Explore point of view and more with a Common Core-designed instructional activity. Learners experience different points of view by representing one of two characters from Esperanza Rising during a partner discussion. They must use...

Give this skills-based assessment halfway through your unit on Esperanza Rising. After a brief review, class members take the test, which asks them to show that they know how to analyze the novel independently. They are asked to...

With What Do You See at the Pond?, young readers explore pond life and practice reading strategies. Learners first make predictions and then read the simple story independently. After a second read-through with a partner, kids come...

The engaging story Rain School is further explored in the third instructional activity of a larger unit that explicitly teaches close reading skills by answering questions whose answers can only be found inside the text....

Explicitly explained and delightfully detailed are two ways to describe this tenth lesson plan in a larger unit designed for the first few weeks of third grade. Learners continue to use and develop previously learned close reading...

Third graders answer text-dependent questions of the story Nasreen's Secret School both independently and then collaboratively through using the carousel of questions strategy. This plan is the seventh instructional activity in a...

Kindergarteners read the bold words that are unknown by using the strategies of initial sound and picture clues. They meet individually with their teacher in order to assess this concept. Excellent resource!

Could the history of bread really be interesting? Yes, it could! An informational text gives scholars wheat production background from 8,000 years ago, discussing different types of bread and the current industry in Oklahoma. Learners...

As the final lesson plan in a larger beginning-of-the-year unit to establish routines and teach close reading skills, this plan is designed as an assessment piece. Using the story, The Librarian of Basra, learners independently...

Students are introduced to four strategies of context clues. While reading, they use all four strategies in different sections of the reading to determine the meaning of words they are unfamiliar with. To end the lesson, they share new...

How do you know what a character's personality is like if an author doesn't tell you? With a focus on character development in Esperanza Rising, pupils complete a jigsaw activity to analyze the actions of Mama, Abuelita, and Miguel. Once...

Readers analyze an excerpt from Kate DiCamillo's novel Because of Winn-Dixie. They read silently, and then hear it read aloud. Definitions for underlined vocabulary words are in the margin, and other potentially difficult words...

"How can a few good words save a pig's life?" Posed with this question, your ELD students explore E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in a meaningful, valuable way. By analyzing specific word choice from the book, especially the excerpts...

Examine the text structure of a memo with this worksheet. Eighth to twelfth graders decide if the purpose of a memo is to motivate an action or to provide information to the reader. They explore new vocabulary and make predictions prior...

Students explore world history by completing artifact worksheets. In this archaeology lesson, students identify the importance of finding clues when researching historical information by utilizing artifacts. Students research the...

Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...

Young animal lovers engage in a lesson that's all about elephants. They access an elephant sanctuary website and read a story about Shirley the elephant. They perform a series of activities based upon that story, and also study about the...

Third graders access prior knowledge of the monarch butterfly and discuss what they would like to know.  In this Monarch Butterfly lesson plan,students read Monarch Butterfly and discuss the life cycle of the butterfly. Students...

Sixth graders explore culture by reading a book with classmates. In this Hispanic history activity, 6th graders read the story First Day in Grapes, and discuss the tough lives of migrant workers. Students answer study questions after the...

Sixth graders are introduced to artifacts and explore an online archaeological site to  connect clues about how people once lived. In this deductive reasoning instructional activity, 6th graders participate in the stratigraphy game...

Fourth graders explore the concept of echolocation during a unit on whales. They listen to the book and watch the Reading Rainbow video for "Humphrey: The Wayward Whale," explore various websites, and conduct experiments to demonstrate...

First graders explore human psychology by reading a book in class. In this friendship instructional activity, 1st graders identify the benefit of friends and strong relationships while reading the book The Rainbow Fish. Students analyze...

Third graders read and discuss "The Hangman" by Maurice Ogden and answer questions about the poem. They list things they can do to combat prejudice using each of the letters in the word and create a small poster with a slogan against...

You're going to wish you had a watermelon for this lesson! Class members read about watermelons and make a salad in class to sample. They also perform estimates, measurements and calculations on a watermelon. They predict what percentage...