Have your class create keepsake books about themselves. This activity is a presented as a basic idea with minimal justifications or classroom applications. However, with a little effort, this could become a full lesson. Add a rubric,...

Students practice techniques and strategies for understanding the parts of a story to help them remember what they've read. They review and analyze the elements of a story and how to find them first in a paragraph and then in a book.

Students create original short stories that feature distinctive weather phenomena, such as rainbows, snowstorms, tornadoes, thunder and/or lightning. They use a story map, imbedded in this plane, to help them organize their story.

Students analyze storytelling by reading a classic children's tale.  In this reading comprehension lesson, students read The Three Little Pigs, discuss their predictions and practice using the vocabulary from the story....

Students read about the gingerbread man and have community members come to their class saying where they have seen him. In this community lesson plan, students listen to different community members about how the gingerbread man has been...

In this ordering events in a story instructional activity, students read the story and number the sentences in the correct sequence. Students fill in 6 blanks.

Students analyze themselves as members of the community. They choose a name to describe themselves and explain why they choose the name they did. They identify activities they perform in and out of school to help the community.

Students use the life cycle of an ant to learn about their own self-esteem. In this self-esteem lesson, students read books about ants and discuss obstacles from the stories as well as the ant behavior.

For this spelling worksheet, students copy a set of 6 long a words. Parents are given suggestions to help students study and learn the words.

After a read-aloud of the story Goldielocks and the Three Bears, scholars gather into small groups to answer a series of questions. Peers examine the idea of smart decisions and identify three feelings of characters alongside three...

After having a bad day, Sally took scholars' suggestions and had a super day. Pupils listen to her newest short story then discuss the events that occurred. They sort each event by what was in her control and what was not. Participants...

The Pilgrims may have arrived in North America by way of the Mayflower, but chances are, your class members' ancestors came to the United States in another way. Guide them through an exploration of their own heritage, countries of...

Honor family traditions with a lesson plan that examines the variety of winter celebrations. Class members discuss their family's traditions then complete a cut-and-paste practice page in which they match a picture to the name of a...

Need a creative idea for an elementary book report? Use a cereal box project to engage your readers beyond plot, setting, and characters. The lesson includes templates for the project and examples from Charlie and the Chocolate...

A key reading comprehension skill is the ability to summarize. Here's a worksheet that not only explains how to summarize, but also explains why summarizing is important.

A fancifully illustrated guide to Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, this series of lessons, activities, and tasks could be used in its entirety or picked apart and used piecemeal. Have young readers investigate the role of dialogue in...

For kids who have already mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic units on amazing animals, here's a packet of enrichment activities sure to provide food for fertile minds. 

Here is a very fun idea that introduces young learners to how geographical location affects cultural development. They are introduced to four areas where Native Americans have lived in the past by reading stories and examining images....

Youngsters listen to the teacher read an excerpt from the story, The Source. The goal of the lesson is to have them begin to get an idea of where many foods and fibers come from. The lesson has the teacher stop reading at many points in...

Students watch a Biz Kidz video about money, learn what they can do with money, and fill out worksheets on what they learn. Students learn about spending, saving, donating, and investing.

After reading a self-selected book, young reviewers plan, draft, revise, edit and polish a book review as their report on the book. Reviewers record and edit their report which is then placed in the digital library for others to enjoy.

Readers use a story elements matrix to identify the title, setting, characters, point of view, problem, and solution in four narratives. The template could be used to prepare for a compare/contrast exercise.

Students explore the daily use of water in Kenya and Ghana. In this Peace Corps lesson plan, students compare similarities and differences between water use by people in Kenya and Ghana and their own communities as...

Students read and analyze an African version of the Cinderella story. They listen to John Steptoe's story, "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters," locate Africa on a map, compare and contrast the story with Cinderella, and identify fairytale and...