Close reading doesn't mean to literally read text close to your face, but rather to pay attention to particular details in order to develop a deep and purposeful understanding of text. The first part of a five-part resource provides an...

What an awesome resource to have on hand. With very useful graphic organizers, youngsters can display their comprehension of text. Designed specifically for expository text, these worksheets can also be used for any type of text and...

The children's book Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann is a great story for teaching young learners about teamwork and the importance of following rules. In a detailed, read-aloud lesson, children learn to use both the words and...

What is family? Challenge your scholars to write an encompassing definition of what this word means to them. After reading "It May Be a Family Matter, But Just Try to Define Family," class members discuss the emotional issues surrounding...

Discuss the environment of the Arctic tundra using this resource. The focus of this lesson is the story A Walk in the Tundra by Rebecca L. Johnson. The appealing illustrations are bound to captivate your class! After reading the story,...

With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...

How did the ancient people of Egypt preserve their dead so well that their bodies are still recognizable today? Learn the painstakingly complex process they used for preservation. Young scholars read and summarize a narrative detailing...

Upper graders recognize and hone the skills needed to complete a valuable summary. They complete a group summary, and then reread their summaries to find the main idea and supporting details. They put practice to the test as they...

Identify the unique personal attributes of your class members. Begin by viewing the Visual Thesaurus and discussing displayed attributes associated with famous American leaders. Using these identity maps as models, pupils generate nouns...

Learners who have a grasp on the events of the Revolutionary war view clips from five different films as secondary sources. They take notes on each clip thinking about historic inaccuracies. They then view parts of the film The Patriot...

Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...

As scholars begin reading more difficult text, they need to acquire an arsenal of comprehension strategies. Here are few helpful ones to guide new readers through the informational text About Trees, which is linked here for printing....

Gather some information, print it onto sentence strips, and then have your class physically shuffle the cards to better understand the importance of organizational patterns in writing. Middle school learners examine information for a...

With resource links, a detailed procedure, embedded primary source documents, and a Readers Theater script, you're ready to teach! Re-enact historical events in order to boost historical perspective, discern main ideas, and draw...

A graphic organizer is employed to help sixth graders determine author's point of view and word choice. They listen to, read, and watch portions of the "I Have a Dream Speech" taking word choice and author's craft into deep...

A ten-day lesson is described in a short outline. It may be short but the idea is wonderful. Learners engage in textual analysis as they analyze and research various accounts of historical events common to the Civil Rights or Vietnam...

Discover Oklahoma's first farmers. Read about 14 different agriculture workers and their contribution to Oklahoma's farming. After reading, have your class complete several activities such as researching an agriculturist, writing a...

Design an informational brochure to urge people to move to a specific community. The purpose of this activity is to expose pupils to expository writing. After creating the brochure, they write a three-paragraph persuasive or...

Have you assigned your learners a creative writing project, only to find that their incredible creativity doesn't easily translate to writing? Here's some practice to kick them into sensory overload! Using their five senses, they choose...