Hone your learners' inference-making skills with this exercise. The worksheet includes four passages that learners read and answer questions about. Pupils must note down their inferences along with textual evidence that support their...

As a final assignment in a unit study of Edward Bloor's Tangerine, individuals assume the voice of Paul Fisher and craft the witness report Paul mentions in the final pages of the novel. A great way to assess the...

Considering using Nancy Taylor's award-winning science fiction novel The House of the Scorpion as an option for book circles or as a whole-class reading? Check out this packet that includes background information, information about the...

As part of a study of comparison, kids transform similes into metaphors and metaphors into similes.

Questioning a text is a very effective way for kids to develop their reading comprehension skills. Designed to engage all class members, a reading activity prompts pairs to develop and share their own questions about the ending of Neil...

How skilled are your class members at summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting from a text? Find out with this assessment that asks readers to identify the thesis statement, the summary, the paraphrases, and the quoted material in an...

When you understand the relationships between words, your vocabulary and reading skills will increase! Work on a set of analogies with multiple choices for learners to select.

When is a preposition not a preposition? Learn about the role prepositions play in a slideshow presentation about phrasal verbs. As the class watches the presentation, they reinforce their skills with practice activities.

Play a board game that tests learners' knowledge of gerunds and promotes discussion. As players move along each square, they answer questions using a gerund.

Twenty slides make up a set of festive, May-themed writing prompts designed to grab scholars' attention and warm-up their writing skills. Prompts include story starters, holidays, research questions, the five senses, and more! 

Does your class understand the importance of peaceful conflict resolution? Middle schoolers share conflict stories, then collaborate to resolve simulated conflicts during an engaging lesson. The teacher's guide contains implementation...

Use essential elements cards to help lesson plan! Each card contains an informational text common core standard for grade levels six through eight and suggestions for activities and supports. Cards address skills such as citing textual...

Understanding different verb tenses begins with knowing how to decode words. A lesson on the -ed suffix with unchanging base words introduces readers to the past tense. Teachers present the skill with oral reading and spelling...

As the saying goes, you are what you eat. A useful set of lesson plans encourage young readers to take a second look at their eating habits. Pre- and post-reading questions bring in reflective writing and discussion while extension...

A lot of secrecy shrouded the creation of the atomic bomb. Readers uncover some of that secrecy using an educator's guide for the novel The Green Glass Sea. Three weeks of lesson plans feature discussion questions and reading...

It's hard to imagine that life on Alcatraz could be dull. A series of intriguing lessons take readers through the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts. Pre-reading questions introduce the text and a range of suggestions, from comic strips to...

Twenty prompts reinforce scholars' writing skills of essays and poems. Prompts cover topics such as superpowers, holidays, the weather, and more!

"The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is the focus of a lesson designed to shed light on the importance of keeping promises. As a class, scholars take part in a discussion on the topic of honesty and consequences. Independent readers then take to...

Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to hone their close reading and literary analysis skills. After annotating their copy of the story, writer's craft an essay in which they analyze...

Good verses evil. Scholars make inferences after taking a close look at the short story, State of Affairs, in which Daniel Defoe goes back and forth comparing good and evil thoughts through his writing. After reading the text,...

To conclude a unit study of Jason Reynold's Ghost, class members examine how Castle's feeling about his bedroom change over the course of the novel. Groups use the provided graphic organizer to identify the plot of the novel and then use...

Imagine you could increase reading comprehension and social media skills at the same time. Learners can read and then respond to the tale "The Sons of Sultan Bey." Their comments are guided by comprehension-style questions and can be...

Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...

Students study self-portraits taken by photographers to explain the technique and symbolism used. They decide what they would like to say about themselves in their images and then, take pictures of each other. They create an iPhoto book.