Inspire your pupils to read the news and make connections between articles and another text, event, or experience with a straightforward reading log. Learners note down the article information at the top of the activity and then respond...

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...

Mentor texts are a great way to demonstrate how to write with purpose. Pupils will be reintroduced to two well-known books and then asked to think about them from the writer's point of view. They will see that the author had to use basic...

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...

Find guidance to introduce math vocabulary in context using Henry Pluckrose's book Sorting. This text is an excellent cross-curricular resource for budding readers. Before starting, review some new vocabulary words: collect, common,...

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...

Middle school years can be tough. An educator's guide for the works of Lynda Mullaly Hunt introduces readers to two texts that discuss the struggles pre-teens face during middle school. Chapter-by-chapter questions and activities for two...

A lot of secrecy shrouded the creation of the atomic bomb. Readers uncover some of that secrecy using an educator's guide for the novel The Green Glass Sea. Three weeks of lesson plans feature discussion questions and reading...

Are your scholars interested in bugs? Get future entomologists excited about vocabulary through Joanne Oppenheim's colorful book Have You Seen Bugs? They use the informational text (although this strategy is useful for any book) to...

If your class is reading A Day at the Apple Orchard by Megan Faulkner, be sure to use this guide for vocabulary in context. Go over the orchard-related terms (cycle, harvest, orchard, pollen, and ripen) before reading...

Help budding readers learn words like develop and revolting as they listen to you read Mitchell Sharmant's Gregory, the Terrible Eater. Get the new vocabulary rolling before reading it aloud so youngsters can raise a...

A complete resource from BBC World Service provides informational text for English or ESL classes to teach vocabulary, grammar, and reading skills. Learners participate in small group work, whole class discussions, and role-plays to...

What a fun way to explore new vocabulary words! Marjorie Priceman's book Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride offers plenty of new words for scholars to learn in context: amateur, assembled,...

Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest...

Who was Vincent van Gogh? Most of the questions can be answered in two or three sentences; however, there is at least one essay prompt and one personal response question that require longer answers. Questions call for a good mix of...

Reading a scientific article about cross-species synchronization may sound like a yawner. But "Monkey See, Monkey Do" is a fascinating tale that just happens to be about yawning, within and across species. After a close reading, class...

After watching a video of Peter and the Wolf, and identifying the instruments used to represent each character, class members use rhythm instruments to represent the actions in the song, "What Would I do."

Historical events do not occur in a vacuum. Such is the case of the Dreyfus Affair, where the connection between Captain Alfred Dreyfus, Emile Zola, and Hannah Arendt is fused by the events of the early 20th century. The informative...

Create tomatoes in 15-20 minutes using this fun and interactive lesson plan! Learners listen to a book about tomatoes (recommendations listed), and focus on the vocabulary word tomato. They count the syllables...

Compression, the process computers use to store information, is the focus of a resource that presents two different stories that describe the concept of compression by eliminating repeated letters and replacing them with a...

The story Hansel and Gretel is used to build new vocabulary in context. The class reads the story together. They then focus on 2-3 new vocabulary words, using the context of the story to help define them. This instructional activity is...

As a summative assessment for this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders listen to and read informational texts in order to demonstrate their ability to take notes, write summaries, and draw connections. Young scholars first listen as...

A rich series of activities introduces learners to the concept of culture by closely examining the behaviors, practices, and art of three distinct peoples: the Highland Maya of Guatemala, the Hmong of China and Southeast...

Watching is not the same as seeing. Transform viewers from passive watchers to active students of film with this 34-page packet, filled with lessons and activities that use Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to examine the technology, the...