Class members read "Satyagraha," the concluding section of Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos' Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, and analyze how the authors support their claim that terrible...

Anna McMullen's opinion piece "Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for our Cheap Clothes?" offers readers another opportunity to examine how writers craft and support their arguments. After reading McMullen's article, class...

Thanksgiving is a cherished tradition in the United States and Canada. Introduce the beginnings of the Thanksgiving celebration with a resource that features reading comprehension activities, vocabulary exercises, and a short...

Class members conclude their reading of the supplemental text, “Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for our Cheap Clothes?” and use the provided Evaluating Argument and Evidence Tool to analyze the evidence Anna McMullen uses to...

Class members continue examining how writers develop and support their ideas by comparing two texts about globalization. Alongside chapters from Sugar Changed the World, young scholars read an article by the World Bank entitled...

Words, words, words. The function of words in persuasive writing is the focus of a group activity that asks members to analyze how words advertisers use are designed to influence targeted audiences.

Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

What are five amazing facts about you? Your best friend? Butterflies? The United States? The possibilities are endless with this worksheet!

Here are three guided reading lesson plan templates; each designed to meet the needs of a specific level of readers. Levels in focus are emergent, early, and transitional readers. Additionally, prompts to support your small group...

The supplemental text, "How Your Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills," allows learners to compare how other writers use evidence to support the argument that "rich countries benefit from harsh and abusive labor practices in poor countries."...

How do writers introduce and develop the central ideas in a text? To answer this question, ninth graders closely examine "The Age of Honey," the opening chapter in Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos' Sugar Changed the World: A Story of...

What can consumers do to pressure companies to produce "ethically manufactured goods"? Readers examine the evidence Amy Odell uses in the supplemental text "How Your Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills" to support her argument and her...

The second instructional activity in a unit about how writers develop their central ideas and use evidence to support their arguments focuses on the role that scholars at Jundi Shapur, "The World's First True University," played in the...

Accompany a novel study of Hatchet by Gary Paulson with a unit consisting of 16 lessons focused on physical and emotional survival. Reading the story along with a variety of informational texts, scholars compare and contrast reading...

Sometimes a picture reflects a thousand descriptive words. To illustrate the importance of sensory words in descriptive writing, scholars listen to a song and craft a painting in response. After sharing their work with the class,...

Gun, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond is a seminal work of historical nonfiction from the late 20th century. Use the author's claims and supporting evidence to guide your high school seniors through their research project, culminating...

Crafting a clear and cohesive conclusion to any piece of writing is crucial. An effective conclusion restates the central claim in the introduction, briefly summarizes the supporting claims, and presents a new way of thinking about the...

What is is about cereal boxes that draws consumers in? Tap into the effective marketing of cereal boxes and apply those elements to a book report. Pupils cover cereal boxes with information about their chosen books. they must create a...

After reading a series of primary source documents detailing the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, class members craft newspaper columns assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each man's vision, and present their...

Twelve chapters cover a multitude of math concepts found in the Common Core standards for sixth grade. Each title provides a brief explanation of what you will find inside the chapter—concepts from which you can click on and learn more...

If you really want to know, this is a terrific instructional activity all about narratives, which is just a fancy way of saying telling stories. And you get to do it without being phony or anything. My favorite part is that you get to...

One activity, two essays, and one central theme: qualities of an argument essay. Here, scholars first describe the qualities of an argument essay regarding Bud's rules to live by from the novel Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis....

Watching videos and playing online games can be educational, but too much screen time has its drawbacks. Pupils watch a video about the topic and write down the claim, reasons, and evidence in support of reduced screen time for children....

Class members examine the images Arson and Budhos use to depict the working conditions on the sugar plantations and consider how these images support the arguments the writers present in Sugar Changed the World.