A collection of reading passages is packed with various skills to enhance fourth graders reading comprehension. From distinguishing between fact and opinion to describing character's feelings and recognizing elements of plot, the...

Explore African literature and artwork in a multicultural literacy and art lesson. Begin with a read aloud of Tiger and the Big Wind: A Tale from Africa, and afterward, have kids retell the main events in the story. They identify and...

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...

Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and song....

Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...

In the second of a two-part instructional activity, young learners act out the story of The Three Little Pigs. After reading an alternate version, class members use a Venn diagram to discuss how the wolf's feelings differ from those of...

Dress up to catch the class's attention before reading a silly story aloud. Learners identify five sensory details within the story and interpret two metaphors. They then collaborate on sequencing events before retelling the story using...

Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...

What an engaging lesson! The Gingerbread Man is used to help young readers learn how to retell a story in order, and create projects about the story. Small groups are given pictures from the story, which are embedded in the plan, and...

Kindergartners sequence the parts of a story using a snow globe as a setting. They will listen to Snow Globe Family and retell the parts of the story noting the beginning, the middle, and the end. Then they will make their own snow...

That's not rain, it's ... meatballs! Young readers retell the story of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett with both a verbal and written summary of the plot, characters, conflict, setting, and solution.

How well do you know stories told in your family? Could you recite them by heart? Middle schoolers study the importance of the oral tradition by telling a partner a story, having the partner recite it back, and then interviewing a family...

Thirteen activities work alongside a narrative text of your choice. With reading comprehension at its focus, readers complete worksheets covering character descriptions, similarities, and differences between characters, the sequence of...

Address a multitude of skills with a series of nonfiction reading graphic organizers. From making predictions and accessing prior knowledge to think-pair-share and retelling information, the activities are a solid addition to any...

Reinforce reading comprehension and story mapping skills with the help from a story, Gingerbread Baby by Jen Brett. Individuals discover new vocabulary, make predictions, retell main events, respond to reading using a graphic organizer,...

Take your guided reading lesson plans to the next level with a collection of printables, templates, and reference tools equipped to support the reading needs of your readers. Included is a detailed information page, grouping sheet,...

How can you tell if a number of items is reasonable? Combine math and language arts with a fun lesson based on Jeff Shepard's The Right Number of Elephants. After reading the book, kids discuss amounts of other items and create minibooks...

Ensure that your kids don't even consider saying "Not me!" when it comes time to read by engaging them in this set of lesson plans based around "The Little Red Hen." The class reads the story together before starting in on additional...

Has your class recently finished reading "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika? Engage your learners in a comic strip project for which they must retell the plot of one of the three stories in "The Inn of Lost Time." The resource...

Ease into informational text with the lesson suggested here. Part of a unit series, the lesson draws from previous lessons and acts as a natural moment to add in informational text. Class members read one section of My Librarian is a...

How far would your pupils go to be able to have access to books? Revisit Heather Henson and David Small's That Book Woman and challenge class members to take on the role of Cal or the Book Woman. By putting themselves in someone else's...

Empower your readers by modeling for them the steps for retelling a story. Designed as a teacher resource, Dr. Cummins argues that shifting responsibility for retelling to the learners increases their comprehension. The procedure is...

Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What is an...

Go bananas! Read the nonfiction book Primates, exploring text features as you go. Have the class record main ideas and supporting details while reading. Afterward, classmates can retell what they have written, which provides an excellent...