading of Frank Brennen's, "The Fruitcake Special and Other Stories." This is part of the Cambridge Readers series.

For this ninth lesson plan in a larger beginning-of-the-year unit, close reading skills are used independently to find the gist of the story That Book Woman. Rereading for important details is the targeted skill to unlock a deeper...

Third graders read excepts from the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker in order to gain practice in understanding an unfamiliar story by focusing on the details. They use a worksheet, embedded in the plan, which directs them to certain...

Investigate a "table of contents" with your young scholars! They read the table of contents in Deserts by Darlene R. Stille and predict where the answers to specific questions might be found. Learners complete a worksheet in which they...

Young learners are introduced to the most basic elements and concepts of a book with this pre-kindergarten language arts lesson. Through modeling and discussion, the whole class explores how to read a book and how to determine if you...

Read the story Alexander's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day to your second grade class. They will either draw a picture of the part of the story that they liked the best or write one sentence about the part that made them laugh....

Looking for a motivating and creative technology activity? Then this activity is for you! After viewing a movie trailer, middle-schoolers follow that design to create a video preview of a book's story elements. They also create a...

"Warning: Conducting this lesson may be harmful." Such statements, called "Trigger Warnings," are the focus of a two-part lesson that looks at censorship, especially the pros and cons of trigger warnings. Class members read two articles,...

Phrenology, the belief that parts of your brain control certain aspects of your personality, is described in Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. While we now know much more about the brain, learners use this...

Using everything they have learned about writing paragraphs over the past few lessons of the unit, class members compose an informative paragraph independently. This is an authentic assessment of their ability, since learners have...

Build reading fluency and classroom community with a Reader’s Theater activity. Class groups select a myth, or if part of a myth writing unit, select a group member’s myth, craft a script, and perform for the class. Directions for...

If you need a new way to approach reading assignments in your class, use a creative cereal box project as a book report. With all necessary templates included for each side of the cereal box, the resource guides readers through the...

What does showing respect look like? What behaviors show disrespect? After modeling such behaviors, primary graders create a flag that they hold up while demonstrating respectful behavior as they recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The...

Determining a theme or central idea is greatly emphasized in the Common Core standards. Target that skill though big metaphors and central symbols in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Help your class reach the standard through...

Beginning readers observe and demonstrate a variety of reading expression strategies. They listen to the teacher read the book Ten Hungry Monsters both with and without expression, and discuss the difference. Then it's their turn!...