It is true that the more you practice something, the better you'll get at doing it. Lesson three in a three part series on author's purpose has kids venture out to determine the author's purpose in three different passages. They'll read...

Who knew determining author's purpose could be turned into a game? Four teams compete to correctly identify the author's purpose for writing a series of passages.

Reinforce comprehension of informational text. This is a one-on-one instructional activity intended to build an internal dialogue the reader can use to boost overall comprehension. They work independently with a tutor or teacher to read...

Fifth graders determine the meaning of author's purpose. In this author's purpose lesson plan, 5th graders apply the PIE (persuade, inform, entertain) strategy to determine why an author wrote a piece of writing. They examine passages...

Why do authors write? Practice determining the author's purpose with a categorizing activity. Learners sort twelve short passages into three categories: persuade, inform, and entertain.

Get the bat facts with a short nonfiction reading passage. After reading the passage, readers respond to questions that focus on main idea, inferencing, vocabulary in context, and author's purpose.

With the end of the year quickly approaching it's time to find out exactly how much your sixth graders have learned. Specifically designed for the Common Core ELA standards, this practice test gives students five reading passages,...

Eighth graders examine a nonfiction selection in a teacher led lesson. They examine the author's purpose for writing the selection and identify the difference between fact and opinion. The compare and contrast expository and narrative...

John Muir may be a friend to the natural world, but as a short reading passage confirms, he is no friend to rattlesnakes. As young readers learn about Muir's encounters with the dangerous creatures, they answer four comprehension...

Fourth graders work independently or in a small group to (1) read a nonfiction selection, (2) identify the author's purpose, (3) distinguish informational text from narrative text, (4) skim and scan for facts, and (5) complete a graphic...

Fourth graders read and respond to poetry. They identify the author's purpose and connect the literature to their personal experiences. Students critically analyze the poem and write a poem of their own.

Enter the world of Harry Potter and learn new vocabulary at the same time. A high-interest reading passage provides insight into the history of Harry Potter. Follow-up activities incorporate key vocabulary strategies, such as using...

Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of Maniac Magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in Jerry Spinelli's novel, readers...

Fifth graders read a book.  In this informational text features lesson, 5th graders define captions and their purpose.  Students view an article and discuss the graphic aides that assist comprehending the information...

To better understand how to compose a clear and well-organized paper, learners read short passages, write summaries, and make colored graphic organizers. This is a fully developed three-day lesson with suggested assessments.

An advocate of the cloze procedure to determine what learners already know about a topic?  Class members listen to an excerpt from The Call of the Wild and then fill in the blanks on their cloze copy of the passage.  Directions...

Don't let the length scare you away. An eBook version of David Copperfield contains all 1,307 pages of the story. This digital version of the classic coming-of-age novel follows the title character from childhood into adulthood,...

Learners explore Greek mythology. In this ancient culture and introduction to The Odyssey literacy instructional activity, students complete a worksheet accessing their prior knowledge about Greek mythology. Learners listen to a passage...

Students discover idioms. In this inferencing lesson, students identify idioms from passages and infer meanings of unknown idioms using prior knowledge and experience.  Students write sentences using newly learned idioms. 

Shed light on what antonyms, synonyms, and homophones are. In this lesson, upper elementary schoolers create pairs using an antonym, a homophone, and/or a synonym. Then they play an antonym matching game.

What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...

Create an inclusive physical education program with help from eight exercises designed to met of the needs of children with autism. Activities include ball work, hurdles, bear crawls, resistance bands, star jumps, and the Scramble. 

Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...

Close your eyes and picture a time where you decided to tell the truth to someone. What were you wearing? How did you feel? Such prompts begin a guided imagery activity for Zach's Lie. Directions for creating an environment conducive to...