Bring history to life through literature. The first in a series of three challenge activities designed to accompany Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails does just that through unique projects connected to historical fiction and nonfiction...

In an engaging simulation, class members imagine immigrating to the United States in the late nineteenth century and arriving at Ellis Island. They then write creative journal entries about their experience and chart their journeys.

"Float like a butterfly, and sting like a bee" with a resource about the greatest boxer of our generation. A short biographical reading passage introduces young readers to Muhammad Ali, and includes information about his early life...

How is Louisiana connected to the Holocaust? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders complete a research report about a survivor of the Holocaust who currently resides in Louisiana. Though the idea is a good way to...

Read various texts to compare the themes across each text. Learners write a journal entry describing the most beautiful scenery they've seen and use a map of the United States to locate the Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods. They then...

Get your class going on one of the final assessments for a unit on short stories by introducing iMovie and its main features. In this tenth lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils take some time to explore iMovie before conducting an...

Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are...

Learners explore comprehension strategies as they listen to Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini. As the story is read, teacher and pupils will stop occasionally to make text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections. They also...

If only life came with an owner's manual. Pupils assemble with their research teams to discuss which of Steve Jobs' rules to live by most resonates with them. Scholars also read informational texts in pursuit of finding the gist and...

Christopher Columbus did not have a lot of evidence to prove that he was in India, but language arts pupils have plenty of evidence to prove that he wasn't. Delve into the world of European exploration with a reading activity about...

Make a connection between empathy and bullying with a reading passage that has readers thinking about other people's feelings. After reading, learners respond to ten reading comprehension questions involving short answer and multiple...

William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...

Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which would not be so confused if they had a study guide as great as this. Scholars increase their comprehension of A Wrinkle In Time through many supports such as guided questions, background...

A whole-group discussion kicks off a hands-on activity that challenges young engineers to build a sailboat using reusable materials. Participants gather recycled items to assemble their one-of-a-kind sailboat and test its ability to...

Readers learn to ask questions about text with an activity based on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. As they read, class members craft questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy and then find the answers themselves.

Explore ways to make research and writing more interesting. The first in a series of three challenge activities designed to accompany Theme 2: Give It All You've Got involve creating sports cards, designing cereal boxes, and using other...

Who is more trustworthy when it comes to marijuana: a high school student, or The National Institute on Drug Abuse? Sources matter when reading informational text. Help teenagers discern which facts are true with an activity that focuses...

Gaining voting rights was difficult over the course of decades, but the debate over who should actually be allowed to cast a ballot remains. Scholars explore the history of the struggle, including the fifteenth and nineteenth amendments,...

How did the ancient people of Egypt preserve their dead so well that their bodies are still recognizable today? Learn the painstakingly complex process they used for preservation. Young scholars read and summarize a narrative detailing...

The thematic read-aloud anthology introduces young readers to life on a farm. The thoughtfully detailed resource offers three weeks of skills practice designed to boost reading comprehension skills. Lessons follow a routine of...

First graders explore learning skills that can be practiced at home in the ten lessons of this unit. Oral reading, letter formation, fairy tale identification, and phonic awareness exercises are provided in this unit.

Students explore writing techniques by comparing fiction vs. non-fiction. In this literature analysis lesson, students read stories from Aesop's Fables and compare the themes and characters to stories from their own life. Students...

Students in a special education class examine the United States Constitution. Using the text, they answer five research questions and discuss the amendments that concern medicine, ethics and law of the right to die issue. They develop...