A 190-page anthology explores the life and parts of plants, flowers, and trees while boosting reading comprehension skills. Literature and informational texts showcase Johnny Appleseed and George Washington Carver. Lessons...

A six-day unit for algebra II on exponential and logarithmic functions builds upon Chapter 12 of Merrill Algebra II with Trigonometry; Applications and Connections. The text provides assistance in the depth of instruction...

Introduce expository writing with a unit that asks writers to craft an essay to explain a belief, value, or priority that is important to them. Mini-lessons within the unit focus on crafting thesis statements and conclusions, selecting...

Before you begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, introduce the themes of the play with a lesson plan based on the biblical story of Joseph. Taking your high schoolers through selected text from Genesis...

What kind of animals live on an ice planet like Hoth? How would the habitat on Tatooine allow different organisms to thrive? Connect social studies, science, and Star Wars in one engaging activity that focuses on the ecosystems...

Support your instruction of The Cay by Theodore Taylor with this extensive unit of materials. Provided here are prereading activities, worksheets and discussion questions for the entire book, and reading quizzes that you can use to check...

The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...

Choose your words wisely. Scholars examine word choice in an excerpt from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Learners work in pairs and groups to discuss how the author's choice of words creates a deeper connection between the reader...

Can dogs feel shame? Explore the anthropomorphic connection between human emotions and animal behavior—or lack thereof—with a lesson about Temple Grandin's book, Animals in Translation. Ninth graders continue a close reading of chapter...

What does it mean to say that a right is unalienable? How did the founding fathers convey this revolutionary concept in the Declaration of Independence? Engage in a close reading and analysis of the Declaration of Independence, and...

Learners annotate text from The Great Gatsby before working through a character development map. They then use text evidence in a final essay to describe the connection between central ideas and character development.

Ninth graders demonstrate their understanding of a central idea in Oedipus the King with a mid-unit writing assessment. Writers formulate a claim about the connection between prophecy and Oedipus's actions and craft an in-class essay...

President Lincoln believed in the Thirteenth Amendment so strongly that he signed 14 copies of it, but died before he could see it passed on December 18, 1965. Explore the text that forever abolished slavery in America with a document...

Was Oedipus' destiny determined by fate or by his actions? Using details from the text, ninth graders delve into a critical thinking exercise based on Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Now that Oedipus has learned his true identity, readers...

Groups create a list of the character traits of Steve Jobs and Buddy, the main character of Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy, and share and select evidence from Jobs' 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address to support their...

The fourth activity in a unit on crafting a research paper focuses on cohesion within and between paragraphs. Class members examine models that lack cohesion and ones that are cohesive and logically developed before using what they have...

Prophecy and blindness often go hand in hand, as in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Explore Oedipus' thoughts about prophecy, fate, and responsibility with an activity focused on the discussion between Creon and Oedipus regarding the murder...

As part of a study of how writers structure their text so that readers understand events, class members do a close reading of "Is It Lawful to Make Slaves of Others Against Their Will?" a chapter in Aronson and Budhos' Sugar Changed the...

Fourth graders read a nonfiction story that is presented to them with graphic features, and presented to them with only the text.  For this text features lesson, 4th graders decide what the benefits of text organizers are and create...

Can literacy get any more fun than this? Learners not only have fun, but gain confidence as well when presented with familiar text in another language. Select books, songs, poems, even recipes written in another language, and using the...

Lesson 7 focuses on building academic vocabulary and writing an explanatory letter with supported textual evidence. For the first five minutes of the instructional activity, the educator reminds the class of how to read and refer to the...

Students explore the patterns of text structure to anticipate the kind of information that a reading might present. The lesson examines some of the components of reading writing and using nonfiction.

Lesson 10 in a series of human rights lessons focuses on the skills of finding evidence and summarizing. Your young readers work to compare the two texts they have read in this unit: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

Decisions, decisions. Scholars take a close look at making decisions by discussing the character Sam in chapters one through eight of Frightful’s Mountain. Partners discuss whether Sam should interact with Frightful and then...