Providing a wonderful way to explore reading and vocabulary skills, this resource takes your class on a journey to understand the accomplishments of Lewis and Clark through the eyes of their dog Seaman. It focuses on using the book Lewis...

While this focuses on Ancient Rome, the objectives are improved research and information evaluation skills. In one class period, class members narrow their topic, research it, select the best information, log useful sources, and discuss...

The eighth lesson plan in this series continues the focus on vocabulary and increasing young readers' awareness of academic language. Pairs of learners participate in a short vocabulary review activity called Interactive Words in which...

In this reading strategies worksheet, students will learn how to scan for information. Then students will scan a non-fiction passage about weather and complete 4 short answer questions.

No matter how difficult high school writing may seem, college writing presents challenges of its own. The fourth in a series of 24 handouts from The Writing Center at UNC breaks down the expectations for college writing. Scholars learn...

"What do we have to do again?" Chances are you hear this question all the time. Here's a handout that offers scholars tips on how to understand college writing assignments. Class members learn strategies to help them decode assignments...

There's no set length for a good paragraph, but the short block of text should contain key components. A handout on paragraphs, the 12th in a series of 24, outlines a five-step process for paragraph development. Additionally, the handout...

Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...

Poor organization often destroys an otherwise good paper. After writing a first draft, individuals consider the organization of ideas, a topic discussed in the 16th handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series. The resource covers...

Not all sources are created equal, so how do you evaluate them? Writers learn how to evaluate print sources based on elements such as audience, tone, and argument in the sixth handout of 24 in the Writing the Paper series from the...

Students study scanning and skimming techniques. In this research skills lesson, students use the research techniques on print literature about the Mississippi River. Students prepare book talks on the literature they read.

Whether you are an experienced computer user or a newcomer to technology, a packet full of computer vocabulary, tips, and guided practice is sure to enhance your technological knowledge. Learners can hone their word processing skills and...

In an ideal world, sentences in a college-level essay should feature a variety of sentence types. In reality, most papers stick to simple and compound sentences, two of the types a handout on sentence patterns discusses. Part of a larger...

Twitter has helped people learn to express their ideas in as few words as possible, but away from the 280-character limit, writers still struggle with keeping their writing short and to the point. Conciseness is the focus of a writing...

In this career worksheet, students practice the real life application of reading skills. They specifically cover the tasks of skimming and scanning a text.

Students examine how to skim textual material. They read an article, and identify the main ideas by reading first and last paragraphs, topic sentences, and other organizational clues.

Explore newspapers as a form of print media. They examine headlines from newspapers and infer meanings of the headlines. They skim articles for information and exchange articles between groups. They complete charts while skimming the...

Bring writing to life with this instructional activity in which elementary and middle schoolers create a display of the imagery they identify in a series of Gary Paulsen books. They read the suggested materials, identify imagery and...

The blogosphere may be overwhelmed with content, but there's still room for unique points of view. Creating a blog that stands out, however, is the bigger challenge. A handout on blogs, part of a series of handouts on specific writing...

Students practice skimming and scanning an article to determine its main points. They develop their own questions about the article and shares them with the class. They complete a worksheet about the article to end the lesson.

Eighth graders follow along with a teacher lead lesson plan to find information by skimming and scanning a resource booklet. They examine different types of resources that are available in a library. They practice skimming skills and...

Oh, the dreaded writer's block! As part of a larger paper-writing series, an invaluable resource discusses obstacles and stresses writers face. Individuals learn to identify feelings associated with anxiety, as well as strategies for...

Students identify cause and effect relationships in a short story. After reading a short story, they participate in a discussion of how one event in a story can lead to several others. Students are then paired for a matching task that...

Pupils discuss cause and effect relationships and the chain reaction involved before listening to the story "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears". Students create flow charts to show the chain reactions of causes and effects in the...