This was written for ESOL learners, but could work for any elementary class. Learners read about the American dance style known as Square Dancing. They explore its use in literature, write a friendly letter about it, and then use their...

Second graders interact with the story of Alexander's horrible day by connecting it to their lives. They practice predicting, writing paragraphs, reading aloud, discussing his problems, making a card to cheer him up, and designing a pair...

First graders listen to a read aloud of Leo Lionni's, Frederick, and illustrate a scene from the story.

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

After listening to a story learners engage in a kinesthetic activity to answer comprehension and critical thinking questions. Finally, the students identify three main facts about the story. Extensions include a fact and opinion...

Read aloud your choice of books about counting on and counting back (a list is provided, or tell stories of your own). Your learners will write horizontal equations to portray what happens in the story. They build a paper chain and...

Young readers use graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and story maps, to analyze a variety of folktales and the elements of a story. They use writing, sequencing activities, and creative art to identify the morals learned from a...

Mirroring Jerry Spinelli's style in Wringer, chapter 5, pupils use the "counting up/down technique" to recall an important moment in their lives. In the book, the character is being punched, and between blows he remembers details...

Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...

The teacher doesn't always have to be the expert in the classroom. The first in a series of three supplementary activities Nature: Friend or Foe uses hands-on research tasks and projects to enhance readers' understanding of non-fiction...

Students synthesize the concepts of scarcity, supply, and demand, pertaining to the Civil War time period. In this economics instructional activity, students gain understanding of economic terms through read-alouds, Venn diagrams,...

Students read a story out loud to a partner and change their voices and expressions when depicting specific characters. In this language arts lesson plan, students focus on the person's voice who is reading to them, while keeping track...

Students practice summarizing a story that they have read. They write a persuasive essay encouraging others to read the story they have finished. They are to create a movie trailer or advertisement to promote the book.

First graders begin a KWL chart about birds and listen to books read aloud by the teacher before accessing Internet sites. They use a hotlist of websites to find information and use software to make a computer based movie.

Fourth graders research and write an author report on Roald Dahl, including books written by him, birthplace, family life, and other information on his writing. Students read aloud chapters in the book. Students create a newspaper...

Learners create a time line. For this biography lesson, students define biography and autobiography and then read short examples of each. Learners create a time line using a read aloud.

Students answer questions after a story is read aloud, identify and recall the three major body parts of a spider (head, body and 8 legs), construct a spider when given parts of a spider on a handout, and draw and decorate a spider using...

Are you working on an Outsiders unit? Use this list of activities to deepen your middle schoolers' understanding of the novel. After reading S.E. Hinton's novel, young readers work on three required activities, including participating in...

First graders assist in making a list of the many things that Brown Bear saw in the story. They create an illustration of the person, place, or thing that they wrote about in their pattern sentence.

Third graders, through six lessons, study tales of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Aladdin and the Lamp from The Arabian Nights.

Young scholars who are special needs and early elementary students study facts about the four seasons. They listen to read aloud books about each season before completing associated graphic organizers. They illustrate pocket books to...

Second graders listen to a read aloud of Charles Shaw's, It Looked Like Spilt Milk. They complete an art activity in which they spill white paint on blue paper and fold it to make a design. They write about their design following the...

Third graders examine the layers of the earth during a teacher led discussion. They listen to a read aloud of "How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World," as they "visit" each layer. They work a worksheet while small groups design...

Students listen to a teacher read aloud of a book about families before discussing what a family is to them. They discuss how families can be the same or different, who they are made of, and what their traditions might be. They draw a...