This series of 12 downloadable activities teach students some basics of story writing, using books or videos from the PBS "Arthur" series as a springboard. Activities include creating story maps, asking questions about characters and...

Students will plan a paragraph that states their opinion and cites evidence to justify their opinion about an informational text. This lesson uses biographies since students can easily be able to write down factual information from the...

The first step in writing an informational text on the topic of learners' choice is helping the student choose a topic of interest. Students will brainstorm ideas that will be possible final topics.

Reading 101 is a self-paced professional development course for K-3 teachers. It presents some of the core information that teachers need to help young children learn to read and write well and to support the children who struggle. The...

Students will take a previously created paragraph and edit it to make it better by adding details, definitions, a topic sentence, or a closure to an informational paragraph. Resources include a PowerPoint presentation and pictures and...

The goal of this activity is for students to learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp. Students realize that the narrative impulse underlies even...

Students will compare and contrast the written form of Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" to a live reading of the poem by an actress. Follow-up activities provided.

My students have learned how to read and write time. Now I want them to see how important time is for us to organize our lives. I want them to use data charts for schedules and be able to analyze the information.

In this lesson plan, the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin, written by Laura Numeroff, is used as a mentor text for word choice. The content focus of the lesson is to teach the young scholars to take ownership of scientific and...

Through the use of primary sources, 4th graders will understand the main concepts of the Homestead Act and use that information to write a letter to a relative explaining why they moved to Ohio.

[Free Registration/Login Required] A series of three lesson plans designed to teach students to identify main ideas through headings and chapter titles, and then to write appropriate titles of their own. Lessons are based on the books...

Created by a teacher responding to the events in Kosovo, this list is a great start for a media literacy class project. Good discussion-starting questions are included with each item on the list. Requires some independent research to...

In this lesson, students will be able to gather information from provided resources to answer a question. Using the book "Owls", the teacher will read the book while asking guiding questions. After the book, the students will have to...

Learning to engage in collaborative conversations allows children to learn about their world, to become familiar with words, and to build a solid foundation for the development of reading and writing skills. This lesson will model...

This comprehensive teacher's guide for the book "Zathura" by Chris Van Allsburg provides us with an opportunity to examine how writers blend scientific information with a fictional story.

This lesson plan is designed to teach various methods students can use when researching background information on one another in order to introduce each other in written and oral form.

This article looks at applying the Big6 process to issues raised by No Child Left Behind legislation. The goal of the Big6 process is to improve performance by improving thinking through application of information technology skills. This...

A large collection of Social Studies units, WebQuests, and games that focuses on teaching students how government works and the importance of being responsible, informed American citizens. Units are linked to state standards. A teacher...

Check out this site to learn more about building research skills for grades 2-3. This site offers suggestions for activities that will sharpen your abilities.

This resource provides guided research teaching units for all levels of learners.

This is a great and informative site. This lesson uses Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and Noyes's "The Highwayman" to teach vivid imagery and figurative language. Don't miss out.