Instructions Teacher Resources

To launch a reading of The Dark is Rising, the second novel in Susan Cooper's award winning contemporary fantasy novel sequence for young adults, class members engage in a guided imagery exercise that asks them to visualize the...

Creatively develop and reinforce new vocabulary from the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, using these vocabulary squares. Each square is divided into four quadrants asking scholars to input the word, a...

Examine how to answer who, what, when, where, and why when reading text. Young writers listen to the story Skeleton Hiccups, and as a class answer and discuss the five W's. Independently they read the story silently, and write the...

After reading each chunk of two chapters of Carl Hiaasen's novel Hoot, ask learners to respond to related study questions. The instructions at the top of the questions suggest that individuals should read the questions first, read the...

Does Amir have an obligation to find Sohrab and take him to the orphanage? That is the question class members debate as part of their reading of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. 

Second graders engage in an activity of reading a story and have a discussion about the story to measure comprehension. The use of a graphic organizer helps student retention because it is brain compatible for students.

In this story detail worksheet, students complete a graphic organizer, filling in details about a story read and what characters see, hear, smell, taste, touch and where they go. 

Which character in Toni Morrison’s Beloved personifies evil? What does Seth overhear Schooteacher instruct his pupils to do? The 50 multiple choice and matching questions on this exam focus on points of plot; therefore, test takers could...

In this reading clocks activity, students study the analog and digital clocks and then tell what time it will be using the instructions for each example. Students then look at the pair of times and write how much time elapsed between...

Using colorful graphics, this presentation explores the use of the ay and ai spelling in words through an interactive quiz. This is a concept that learners in first and second grades may struggle to grasp. A teacher could add more...

Encourage text-to-self connections with a prereading strategy designed for Flipped. Clear steps are included, and the actual anticipation guide is the final page of the three-page packet. Ten statements are provided, and class members...

Class members create literary mandalas for two characters from Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about his father’s experiences with the Holocaust. After finding quotes that reveal three good traits and three bad traits of each...

Like Oskar, the curious boy in Jonathan Safran Foer’s story, class members journey through other “stories that the mouth can’t tell” to find another sentence that uses a word found in novel. Individuals create their own vocabulary list,...

Youngsters develop their number sense by rote counting from one to ten. Over time, they identify the numbers on their own and no longer rely on fixed recitation. Using numerical flashcards, a teacher will randomly choose numbers from the...

Immaculate, accumulation, dissipation. Vocabulary drawn from chapter 16 of James McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, can prove to be challenge for readers. To help kids understand the meaning of these words and what they add to the...

In this similarity worksheet, students solve and complete 7 different problems that include determining various dimensions of mirrors shown. First, they find the length of the diagonal of the large mirror in the diagram. Then, students...

Read any financial website or book, and it is bound to discuss the words asset and liability. But what do these words actually mean to the class? The resource effectively explains by using multiple formats and techniques, including...

Tackle multiple-meaning words with your youngsters using this scaffolded activity which features a detailed script. Begin with the word shoulder, using context clues to help scholars understand the meaning. Next, they observe a...

Here is a solid lesson plan to support your instruction on the Continental Congress and the Articles of Confederation. It includes close analysis of primary source images, a guided notes template and answer key, and many key...

Celebrate the season of spring with a poem. After reading a four-stanza poem about the season, sixth grade readers respond to 10 reading comprehension questions that have them thinking about the purpose, imagery, and other types of...

Pogrom, schlepped, meshuga. Kapo, reich, Wehrmacht. As part of a unit study of Maus I and II, readers use a list-group-label (LGL) strategy for vocabulary drawn from Art Spiegelman's famous graphic novels. The focus of the activity is...

Cover Freytag's Triangle and examine Anton Chekhov's "The Bet" in this third lesson plan in a series of fourteen based around short stories. Learners take a quiz and discuss Freytag's triangle. They apply the triangle to "The Bet" and...

Begin your discussion about Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility before you even open the book. Kids fill in a worksheet that lists five statements about the literary themes of the novel, and then discuss their opinions as a...

Bring this lesson plan into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own piece of...