Guide readers to think about what they are reading with a comprehension activity. Using John Steinbeck's The Pearl, learners predict what is coming, verify and judge their predictions, and analyze what they are reading more closely.

Guide your pupils through The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with a directed reading exercise. The teacher asks questions as the class reads a chapter to help lead learners toward making well-supported predictions.

Fifth graders use context clues to help them understand unknown words. In this context clues lesson plan, 5th graders practice identifying context clues on a worksheet, then work with a peer to write their own story. Stories are peer...

Let’s learn about frogs! Young readers are led through “Freaky Frogs,” a non-fiction article. Teach learners how to edit an article so there are fewer details to sift through. After talking through the article, they learn the six steps...

A guided imagery exercise draws class members into a particularly intense scene in Edward Bloor's Tangerine. After listening to a reading of an excerpt from the text, participants respond to a series of questions and then share their...

Activate your pupils' thinking before reading chapter five of Ordinary People. Learners decide whether they agree or disagree with six statements and discuss their ideas in small groups. They then read chapter five and determine...

Prior to reading Tolkien's The Hobbit, class members respond to a series of statements in an anticipation guide that introduces many of the central concepts of the novel.

Before beginning The Things They Carried, class members are asked to use a KWHL chart to record what they know about war, what they want to know, and where they might find answers to their questions. Groups then research...

After reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and an article about the use of the novel, class members engage in a Socratic seminar focused on whether or not Twain's book should be banned.

Your class won't be a bunch of squares from using this well-rounded activity! Instead, they'll be expressing thoughtful questions using the cubing strategy. The class brainstorms questions of increasing rigor about Zach's Lie in the...

Chapter 12 of The Hobbit provides the text for an exercise that asks readers to use the QAR strategy to develop and respond to questions about story.

A think aloud activity is a great way for readers to develop critical thinking skills. This resource models for readers how to use this strategy to think critically about a passage from Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven.

Introduce young readers to informational texts with a well-designed, ready-to-use, and Common Core-aligned unit. Young readers learn a variety of skills while studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As the first...

Prior to an in-class reading of "What Sally Said" and"Red Clowns," two vignettes from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street, class members complete an anticipation guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of...

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!

Students discover shapes on a playground. In this guided reading lesson, students discover new vocabulary words related to shapes as they read Shapes Where We Play. In small groups, students use picture clues and one to one matching to...

Endeavor. Qualm. Stolid. Fortitude. Filial. Bingo! As part of their study of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, class members engage in a vocabulary bingo game.

What does your class know about the 1960s? Introduce your unit on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders with a K-W-H-L chart, which encourages kids to list what they already know about the time period, what they would like to know, how they...

Here is a fabulous, five-page lesson plan on how keywords can help a reader with his/her reading comprehension. After a teacher-led discussion, pupils pair off with each other and work together to identify the main idea in a passage of...

Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What...

Focus on chapter two of Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science with a questioning activity. After teaching and modeling several types of questions, learners work with partners and then independently to answer and...

Readers use Bloom's Taxonomy to create multi-level questions about Pearl Buck's The Good Earth. 

As part of a study of Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, class members create a KWHL chart listing what they know, what the want to know, how they will find information, and what they have learned about prejudice.

Readers of The Joy Luck Club, use a double-0entry journal to record and reflect on passages from Amy Tan's novel.