Even if you've never picked up a musical instrument, chances are that music has directly impacted your mental and emotional development. Sixth graders engage in a reading activity in which they read two articles on the impact of music on...

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...

Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...

Investigate a "table of contents" with your students! They read the table of contents in Deserts by Darlene R. Stille and predict where the answers to specific questions might be found. Learners complete a worksheet in which they find...

Create a graphic autobiography integrating images and text. Working within the structure of the programs Comic Life and Photoshop, pupils integrate the Principles of Design. They focus on balance, rhythm, proportion, and text structure....

Pupils continue reading and discussing Simon Schama's article "The Shakespeare Shakedown." They work together to analyze the article's paragraph structure, completing a note-catcher worksheet along the way.

Scholars carry out a close read of the poem "Those Winter Sundays" to determine the point of the poem. They look at the words used and structure of the stanzas and then compare the narrative structure of the poem to the structure of...

Scholars revisit the comparisons they made in the previous activity of "Incident" and To Kill A Mockingbird. They talk with their discussion appointment partners about the structure of a narrative and use a Compare and Contrast Note...

We have an appointment! Scholars meet with another discussion appointment to talk about the text structure of the poem "Incident" by Countee Cullen. They use a Note Catcher to guide their thinking and compare the structure to chapter 8...

Scholars use the Narrative Structure graphic organizer to analyze the structure of the smaller stories within To Kill a Mockingbird. They turn and talk with a partner to discuss how the structure adds meaning.

Time for intermission! Scholars take an intermission break from learning in the unit to independently work on a mid-unit assessment. Readers answer questions about  Lyndon Johnson’s Speech "The Great Society" to demonstrate the knowledge...

May I take your order? Scholars read "Ain’t I a Woman" and participate in a World Cafe. They work in small groups to discuss various text related questions, and then complete a Note-Catcher sheet to organize their thoughts. For homework,...

Let me check my schedule! Scholars set up discussion appointments with five classmates to talk about Shirley Chisholm’s speech "Equal Rights for Women." Readers then use their Note Catcher guides to more closely analyze the text of the...

After reading Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street, class members craft an essay in which they use evidence from a variety of vignettes to demonstrate how Cisneros develops Esperanza's character.

Developing an informational text is like designing a building—if the structure is weak, it will not stand. A language arts video provides an overview of the five types of text structure. A catchy song and specific examples help give a...

From A to Z, learners define, draw, and find examples of specific reading focus skills in an alphabetized reading vocabulary packet. Words include dialogue, theme, text structure, genre, paraphrase, and many more.

As a reporter, you only have a few lines to grab a reader's attention before they move on to the next story—or the next newspaper or website. Analyze the ways that both print and online news capture their readers' interest with text...

Sometimes the movie version of a book can fill in additional details about the source material, particularly when the film is thoughtfully directed and well-acted. Ninth graders watch a two minute clip from the movie Temple Grandin and...

Are cattle prods beneficial for herding cattle, or do they cause more harm than good? Investigate Temple Grandin's claim about animal behavior with a activity that focuses on pages 20-23 of the first chapter of her book, Animals in...

Ninth graders study the study of animals in an informational text lesson that focuses on analyzing text structure. As learners continue reading the first chapter of Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation, they form inquiries and seek...

Text structure is vitally important when crafting a rise in tension. Explore Sophocles' choice to order his events in a particular sequence with a lesson plan about Oedipus the King. As the light of realization begins to dawn on the...

How can a prophecy be true if the future differs from what was foreseen? Sophocles entertains this question in Oedipus the King. Teiresias, Creon, and Oedipus have weighed in on the unsolved murder of Laius, and now Jocasta voices her...