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!

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...

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...

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...

Although the methods are all scientific, forensic science was started by police officers rather than scientists, who relied on observation and common sense. Young detectives use many tools to solve crimes around the school in a...

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...

Show your class how to read a map and decipher all of the markings and features. Start out by connecting maps to their homework from the night before and their current reading, in this case That Book Woman, and a related informational...

Young readers demonstrate phonemic awareness in words and blends, and recognize 100 high-frequency words. Use a nursery rhyme to point out rhyming words, and change the words by putting a new letter at the beginning. Each learner will...

"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...

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...

Now that learners have been exposed to chemical changes, they learn that some take in heat and therefore, decrease in temperature. The same reaction that they have been investigating between baking soda and vinegar is revisited,...

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...

Young scholars examine how place in poetry helps give clues about character. In this poetry activity, students read a poem while focusing on the descriptions of the room that is being described and predict what type of person would live...

Practice making predictions by looking at the cover of a book. You can use The Hungry Thing, as suggested here, or any other book you may be reading in class. Use the predictions to talk about good reading strategies. A chart is...

A famous fossil of fighting dinosaurs holds as many questions as answers. Scholars first analyze the fossil itself by virtually highlighting the specific bones of the dinosaurs and read about their function and importance. They then test...

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...

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...

Students examine the role of archaeology in gaining information about past civilizations. After reading an article, they discover evidence of the Viking settlement of North America. They summarize the information in the article by...

Gain a deeper understanding of the base 10 system through practicing conversion to Roman numerals through one million. The class is taught how to read the numerals through modeling and guided practice. This lesson includes a homework...

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...

Young scholars use sight, touch and chemical test kits to evaluate and classify soil types. They determine the organic content, soil pH, conduct visual analysis and nutrient tests of a variety of soil samples from various sources.