Some war heroes have four legs. War Horse tells of a courageous foal taken from his farm and sent into war. Joey, the foal, loves and touches the lives of many soldiers. However, his heart is still with his boy back on the farm. Scholars...

Enjoy solving riddles? Perhaps Sal, a character in Walk Two Moons, is the only one capable of understanding a mysterious message left on her doorstep. On a road trip with her grandparent, Sal tries to make sense of the bizarre world...

A painting is worth a thousand words—in a different world! Lucy and Edmund sail away into Narnia using a picture of a ship at sea. The story tells of their adventures and the islands they visit. Scholars work through activities about the...

The dictionary defines twit as a foolish person. Mr. and Mrs. Twit, in The Twits, definitely live up to their name! The foolish couple dislikes everything and enjoys playing cruel jokes on each other. Scholars read about the Twits...

Maybe the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Ralph, a mouse character in Runaway Ralph, thought that summer camp had to be better than dealing with his mother, uncle, and cousins. However, camp has its troubles, too. Worksheet...

A journey of a lifetime awaits you in Ruby Holler. Troublesome orphaned twins pair up with an older couple for a magical adventure. However, the journey must begin with the pairs staying together in Ruby Holler. Scholars soon learn...

A continuation of the previous lesson, which is part of a larger group of lessons on human rights (see additional materials). Here, in Lesson 7, your class will explore more articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After...

Help your learners work with difficult or archaic words. A continuation of lesson two of this module, the plan here focuses on deciphering the Inventory of John Allen, in particular the unfamiliar words that make up much of the list. Add...

Mary from The Secret Garden finds a key that could possibly unlock the door to a secret garden. Scholars read Frances Hodgson Burnett's class novel and match vocabulary words with definitions, answer comprehension questions, and create...

Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...

Make your classroom into a place of kindness and compassion with E.B White's Charlotte's Web. The first four pages of the lesson plan guide you through several steps and projects, including discussions on Charlotte and Wilbur's...

Practice makes perfect when it comes to learning grammar with this ESL resource. Offering a great way to teach about relative clauses, this lesson engages students with a series of partner, small group, and whole class speaking and...

Teach your class about the ways they can befriend and understand people who are different from them with a reading comprehension lesson. As youngsters read Taking Down Syndrome to School by Jenna Glatzer, they answer a...

A picture's worth a thousand words—and even more inspiration! A visual activity uses photographs to inspire writers. The process teaches aspects of narrative writing, such as point of view and characterization.

Encourage the poetic genius in your young creative writers with a poetry workshop. Fix form poems (cinquains acrostic poems, octopoems, hello/goodbye poems) provide a framework and encourage vocabulary development as well as an awareness...

Enhance your foreign language students' skills to describe a house. After reading a description of rooms in a house in their target language, they work to answer corresponding questions correctly. Additionally, they view a PowerPoint...

Investigate articles from the daily news and share opinions with classmates. Using current events, learners view a news program without sound and predict what news is being discussed by analyzing the visuals. Then they read news articles...

Sometimes it's hard to relate to a new text. Teach kids to use their prior knowledge when reading something new with a comprehension exercise. A short passage tells them how to think of their brains like filing systems, and provides five...

“The Wounded,” the title story from a collection of stories about the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1977-78), is the central text in a World Literature unit examining choices. An anticipation guide, discussion topics, vocabulary list,...

Making inferences can be a tricky proposition for middle schoolers. In the lesson presented here, pupils practice the skill of drawing a conclusion and making a judgment - which are what making an inference is all about! There are five...

What time is it? Language learners are introduced to time vocabulary with a series of activities, songs, and games that let them practice formulating and answer questions about time.

Teach kids about the beginnings of the Braille writing system with a lesson about Louis Braille. A series of discussion questions guide young readers though A Picture Book of Louis Braille by David A. Adler, and once they finish the...

Invite your class to share their appreciation of one another through the work of a Valentine's Day cinquain poem. Scholars use their knowledge of their classmates to describe them through adjectives, action verbs, and a complete...

After reading the 11th chapter in Matilda, class members take on the role of Bruce Bogtrotter and re-enact the cake eating scene. Here's the catch: they must come-up with an impromptu re-enactment of the scene from the story, and...