Here is a way to build your pupils' public speaking abilities. The lesson describes a reader's report chair, which is used each week by a student who has just finished reading a book. The featured reader sits in the chair and talks about...

Create a graphic organizer to review parts and systems of the body, then present a new topic. Special education learners grades 3-5 learn about the sense of hearing. They draw parts of the ear, sign a song, read Perk Up Your Ears, and...

What makes writing literary? What comprises analysis? A 15-slide PowerPoint presentation, created by the Purdue University Writing Lab, tackles these questions. The explanations of what makes writing literary and what comprises analysis...

Read to learn! Here is a one-page informational passage about inhabitants of Phoenix, Arizona. Learners will read to make logical inferences and determine the central idea or theme. Prompts ask the class to identify the main idea and...

If you'd like to quickly access a simple graphic organizer designed for a class to divide and conquer a larger subject, then check out this resource. Assign class members to study a specific topic within a historical theme or event, and...

After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...

A lovely guided reading lesson awaits you and your students. They read the book,Corn is Maize: The Gift of the Indians, by Aliki, summarize the important events of the story, and describe how corn has helped develop culture in America.

High schoolers research the US Presidential election of 1824. They explain why the election of 1824 was decided in the House of Representatives. They summarize relevant portions of the Constitution on presidential election procedures.

Live Strong! High schoolers will discuss some of the reasons behind Lance Armstrong's success in cycling and chart those reasons into four categories: Physiology, Psychology, Equipment, Training/Strategy. They will then choose one sport...

Students get rid of unnecessary information. They pick out the most important information. Students write a sentence that covers everything that is important information from the passage. They fill out a check list to check behind...

Third graders summarize information.  In this Hall of Fame lesson, 3rd graders gather information on inductees and paraphrase the information.  Students use this to create decorate and create a sample plaque.  

In this summarizing a story learning exercise, students tell a family member about the story and write a short summary. Students answer two questions.

Middle schoolers complete this journalism/language arts activity to improve their writing. They work in partners interviewing each other, then write key facts in a table, summarizing what, who, where, when, why. They make their reporting...

Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...

Students, while in the computer lab visiting the National Geographic Kids website, fill out a checklist of unimportant/redundant information, look for important events and ideas and search for the author's main idea and supporting...

Dive into journalism with your high schoolers! The resources provided here will help your learners write unbiased, clear, and succinct newspaper articles. First they spend time sifting through stacks of articles, filling out a graphic...

Many educators focus on the civil rights movement as it occurred after Rosa Parks incited the bus boycott. Extend the understanding of the fight for civil rights in the United States with this post-WWII instructional activity. Learners...

Building on the previous activity in this unit on colonial trade, the ninth activity has young experts continuing their research and writing summaries of the information they find. To begin, children participate in guided practice where...

Close reading doesn't mean to literally read text close to your face, but rather to pay attention to particular details in order to develop a deep and purposeful understanding of text. The first part of a five-part resource provides an...

The second lesson in the series begins with a starter activity discussing wild versus domesticated animals. Then, scholars play a card game, with optional variations, to emphasize artificial selection. Next, they attend a field trip to a...

What are the short and long-term consequences for consumers and producers of modern media propaganda? Class members ponder this essential question as their unit study of ethics of propaganda concludes. After examining two case...

Each of the Earth's spheres interacts with the other spheres in predictable ways. Young scientists explore these interactions through a hands-on activity, graphing, and watching a video. They summarize their knowledge in a video or...

Scholars review prior knowledge before completing a hands-on simulation of the rock cycle. They write stories or songs summarizing their simulations to demonstrate mastery.

How high will it fly? Pairs build straw rockets and launch them at different angles and determine the height and horizontal distance of the flight path. Teams make conjectures about how the angle affects the measured distances and use...