Here is a way for your charges to sort pictures of children into 2 groups and put a title for each group. For this classification lesson plan, learners explain why they chose to separate the children the way they did.

Introduce your class to the concept of comparing and contrasting with this lesson. After modeling a Venn diagram, help your students find the similarities and differences between two pictures. They can then work on their own Venn...

First and second graders explore character as a story element. They  listen to the first part of the story First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and observe the teacher modeling a compare and contrast characters activity. Learners...

How do you figure out the meaning of a word you don't know? Young readers develop skills to identifying missing words in a story using context clues. Picture clues are used to identify covered words in the story I Can’t Get My Turtle to...

Reading comprehension is the name of the game! After listening to the teacher model and share personal prior knowledge about small children and what they do with food, the class discusses how they too can use prior knowledge to...

How does the purpose of a fiction book differ from the purpose on a non-fiction text? Model for your young readers a scenario in which each kind of book might be useful or fun to read and show examples of each genre. A list of suggested...

Second graders investigate information in non-fiction texts. They review the features of a non-fiction text and read the book Nature's Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat. Pupils discuss the text features and write down one fact they...

Examine the book Stargazers by Gail Gibbons. Young readers will practice reading and interpreting information from diagrams in this informational text. They work together as a class on this skill and then move into independent...

What is the main idea? Interest your young readers with this fun introductory lesson! After selecting several items from a paper bag, the teacher leads learners to determine the big idea for those items. This concept is then applied to...

Help young readers find the setting in the story. They will review what a setting is with a modeled example by the teacher. After reading The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down by Paul Brett Johnson and completing a practice sheet,...

Learn how to apply visual and meaning cues to reading unknown words. Readers will explore what to do when they come to a word they do not know as they watch the teacher model the use of these cues and then participate in guided and...

First graders use cues to identify unknown words. They will learn strategies to assist them in decoding while reading.  Then they discuss how to listen to themselves read in order to decide whether or not the word makes sense in the...

Analyze and predict a character's actions in a text by reading the book Julius, Baby of the World and discussing the character's personality. Individuals use a character action chart to record their actions throughout the story, and then...

Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson plan. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns....

You're as cute as a bug. But are you really as cute as a bug? Bugs aren't cute! Idioms are fun nonliteral phrases that mean something different than the words they contain. Second graders learn about idioms as they read the book, More...

The second lesson in a series from ReadWorks.org, this lesson continues to explore the difference between fiction and nonfiction texts. The lesson opens with the teacher reviewing a class Venn diagram started in the last lesson....

How do a character’s feelings and actions influence the plot of a story? The interaction between character and plot is explored in this lesson that uses When Charlie McButton Lost Power to launch the discussion. Charlie’s love of...

Explore making predictions as a reading strategy. As a class, read "Blue Light, Green Light," stopping to make a prediction. After recording a prediction on the graphic organizer, discuss the thoughts behind your idea. Then, continue...

Three great graphic organizers guide readers to see how the elements of plot and main idea can be charted to reveal the theme of a story. Model the process on the provided Direct Teaching Teacher Graphic Organizer using Aesop’s The...

Model for young learners how to determine the theme of a story. Read aloud Aesop’s The Fox and the Stork. Chart the plot and the main idea of the fable, showing class members how these elements support the theme. Fable titles for...

Using The Life Cycle of an Emperor Penguin by Bobbie Kalman, second graders practice defining unfamilar words with context clues.  They come across new vocabulary words and read the entire sentence and the sentence before...

It is true that the more you practice something, the better you'll get at doing it. Lesson three in a three part series on author's purpose has kids venture out to determine the author's purpose in three different passages. They'll read...

Before sending your third graders to the library, help them build a solid foundation for their research with this plan. Following the "I do, we do, you do" method, the teacher starts by modeling how to create a research question and...

Signal words are one way that authors make the relationships between their ideas clear. Allow your learners the chance to investigate cause and effect in texts by identifying signal words. They locate and analyze cause-and-effect...