This scripted lesson plan suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...

Third graders complete book reports. They are given the following jobs; chef, who organizes them into genres; maître d', who calls students to share the menu; and waiters/waitresses, who take orders for books from customers, pass out...

Fifth graders investigate the qualities of a good reader by participating in a role play with the provided scripts. They focus on the five main strategies of good readers -- predicting, clarifying, questioning, summarizing, and...

Students read Ruthanne Lum McCunn's Thousand Pieces of Gold and as a class, discuss the Chinese practice of foot binding. They work in groups to read further about how women of different cultures attempt to conform. They write about...

Eleventh graders participate in a variety of listening, speaking and reading activities. Here, they research the lives and achievements of different famous people. They prepare a creative presentation on a chosen topic. 

Learners review their knowledge on the First Amendment. After reading an article, they identify specific church and state issues. Using the Internet, they research President Bush's proposal from a specific point of view. They summarize...

Scholars review prior knowledge before completing a hands-on simulation of the rock cycle. They write stories or songs summarizing their simulations to demonstrate mastery.

Illegal immigration is an ever-changing source of consistent controversy. A reading passage about the rights of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants—and the lack thereof—guides high schoolers into a mock trial activity. Three...

Consider the possibility of a new U.S. draft with this instructional activity, which encourages class debate and persuasive arguments. Middle and high schoolers discuss how such a draft might be enacted and how they would feel about it....

Elementary learners identify the main elements of story structure and form questions to summarize their reading. They listen as the teacher reads a story and then write questions to determine (1) main characters, (2) setting, (3)...

Literature circles let kids interact with each other and hear different perspectives. explore literature circles. Group your class into small reading groups, and then assign each class member a specific role to keep them focused. After...

Here is an interesting topic. Learners examine the economics that led to the founding of the First Bank of America. They participate in a reader's theater experience depicting the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson...

Each group is assigned a character to play in a mock debate. They read the provided materials, build an argument, and then debate their points of view as their perspective character. The debate focuses on ensuring equality for...

Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...

Fourth graders study women's involvement in Texas politics. In this US history activity, 4th graders discuss woman suffrage, examine three Texas female pioneer legislators by reading biographies, and explore women's issues by generating...

Students listen for specific information during summary presentations. They practice giving feedback on given topic according to a set of standards. The speaker reports to the rest of class from a report and listeners determine if...

Learners, after reading a variety of books, choose one book to analyze story events and summarizes them in one illustration for a book jacket cover. They gather information about bas-relief sculpture and use that technique to create a...

Help your learners discover empathy and understanding by investigating two sides of a situation. In this humanities lesson plan, pupils examine different pairs of shoes and hypothesize about who may have worn them. Discuss real life...

Students explore and evaluate poetry. In small groups, they read and summarize poems, complete a handout, create and perform a dramatization of a poem, and write a journal entry in response to their performance.

Students summarize a children's book relating to farm animals. They act out the events of the book with stick puppets they create. Students experience the concepts of dialogue and role play.

Young scholars read slave narratives and retell the stories to the class, identifying sensory details. In this slavery lesson, students discuss the importance of sensory details, then read the slave narratives looking for specific...

Second graders practice asking the 5 W questions by reading a Boxcar Children book.  For this journalism lesson, 2nd graders read a single story from the Boxcar Children series and answer the 5 W's about each specific chapter....

Students investigate the horrors of World War II by participating in a role-playing activity.  For this holocaust lesson, students read handouts describing the atrocities committed against the Jews in Germany during the mass...

Students explore Nazi Germany by completing several worksheets. In this Adolf Hitler lesson, students identify Hitler's role in the holocaust, his role in the German community and his mindset. Students read the poem "The Hangman" by...