Scholars become travel guides in this group research project to investigate a Chinese city or region for a presentation. Heavily based on Internet research, the activity requires participants to jigsaw the final project, so each team...

Focus on research skills, specifically identifying key words and concepts on a specific topic and evaluating information for relevance and authority. This is part of a multi-step instructional activity on Ancient Rome; however, it is...

Learn how to summarize by identifying main ideas and supporting details. Readers cross out unimportant information as they read through a text. Is it a random detail? Cross it out! They then draw a concept map, placing the main idea in...

Enhance reader comprehension! Examine different comprehension strategies with your second, third, and fourth graders. They discuss the strategy of questioning by developing their own comprehension questions to help improve their memory...

Discuss the reading comprehension strategy of summarization with your elementary schoolers! They read a chapter from their social studies textbook, Regions Near and Far, and create a map, or word web, for the chapter. They identify...

Do you play any musical instruments? Consider using this question to interest readers in this short passage. Then, have them read the passage and answer the multiple-choice questions that follow. 

How do you create a butterfly garden? Focus on reading comprehension with this packet. Young readers use the step-by-step instructions to answer five multiple-choice questions that follow. Vocabulary, comprehension, and the main idea are...

By reading two books aloud, Ben and Becky in the Haunted House and The Ghost in the Classroom, youngsters learn new words and understand story events. They workin small groups to review the vocabulary in a game-like setting. 

In 1856 Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts over the head with a cane. This event, which highlighted the acrimonious debate over the expansion of slavery, is the focus of a paper...

Use this roaring 1920s history lesson to have young writers research primary and secondary sources. They use their research to examine the events or famous public figures of the time period. Next, they imagine they're in the 1920s and...

Have the class interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. They examine sources regarding architecture, art, exploration, government, literature, religion, and technology of the era. Then they use their...

Compare and contrast up to three stories with this graphic organizer! There are designated squares to capture information regarding the characters, setting, and problems of each story. Which are similar, and which are different? This...

After choosing a famous person your learners admire, they write a scene where they pretend to meet their chosen person. They identify a specific event they'd like to discuss with them, and write a dialogue detailing their fictitious...

Here is a reading comprehension lesson in which learners predict the story plot of Annie and the Wild Animals, by Jan Brett, after viewing the cover. They listen to the story, and answer story structure questions during and after...

Even pirates know not to steal stuff you can make yourself! Read The Pirate's Parrot Stole the King's Carrot to engage your class. Then, plant carrots with your class. If this isn't possible with your kiddos, consider cutting out paper...

Help your high schoolers navigate the cross-curricular text Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass with this reading guide. The questions guide learners through composing a summary of any given chapter in the text. In addition,...

Analyzing historical legends is a fun way to develop critical-thinking skills. Pupils will use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast two historical legends relating to volcanoes. While this lesson focuses on the image of Crater...

Text heavy, the 16 slides in this presentation provide specific examples to introduce researchers to documenting outside sources in expository writing. A follow-up activity or worksheet would provide an opportunity for guided practice.

A great idea for showing language arts pupils the universality of themes, even in the real world! Have class members choose an idea-noun (peace, justice, war, love, etc.) at the beginning of the year or semester. They complete weekly...

Who is Hattie? Youngsters explore animal characteristics by reading poems and stories in class. They read the book Hattie and the Fox about a fictitious fox and his drama with the other farm animals. Then they reread the story over...

Class members read "Satyagraha," the concluding section of Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos' Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science, and analyze how the authors support their claim that terrible...

Imagine a list that includes Alan Abelson of Baron's, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and Mother Jones. High schoolers select a national columnist, read and annotate five columns by this author, noting the rhetorical...

The ability to analyze an argument is a skill emphasized by the Common Core standards. Offer your class an opportunity to develop and hone their skills by providing them the testimonies in an Oregon court case. After reading the facts of...

Use the dystopian novel After by Francine Prose to spark discussion about individual and student rights. Learners read the novel, evaluating how far a school can go to control its attendees. As they read, scholars...