First and second graders become familiar with the components of a biography. In this language arts lesson, pupils create an "All About Me" page using components of a biography. They also create an interractive poster, and work with a...

Read and analyze poems by African-American authors. Using the text, they identify the various patterns, subjects, language and dialects used. Then team up to compare and contrast the various authors and define new vocabulary. The lesson...

Students explore the life of Harriet Tubman. They examine a painting of Harriet Tubman and consider the tools used to communicate information about her. Sudents describe how the color of a painting explains the mood of the illustrator....

Reinforce the actions, emotions, and characteristics that determine what a character is like by having your middle schoolers create a biopoem using the model presented here. You could engage them first by having them write a poem about...

Hydra/hygiene, Muse/music.  Many English words are built on roots derived from the names of Greek and Roman gods. After examining a list of Greek and Roman gods and the meaning of their names, class members find the root in a list...

The class defines what it means to be successful by examining the achievements of Rich Wilson. They create headlines for a mock paper, discuss achieving personal goals, and create a scrapbook of his journey. Tip: Use this resource when...

Work to improve oral expression while reading aloud. Young scholars read sentence strips, changing their volume, speed, and tone to match what is written, making the sentence more meaningful. They read an entire story with a partner who...

Participate in an emerging literacy lesson that focuses on the skill of phonemic awareness! The phoneme of choice is the letter "o". They need to use letter recognition in conjunction with the sound.

Students form words using prefixes.  In this prefix lesson, students compete in a "prefix challenge" to see which team can combine a set of twelve prefixes with a set of twelve words fastest.  Students enter their words in...

A reading of Stella Blackstone’s, Bear’s Busy Family launches a genealogy writing project. Young researchers use key words from the story, daddy, sister, uncle, etc., to write stories to illustrate and combine into a family book. While...

Middle and high schoolers work in groups to research tales of King Arthur, using primary sources. They present the major themes and symbols from these stories, and discuss how they still relevant in today's world. Use this lesson to...

The skill of prediction as a reading strategy is explored. Learners are shown how to use clues within a story, along with pictures, to make predictions as to what's going to happen in the story. A clever in-class game which uses objects...

Students engage in a study of apples using children's literature. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Student list facts about apples and compare them while answering some guided questions. They plant some apple seeds and...

Use this roaring 1920s history lesson to have young writers research primary and secondary sources. They use their research to examine the events or famous public figures of the time period. Next, they imagine they're in the 1920s and...

Mico the puppet offers a phoneme challenge for emerging readers: can they find the object with the middle sound they hear? Use the fantastic set of full-color picture cards to play this game with small groups or even the whole class....

After a review of the SQ3R strategy, readers use the provided prompts to respond to a text. The value of this worksheet is in the additional questions that move the learner into higher levels of reasoning.

Invite your kindergarteners to explore sound and hearing. Using film canisters, or containers, filled with items from the story "Are You My Mother?" they will predict what the objects were from the story. Tip: you could create a...

Introduce your class to the techniques of proper writing. In groups, they brainstorm their ideas on family structures and discuss the importance of having a male figure in their lives. After listening to an African-American poem, they...

Construct spelling words through a Making Words activity. Learners create words at various levels using onsets, rimes, suffixes, long and short vowels, and word families. They write words as they create them and compare the words with...

Speed read with your third, fourth, and fifth graders. Learners pair up and work together to improve their oral fluency. Use the technique of covering up unknown words to isolate the vowel and decode the word. There's a sheet included to...

Take your young word detectives on a hunt for the /i/ sound. Use the tongue twister about Iggy the penguin to help learners identify the target sound. Then learners are given several words, and they have to use their detective skills to...

Students investigate the process of making a newspaper using children's literature to create context for the instructional activity. The readers are asked to predict the events of the story as it is read to them. Then the teacher uses...

Create baseball cards for literary characters with this lesson plan. It introduces students to baseball cards, their components (stats, picture, etc.), and prompts them to draft and publish their own cards based on figures from...

Who is Emmet Till? An important historical figure, your kids will be shocked by his story! Discover the details of his life and collaborate to write a crown of sonnets in the style of Marilyn Nelson.