Read, set, write! Scholars participate in the first fully independent writing task of the unit as they write about how Percy’s experience in The Lightning Thief aligns with The Hero’s Journey. To begin their writing, they complete a...

Well isn't that clever? Scholars read Prometheus, a tale describes the clever Greek god and trickster. They tune into details and complete graphic organizers that reveal the theme of the text. 

Challenges are different for today's kids. Learners begin to think about their own challenges by examining the adversities faced by children in medieval villages. They complete a graphic organizer as they watch the...

Check out the view! Scholars complete a graphic organizer to analyze how Laurence Yep develops a character's point of view in Dragonwings. Additionally, pupils re-read parts of the novel and annotate the text on sticky notes, looking for...

Let's get creative! As part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars create a piece of artwork illustrating the theme from Laurence Yep's novel, Dragonwings. Additionally, pupils use a graphic organizer to identify figurative language in...

Just get to the gist. Scholars work in pairs to find the gist of an excerpt from Laurence Yep's Dragonwings. Pupils also complete graphic organizers to analyze the text for tone, point of view, and figurative language. 

Perspective is everything. Using a graphic organizer, pupils determine Laurence Yep's perspective of the police in his novel Dragonwings. Additionally, scholars complete anchor charts to identify connotative language in the text.

It's all about perspective! Using the resource, scholars read a third excerpt from Laurence Yep's autobiography, The Lost Garden. As they read, individuals complete graphic organizers using clues from the text to infer the author's...

The end is here. Scholars work independently on End of Unit 2 Assessment: Finding Evidence of Carl Hiaasen’s Perspective in Flush and Illustrating Perspective. Learners use their graphic organizers and text to write to a prompt asking...

Think big! Scholars complete an end of unit assessment using their notes and graphic organizers along with the texts Big Thinkers: Was Steve Jobs This Generation’s Thomas Edison? and Steve Jobs. To complete the assessment, they answer...

Use this lesson to focus on a compare and contrast writing structure in your middle school language arts class. Here, young writers compare and contrast two texts using graphic organizers. They use a double bubble format for their...

Create to learn! Your class can create posters of transitional words and phrases to help them compose an explanatory text. They work in groups and focus on one type of transition (time, place, importance, etc.). They also create a poster...

Students create tables in a word processing program which helps them organize their text clues when reading a mystery story. They develop reading comprehension strategies while using a computer based graphic organizer in order to solve...

Organizing information gathered for a research topic can be a challenge. Read aloud notes you have collected on a topic and use suggestions offer by the class to categorize and sort this information. Partners then follow this pattern,...

Help your researchers as they begin to develop a topic for research with these worksheets. Included are two nicely designed graphic organizers that assist students in narrowing and researching their topic, and an efficient...

Though text heavy, these nine slides present clear instructions for each stage of the research method that students should use to organize information about Saguaro Cacti. A good introduction to organizing research for a writing...

What are the necessary components of a five paragraph essay? How does one interest their reader? These questions are answered with this 12-slide PowerPoint which details components of the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion....

Encourage close reading of the text and a focus on how Sandra Cisneros' develops her characters with an activity that asks teams to sort, group, and label character descriptions from The House on Mango Street.

Organize the characters in Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic according to their shared character traits. After listing character traits as a class, kids note which characters exhibit particular characteristics with a...

Fifth graders pose to create the uppercase letters of the alphabet for digital photos. They use the photos and iPhoto to create an alphabet book with text.

Practice reading comprehension by approaching oceanography through 2 pages of informational text. The text give introductory coverage of oceanography in practice, ocean zones, names of the 5 oceans, ocean features, and marine life. Three...

It seems that this presentation was designed for future educators, particularly those teaching a foreign language. Basic reading, writing, and organizational skills are presented, encouraging a discussion of strategies amongst your...

Racist, independent, conflicted? Readers of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brainstorm words that describe the traits of characters in Twain’s novel and then rate these qualities in several of their favorite characters. Individuals...

After reading a text, ask your pupils to recall and organize what they've just learned into a blank three-column chart. Class members write the topic and fill in the columns with information. The sheet also prompts students to write a...