On June 26, 1963 President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech close to the Berlin Wall at the Rudolph Wilde Platz. On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan Delivered his famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down...

The second in a series of three lessons from Scholastic comparing and contrasting fiction and nonfiction, this activity requires learners to read, write, and compare two books independently. After briefly reviewing the features of...

The second lesson plan in a series of fourteen, this plan takes the short story basics a step further. Learners complete a quiz about the story from the previous day, discuss the text, learn about Anton Chekhov, and work in groups to...

Ninth graders study the study of animals in an informational text lesson plan that focuses on analyzing text structure. As learners continue reading the first chapter of Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation, they form inquiries and...

Find clues to the past with photos! Young historians use a photo from one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful protests to practice photo analysis. Academics look at the image to gain clues about what is happening and why. To finish,...

What do a colt and a boy in a tree have in common? More than might be first apparent. The fourth interactive in a series of ten introduces readers to intertextuality, the process of using abstract thinking to consider how one text...

An interactive resource teaches readers how to annotate all kinds of texts. After reading an introduction that stresses the benefits of text annotations, users examine several models and then demonstrate what they have learned by...

Proficient reading of informational text, especially primary source documents, requires practice. This message from Thomas Jefferson about the Louisiana Purchase offers readers a chance to develop these comprehension skills.

How did Theodore Roosevelt stress the importance of conservation during his time as president of the United States? Take a closer look at the language Roosevelt used himself in a 1907 address to Congress, and have your young...

The intricate craft of narrative writing can make a happy story feel exuberant or a sad story feel devastating. With 42 extensive lessons that include poignant discussion questions, standards-aligned self-reflections, engaging writing...

What's the difference between the main idea of a text and the topic? Take kids through the process of literary analysis with a presentation about finding the main idea and supporting details. Additionally, it guides learners through...

Make up your mind to complete a lesson plan about "The Tell-Tale Heart" and forever rid yourself of simple sentence structures. As ninth graders analyze the first two paragraphs of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, they consider how text...

A good prompt is hard to find, especially ones that encourage application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of a text. Help is here in the form of a prompt list for George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four that offers essay topics that...

All good things must come to an end! Scholars put all their learning into practice by completing an end-of-unit assessment. They use textual evidence from Julia Alvarez's "A Genetics of Justice" to write essays analyzing how Alvarez...

While America says it welcomes from other countries the tired and poor yearning to be free, the record is mixed on whether there has been a warm reception for immigrants. Class members use an interactive graphic scale and primary source...

Introduce middle schoolers to the different strategies used when reading prose versus poetry. Groups use a Venn diagram and a poetry analysis handout to compare the characteristics of an informational text and a  poem on the same...

Four lessons, performed over four weeks, pay special attention to Abigail Adams. Fifth graders analyze primary and secondary sources, read texts, discuss and write about Adams' experience during the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Bunker...

One of the creepiest and coolest natural occurrences is a great forum for data analysis and discussion! Explore the phenomenon of zombie ants, or ants infected with the Cordyceps fungus, with a series of activities and experiments....

Guide high schoolers through the most successful and efficient ways to address a text with a literary analysis instructional activity. As learners find examples of alliteration in Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepard to His...

What exactly does sociology entail? Sociology is a broad field that covers many topics, including culture, mass media, and social movements. A helpful handout prepares scholars for typical writing found in college-level sociology...

Learn from experience. As part of their study of Unbroken, scholars use a turn-and-talk strategy to discuss Louie's experiences and the presence of God while he is lost at sea. They then read quotes from the text and infer what the words...

Writers take a look at how to gather evidence from the information text in the unit that connects to Salva and Nya’s story. They complete a Gathering Evidence from Informational Texts sheet to guide their work. Pupils then use the...

An excerpt from Henry MacNeal Turner's address to the Georgia legislature provides class members with an opportunity to develop their literary analysis skills. Prompted by the provided factual, evaluative, and interpretive questions,...

Read to me! Scholars get lost in a picture book read aloud of The People Could Fly. They discuss text-dependent questions and talk with partners about the meaning of the story. They then study an image in the book to determine the power...