Get your kinesthetic learners engaged in a vocabulary study using Karen Pandell's book, Animal Action ABC. They move around as you read, and raise their hands whenever they hear one of the words you are learning. Pre-teach the...

Explore the life inside trees as scholars learn vocabulary through Debbie Miller's informational text Are Trees Alive? Familiarize pupils with the new words they will hear like anchor, disease, awaken,...

Many of your youngsters have experienced a new baby coming home, and Marc Brown's story Arthur's Baby is a relatable way to cover some new vocabulary terms. Introduce and define the new words before reading the text aloud:...

Take your budding readers on a literary trip to pick blueberries as they learn vocabulary from Robert McClosky's book, Blueberries for Sal. By pre-teaching the words pupils are prepared to raise their hands when they hear...

What type of cloud is that? Explore meteorological vocabulary using Marion Bauer's book, Clouds (although these strategies could be used for any fiction or nonfiction text). Pre-teach the new words before reading the story...

Cows can't fly, can they? David Milgrim's whimsical story makes vocabulary fun! Although this strategy can be used with any text, using Cows Can't Fly will be a breeze with this outline. Pupils are ready to raise their...

What does suspension mean? Learn this and other bridge-related vocabulary as scholars listen to Ryan Ann Hunter's nonfiction book, Cross a Bridge. This strategy can be applied to any book. Before reading, acquaint pupils...

Dandelion the lion is dapper and elegant; young readers learn these and more vocabulary words as they read Don Freeman's story Dandelion (hint: this strategy can be applied to any book). Familiarize pupils with the new words...

Dig into some prehistoric vocabulary in Bob Barner's informative book Dinosaur Bones. This works best if you introduce the primitive words before reading the story. These are the focus terms in the text: ancient, climate, extinct,...

Help budding readers learn words like develop and revolting as they listen to you read Mitchell Sharmant's Gregory, the Terrible Eater. Get the new vocabulary rolling before reading it aloud so youngsters can raise a...

As kindergartners are learning the alphabet, expand their vocabulary in the process using Jacqueline Rogers' book Kindergarten ABC. Each page features a letter and various objects for scholars to locate in the picture, and...

Follow this lesson, which is written more like a script, to practice reading a poem with your class. Pupils read "The Road Not Taken" and respond to five multiple choice questions on a provided worksheet. The plan leads you through a...

While designed to supplement a viewing of the PBS Masterpiece Classic The Diary of Anne Frank, this resource can also serve as an excellent informational text and activity source for your students on the historical context and timeline...

Immaculate, accumulation, dissipation. Vocabulary drawn from chapter 16 of James McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, can prove to be challenge for readers. To help kids understand the meaning of these words and what they add to the...

Context matters! Using the intuitive resource, pupils decipher context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words from an informational text. Also, in small groups, they practice identifying the author's opinion and supporting...

Any classroom study of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved requires careful planning and scaffolding. A primary source set that includes a video, illustrations, photos of artifacts, and a broadside of the Fugitive...

Three activities are designed for readers of Jack London's The Call of the Wild. First, class members research and create posters that reflect the setting of the novel. Next, groups create posters with images that represent each chapter...

Jane Eyre offers scholars an opportunity to practice reading comprehension skills. Pairs are assigned a word from the text, use their prior knowledge, and consider the context, connotation, and denotation of the word to posit a...

Did you know that "30-40 percent of all words in English have a related word in Spanish?" This fact launches an interactive study of cognates appearing the same in English and Spanish. Learners demonstrate what they have learned about...

Readers consider comparisons between the Dinka and Nuer tribes in South Sudan, making connections between an informational article about Sudanese tribes and the novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They annotate the text to help...

Building on a previous lesson plan, readers continue using context clues to learn new vocabulary. Additionally, they continue working on their Gathering Evidence graphic organizers, making connections between an informational text and A...

What makes sports so special to many Americans? Scholars ponder the question as they participate in a gallery walk, immersing themselves in images and texts about sports. Pupils also complete a vocabulary strategies anchor chart to...

Your kids probably use mirrors every day, but do they know how they work? A reading passage about reflection and reflective objects can address both physical science and reading comprehension. Kids read the paragraphs and use context...

Life science and language arts come together in a passage about animal adaptation. After kids learn about how organisms adapt to conditions in their environments, they complete five reading comprehension questions based on context clues...