What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...

Utilizing computer software, learners demonstrate the color spectrum. They investigate the life of the artist Piet Mondrian and define his style of artwork. Then they use Photoshop to recreate some of his designs while discovering the...

Explore reading comprehension and child safety in this young adult literacy lesson. High schoolers practice using context clues to figure out word meanings after observing a teacher model this process. They read an article about child...

Students are introduced to different context clues.  In this context clues activity, students analyze sentences to find the meaning of a word using context clues.

Find key details in books using this note card strategy. Each reader gets six cards with the classic who, what, where, when, why, and how detail prompts. After they read the book, they choose a card and locate a key detail...

Talk about intrinsic motivation! Begin where your students' natural interests lie  -- with themselves -- and launch a variety of projects with this activity. Class members research important events that took place on their...

Students explore several different types of biographies to determine their area of interest, choose one notable person they would like to explore, complete online tutorial on biographies, and use written and Internet resources to...

Middle and high schoolers look at historical photos and written materials, and they develop questions which they use to interview an elder in their community. Learners are divided into groups and given sets of historical family photos...

Students write a biographical poem about themselves. They observe a teacher-led demonstration, write an autobiographical poem and a biographical poem about a famous person using a template form, and display the poems side-by-side.

As a class, read different sentences prepared by the teacher, identifying the punctuation that is needed for the appropriate expression. In small groups, have each child assume the role of one or more character in The Grouchy Ladybug by...

Why do readers need to know an author’s purpose? How do you figure out what that purpose is? Guide your pupils through a series of activities that show them how to identify various techniques and structures used in persuasive writing....

Young historians explore US culture by investigating the US flag. They will use their textbooks, prior knowledge, and sources provided by the teacher to research the history of the American flag. They will design and create a trading...

Here is another in the interesting series of lessons that uses money as a learning tool. This one is especially clever! During the lesson, pupils pretend they are eating at "George's Place" diner. Small groups are given one bag of play...

They always say to write what you know. This approach is used to get middle schoolers prepared to write novels of their own. Using a favorite book as a model, potential novelists respond to prompts that ask about characters, plot, main...

Patricia Polacco weaves an engaging tale for budding readers in her book Some Birthday!, an excellent resource for vocabulary in context. You can use this text to introduce the following words: investigate, snarl, and squawk....

"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this instructional activity allows children to invent...

Multiple meaning words is the focus of a lesson designed to reinforce the use of context clues. Scholars listen carefully to a variety of sentences using the words pool and cast to decide which definition best fits the...

An inventive and engaging lesson on nutrition, food groups, and the food pyramid is here for you. In it, young dieticians learn about the basics of nutrition. They use the book, Frog and Toad are Friends, to help them foster discussion...

Students complete compare and contrast activities dealing with fables and trickster tales to determine how each uses animals to portray human characteristics, specifically strengths and weaknesses, as well as pass wisdom from one...

Show youngsters how objects can tell a story! Here your class will learn about Cuban salsa dancer Celia Cruz by analyzing pictures of her dress, her shoes, and her marriage certificate. After describing Cruz's items and imagining what...

Practice reading with fluency by blending words together. To start, prepare flash cards with pseudowords on them (words that can be pronounced but have no real meaning), and work with the class to sound out the words using known...

Begin exploring main idea in a text by telling the class an interesting story. Can they recall the main idea after you finish? What clues told them this was it? Explain that you will apply this concept as you read a nonfiction book....

Welcome to the Great Marshmallow Challenge. To conclude a unit study designed to help scholars develop teamwork and collaboration skills, groups are charged with developing a free-standing structure using only one marshmallow,...

After choosing a figure from Greek mythology, middle schoolers design, draw, and color a constellation to represent that person.  Additionally, they create a story to tell how the constellation came to be. This lesson plan is a...