After reading the section about medicine and healing in The Inuit Thought of It, leaners determine what they feel was the most important resource to surviving in the Arctic environment. They support their opinions with details from...

In order to make evidence-based claims, one must be able to draw explicit information from text. From here, learners take that information, analyze the text to develop a deeper understanding, and connect with the information in order to...

Only a thorough understanding of history can save us from repeating it. Practice close reading skills with an eighth grade unit that focuses on 19th century America, including European immigration into Ellis Island and Frederick...

For twenty-two lessons over five weeks, scholars practice sound-spelling correspondence, spelling patterns, tricky words, and reading decodable text. Assessments aid in small group formation and gauge comprehension. Lessons begin with a...

A unit designed for kindergarteners builds letter-sound correspondence in preparation for reading. Over four weeks, young scholars build proficiency in recognizing and matching the sound of 9 letters. They take that knowledge to read a...

Work with your department or on your own to create organized unit plans that connect to all parts of the Common Core standards. The three-page template includes space to summarize the unit, list standards for each category of the ELA...

It's time to put it all together! Using the resource, scholars complete an end-of-unit assessment. They write a multi-paragraph essay comparing Audre Lorde's "From the House of Yemanjá" or "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton" to...

Why is reading important? As part of the mid-unit assessment, scholars read, summarize, and analyze an article about the importance of reading. Additionally, they continue their discussion about whether their rules to live by should be a...

Connect with the text using helpful annotation strategies. As your class reads the first section of Karen Russell's short story, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," they note important passages that establish character...

What happens when a tenuous grasp on sanity begins to slip? Compare Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Emily Dickinson's "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain" with a lesson plan focused on developing a common central idea. High...

Can people live forever? Scholars ponder the answer as they analyze an excerpt from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. As readers discover Lacks' immortal cells, they discuss how the author carefully sequences, connects and unfolds...

It's all in the details. Scholars read acts two and three of The Hero's Journey and collect important details from the text. They share their notes with their peers and listen for key words from the story. They then turn their attention...

Explore connections within and between informational texts with this lesson about encyclopedia articles. Middle schoolers write encyclopedia articles focusing on topics in American history. They discuss how to determine credibility...

To launch a unit study of the concept of diversity in World Literature, class members compare Chinua Achebe's essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" and Richard Rodriguez's essay, "The Chinese in All of...

Hearken! and observe how well a literary analysis unit can help ninth graders read closely and connect text structure to a central idea. Focusing on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," learners take notes and track the development...

The concept of sight, whether it's a lack of sight or abundant sight of the future, plays a vital role in Sophocle's Oedipus the King. Develop your ninth graders' literary vision with a lesson that connects the prophecy of Teiresias to...

To what extent can the surrounding environment influence one's behavior? Temple Grandin explores her connection to animals and her unique ability to understand their behavior with a lesson plan focusing on her book, Animals in...

Are cattle prods beneficial for herding cattle, or do they cause more harm than good? Investigate Temple Grandin's claim about animal behavior with a lesson that focuses on pages 20-23 of the first chapter of her book, Animals in...

How are multiplication and division connected? Read a passage about inverse operations to find out how you can use products and quotients to check your work when completing an equation from the opposite operation.

Autism isn't an illness or a disability. In the first chapter of Animals in Translation, we learn about Temple Grandin's unique ability to understand animals through her experience with autism. Having read pages four through eight for...

The American Revolution is the theme of a five-week unit that focuses on reading, grammar, morphology, and writing. Scholars read and respond to texts, practice spelling and word work, and write paragraphs. Assessments gauge comprehension.

Fifth graders explore the Adventures of Don Quixote in a four-week language arts unit. Scholars listen to and discuss a new chapter each day as well as examine vocabulary and practice word work including suffixes, subject-verb agreement,...

"People never notice anything." As part of their study of The Catcher in the Rye, class members adopt Holden Caulfield's approach and spend time as quiet observers of their surrounding, recording their observations/reflections in a...

Scholars complete Part 2 of their end of unit assessment by having a science talk. Pupils pair up to answer questions about what makes a natural disaster. As one learner talks, the other records what is said. They then trade places.