Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...

After several short 15-minute mini-lessons, your learners will gain an understanding of the characteristics of a non-fiction text. Using the book Map It by Elspeth Leacock, your class will become acquainted with non-fiction terms...

Thanksgiving doesn't occur only once a year for the Haudenosaunee. Weave an instructional activity about reading closely with an inspiring message about eternal gratitude for all of the elements of creation into a unit on Native American...

Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...

A unity covers Greek mythology through read-alouds and activities. Fourteen lessons share a new story that pupils discuss, then complete word work and extension opportunities. Topics include the gods of Mount Olympus, Hercules, and more.

Accompany a reading of First Come the Zebra written and illustrated by Lynne Barasch with a teacher's guide equipped with before reading, vocabulary, and after reading activities. Additional social studies,...

Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...

Celebrate the beauty of trees with a packet full of activities designed to help kindergarteners get to know about their leafy nature friends. Covering a variety of subjects, scholars go on a nature hike, read Shel Silverstein's The...

An online interactive activity asks learners to analyze a group of documents related to the women's suffrage movement and then place the documents on a timeline. The results assess users understanding of the progression of the women's...

Traditions, like the times, are a-changin'. Middle schoolers conduct a close reading of Richard Blanco's poem "América" and consider how Blanco's family approached his suggestions for adopting a new approach to their Thanksgiving meal.

Do young people have a role in social movements? Should they? The involvement of young people in the Dakota Access Pipeline is the focus of a resource that asks class members to examine letters written by native youths who oppose the...

Sail with Christopher Columbus on a biographical reading adventure. Young explorers learn about the life of Sir Columbus as they hone their comprehension skills through guiding questions, shared reading, and fluency practice. Included in...

Here's a packet of activities, designed to be used with the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt textbook, that will engage and challenge learners who have already mastered the basic skills in a thematic unit study of traditions.

What can a quarter possibly teach young learners about desert ecosystems? More than you might think. After displaying and discussing the included picture of the Arizona state quarter, the class participates in a series of...

Students explore philosophy by participating in a philanthropic activity. For this book read-in lesson, students collect a group of used books and illustrate an image to go along with the story. Students donate these books to a shelter...

What a great way to combine English language arts with your celebration of Presidents' Day! Youngsters are guided through the reading of a poem sung to the tune of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on the jobs of the president of the United...

Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.

Students plan and implement a change in their neighborhood, school or nation. In this social action lesson, students share concerns about their neighborhood, school or nation and brainstorm ways to solve the problem. Students select a...

What are the effects of an air quality alert? Expert groups receive one component of air quality information resources to study. Pupils then jigsaw into new groups and share their knowledge. Finally, they draft a statement of what they...

In the tenth instructional activity of this unit, young scholars learn to categorize information as they continue researching their colonial trade. During guided practice, the teacher models how to read informational text slowly while...

The Buttonhook by Mary Jo Salter is the focus of a unit that explores the immigration experience to Ellis Island. First, scholars bring in an artifact that represents their heritage. A group-exercise allows them to share and discuss...

After watching an excerpt from a video of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony before Congress, pupils do a close reading of Mahogany L. Browne's poem "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said," annotate words and phrases that draw their attention and list...

3D printers, selfie sticks, smart watches. GPS, self-driving cars, YouTube. Imagine life without inventions. Believe it or not, these items were all invented in the last 10 years. Inventions, and the inventors responsible for them,...