Foster critical thinking skills by using the DR-TA Strategy with Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Class members read portions of the essay, stop and discuss what is happening, make predictions based on evidence from the text, and...

"How important is freedom to you and your family?" The guiding question becomes much more powerful after your class reads and responds to a passage from a historical novel. While reading the passage, they complete a graphic organizer...

Practice sequencing with your 2nd graders via Patricia Polacco's Civil War book Pink and Say. Begin with a blindfold and a bag of mystery items. Connect their use of clues to identify what they can't see with the skill of making...

Start your unit by reading the "Ballade des Pendus," by the character Villon. The class makes predictions, discusses what they might already know about the text, and reads the selection together. There are step-by-step plans detailed...

A current and engaging informational text with some superb scaffolding activities, this six paragraph article discusses the release of the iPad from Apple, eBooks, and the history of reading and writing materials. After reading the...

Prepare your class to read "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl with these pre-reading activities about the two main characters in the story. This resource provides a brief overview of the story as well as excerpts from the text that describe...

Boris is the smartest baby around! Beginning readers can use this short story excerpt to practice reading comprehension and fiction elements. They read the story and then discuss what they think he will do next. Scholars create an...

Can you judge a book by its cover? Decide who and what Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about with a prediction activity. Before reading the first three chapters of the book, kids answer questions based on their interpretation...

Guide readers to think about what they are reading with a comprehension activity. Using John Steinbeck's The Pearl, learners predict what is coming, verify and judge their predictions, and analyze what they are reading more closely.

Guide your pupils through The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with a directed reading exercise. The teacher asks questions as the class reads a chapter to help lead learners toward making well-supported predictions.

Enhance a class read-aloud of the children's story Hi! Fly Guy with this reading comprehension lesson. Children first listen as the teacher reads the story, stopping along the way to discuss any unfamiliar vocabulary. The book...

Create a cross-curricular learning experience based on the children's book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat with this collection of learning activities. Starting with a class reading of the story, children go on to learn about the...

Walk your pupils through the beginning of My Antonia by Willa Cather with a read-aloud-style activity. The goal is to make predictions and back them up with textual evidence.

To generate interest in reading Neal Shusterman's young adult science fiction novel Unwind, class members engage in a Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA) that asks them to examine the front and back covers, the blurbs, and "The...

It's one thing to have an idea, but someone has to put it into action! Young pupils read a rendition of Aesop's fable of the mice in the council before answering four questions about details from the text.

A reading adventure pack, featuring a fiction and nonfiction book focuses on the weather. Scholars read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett and Seymour Simon and then complete three creative activities. Participants craft...

Making letters out of goop, sight word bingo, tic-tac-toe vowels. Download this packet loaded with activities designed to engage beginning readers. Although designed for adults, many of the activities are appropriate for any...

The 11 lessons in this educators' guide focus on using newspapers to develop critical reading skills in the content areas.

Direct readers' thinking with a DRTA activity that asks them to make predictions about The Book Thief based on an examination of the cover of Markus Zusak's novel and a reading of the prologue.

Improving listening comprehension skills is the goal of this language arts lesson. Young readers listen to the story Two Greedy Bears, stopping to have discussions with a partner. They predict outcomes and make inferences based on...

Practice making predictions by looking at the cover of a book. You can use The Hungry Thing, as suggested here, or any other book you may be reading in class. Use the predictions to talk about good reading strategies. A chart is...

With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...