Here's an activity that uses a reading comprehension strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy to focus readers' attention on key passages from Edward Bloor's Tangerine. Worthy of a place in your curriculum library.

After reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and an article about the use of the novel, class members engage in a Socratic seminar focused on whether or not Twain's book should be banned.

Hold a silent discussion about concepts related to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. After reading chapter seven, learners participate in a whole-class written discussion based on guiding questions written on the board by the teacher. 

Your plane has crashed in the Sahara desert. What do you do? Explore the possibilities with a role-playing activity based on Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince. In groups, kids decide whether they would walk to find help...

Your class won't be a bunch of squares from using this well-rounded activity! Instead, they'll be expressing thoughtful questions using the cubing strategy. The class brainstorms questions of increasing rigor about Zach's Lie in the...

Readers of To Kill a Mockingbird summarize events, identify characters, and analyze actions in the first 11 chapters of Harper Lee’s novel. The carefully crafted questions could be used to guide reading or as the basis of group or...

Focus on writing argument essays with your high schoolers. The lesson suggested here focuses on The Jungle, by Sinclair Lewis; however, the idea could be adapted for other texts. Check out the quick quiz provided at the end of the...

Start a activity on poetic voice with a peer to peer discussion on what characterizes the strength in the voice with which a writer chooses to express himself/herself. In pairs, readers are tasked with reading and creating T-charts for...

Explore cultures from around the world with an engaging pen pal resource. Through a series of classroom activities and written correspondence, children learn about the favoritec pastimes, schooling, geography, and weather that is...

Smile for the camera and find out how your English language learners feel about fame! Class members read three different points of view on fame and then discuss ten questions about the topic.

Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.

What is love? Why is it important? Explore this concept with an interactive activity that brings together Bloom's taxonomy and Willa Cather's My Antonia. After completing the novel, pupils toss a Bloom's cube and then answer the...

Pique your pupils' interest before reading Peter and the Starcatchers with an anticipation guide. Given a list of 10 statements, learners choose true or false based on what they think the book is about. They then discuss in small...

After reading through Act II of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, take some time to discuss the references to death in the play. For this fishbowl discussion, learners prepare questions, practice answering individually and with...

The toss of a die determines what questions your pupils will answer in this lesson plan. Learners respond to questions based on Bloom's taxonomy, discussing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with classmates along the way. They finish by...

Designed for teachers who plan on using Markus Zusak's  The Book Thief, this packet includes background information about the author, themes addressed in and issues raised by the novel, a list of research and project ideas, and...

Invite your learners to research three different websites that pertain to a topic focused on in your syllabus. Learners fill out a chart by answering questions about each site. Then, they compare how useful the sites are to one...

The Scarlet Letter may be a classic, but keeping high schoolers engaged in the reading of Hawthorne's vocabulary, syntax, imagery, and historical references presents it own set of challenges. Here's a guide that offers readers...

A unit on persuasive writing guides elementary learners through the writing process. The first part examines the elements of persuasive writing, including expressing an opinion, connecting ideas, using supporting facts, and writing...

The story of Cinderella is a popular one! So much so, there are multiple versions of the story being told around the world. With this collection of activities your young readers receive background information about two versions...

What items would you need to save the world from an evil wizard? Prior to reading Susan Cooper's young adult contemporary fantasy The Dark is Rising, and to generate interest in the tale, class groups must reach consensus on a...

After reading the first act of The Winter's Tale, class members conduct a trial and consider Leontes' accusations against Herminone.

The motto for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry warns that one should never tickle a sleeping dragon, but learners will definitely be tickled by the activities in a packet of materials designed to accompany a reading of the...

Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...