Facing History and Ourselves
First Chapter Fridays
Fridays can be a challenge with learners already dreaming about their weekends. Here's a routine that will bring their minds back to the classroom. Read aloud the beginning of a story, sure to engage your listeners.
Scholastic
Folk and Fairy Tale Readers: The City Mouse and the Country Mouse
Support the growth of your emergent readers with this printable version of the classic fable "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." Including supporting illustrations and simple dialogue, this story is perfect for developing the fluency...
US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing readers to work...
Curated OER
Phonics: Decoding Words in Connected Text
Decoding words in connected text can make emergent readers really feel like they are great readers. They work as a class to sound out simple cvc words located in super short sentences. Tip: Extend this activity by having a variety of...
Curated OER
Interjections
Teach your class that they can use interjections to make their writing more interesting. Individuals read a selection of sentences from their book using great expression and then explain to the teacher how interjections can make their...
Curated OER
Dive Into Reading
Learners observe and demonstrate various reading strategies to improve their reading fluency. The teacher first models smooth speech. In pairs, pupils take turns reading from the book Henry and Mudge and the Forever Sea by Cynthia...
Seussville
Oh! the Places You'll Go!
Honor Dr. Seuss on his birthday with a read aloud of the story Oh! the Places You'll Go! and a variety of activities that inspire scholars to dream of their future endeavors. Readers take part in conversations, research the life of...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Poetry Aloud/Poetry Out Loud
To appreciate the value of seeing and hearing a poetry performance, groups prepare readings of selected poems and then compare and critique their interpretations and videotaped versions of the same poem. Included in the resource are...
Curated OER
Scripting The Great Train Robbery
Take writing prompts to another level in this activity, which allows pupils to create scenes of dialogue based on the 1903 silent film, The Great Train Robbery. Useful for a language arts/history cross-curricular activity, the lesson...
Curated OER
The Iron Horse vs. the Buffalo: Indian-Settler Conflict on the Great Plains
The Iron Horse encroached upon the land while conflicts escalated between Native Americans and the settlers. Sophomores study the print, American Progress then discuss how American progress affected Native Americans. They will study the...
August House
The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog
Read the story The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog: A Folktale from Great Britain by Margaret Read MacDonald and choose from multiple activities to learn about the tale's theme—kindness. With so many options, your kind kids will...
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Think-Aloud Annotation
It can be difficult to refer back to a text when analyzing it, so annotation is a great tool for kids to track what they are reading. A thorough and well-organized lesson guides learners through the process of annotating William...
Curated OER
The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie: A Close Reading
Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" provides high schoolers an opportunity to engage more complex text. After a close reading of the essay and an analysis of Carnegie's argument that the rich are superior because they earn money,...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Think Aloud
A think aloud activity is a great way for readers to develop critical thinking skills. This resource models for readers how to use this strategy to think critically about a passage from Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven.
Student Achievement Partners
"The Glorious Whitewasher" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain with Mini-Assessment
It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text as...
Curated OER
Great Lakes at Stake
Students explore conservation of the Great Lakes. In this geography and ecology lesson plan, students identify the Great Lakes on a map and view a video depicting the history and importance of these lakes. Students work in groups to...
Curated OER
Haunted House
Read alouds are great ways to build fluency, accuracy, and intonation. Each slide contains part of a story about a haunted house and audio of the story being read aloud by several different children. Whether you use it as a reading...
Curated OER
Charlotte's Web
Fourth graders focus on fluency by reading the book Charlotte's Web. In this reading strategies instructional activity, 4th graders partner read, do guided reading, and independent reading to increase fluency. Students use Venn Diagrams,...
Curated OER
The Great Gatsby
Students participate in a reader's theater, adapting scenes from The Great Gatsby. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, students interpret a given scene from The Great Gatsby in a readers' theater. Students analyze the scene for...
Scholastic
Alpha Tales: The Pig's Picnic (Letter P)
Penny, Polly, and Peter are planning a picnic but end up pigging out instead in this fun printable book. Including dozens of p-words and amusing illustrations, this is a great resource for teaching emergent readers about the sound...
Museum of Disability
Don't Laugh at Me
You can prevent bullying in your classroom by addressing kindness, empathy, and acceptance with your littlest learners early on. After reading Don't Laugh at Me by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin, kids discuss the ways that words can...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Colonial Craftspeople
In the first lesson plan of this unit on colonial trade, fourth graders gain background knowledge of different jobs performed by early colonists. The class begins with a slide show presentation that includes a variety of great...
Curated OER
ALLITERATIONS (TONGUE TWISTERS) TO READ ALOUD
For this alliterations activity sheet, students are given 11 tongue twisters (alliterations) to read aloud. These are divided into "easy to reads" and "more advanced". This is a good phonemic awareness activity for native English...
Curated OER
Poems: Identifying Patterns
Here is a great worksheet that contains two short poems to compare and contrast. Children will read each poem out loud and then complete three comparative analysis questions which focus on rhyme, structure, and language. Note: The...