A final assessment marks the end of a unit that takes a close look at a variety of informational texts all about frogs. A graphic organizer aides scholars in planning an accordion paragraph using their recorder forms from previous...

In this literacy and graphic organizer worksheet, students read a short fable entitled, "The Bear and the Two Travelers." They write two cause and effect relationships in the graphic organizers beneath the paragraph.

Fifth graders review the characteristics of a nonfiction text. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders understand that one can use a specific graphic organizer to help them in understanding an organizational structure. For example, in...

Characters often change over the course of a story or novel. Use the sample graphic organizer provided here to track how the narrator has responded to the sequence of events in chapter four through six of The Cay. In addition to this...

Point of view, purpose, and tone: three concepts readers of primary and secondary source materials must take into account when examining documents. Class members view a PowerPoint presentation and use the SOAPS strategy to identify an...

Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...

Young readers use graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and story maps, to analyze a variety of folktales and the elements of a story. They use writing, sequencing activities, and creative art to identify the morals learned from a...

Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...

Teach your class about the ways they can befriend and understand people who are different from them with a reading comprehension lesson. As youngsters read Taking Down Syndrome to School by Jenna Glatzer, they answer a...

After watching West of the West's documentary on Catalina Island, The Magic Isle, class members research how Walt Disney's and William Wrigley's different visions impacted the island.

Positive character traits in literature are explored in this character development and literacy lesson plan. Learners listen to Cinderella by Charles Perrault and Little Gold Star by Robert D. San Souci, followed by a discussion...

Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...

A reading of Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter opens a discussion of justice and fairness. Using a Venn diagram and an Idea Wheel graphic organizer, class members consider the similarities and differences in these two terms. They then...

Encourage the development of proactive readers with this graphic organizer, which prompts pupils to identify words they do not recognize as they are reading a textbook or literary piece.

Compare and contrast just about anything with this handy graphic organizer. While it is the classic Venn diagram, there's something a little special about this particular resource: it's editable. That means you or your pupils can...

A short story is only as strong as its characters, development, and conflicts. Encourage the young authors in your class to plan their stories based on the elements of narrative writing, all provided in brainstorming graphic organizers.

What is your perspective? Scholars read Florida: A Paradise of Scandals Excerpt 2 and look for unfamiliar words. They determine author perspective by completing Gathering Evidence of Hiaasen’s Perspective: Part three graphic organizer...

That's an interesting perspective. Scholars read chapter five of World without Fish and use an Author’s Point of View graphic organizer to determine the author's perspective. In triads, they highlight words that support the author's...

Literally, what's the meaning? Scholars read pages seven through nine of Flush and discuss literal and nonliteral meaning with figurative language. Learners work in triads to identify and define unfamiliar words. They then complete a...

Turn on the tube. Learners take a look at pages 10-13 of The Boy Who Invented TV. They work in groups and complete a first read to determine the gist of the section. They then reread the pages to  make and revise previous...

Surviving winter. Pupils begin reading on page 18 of The Inuit Thought of It: Amazing Arctic Inventions and sketch how the people used animal skin clothing to survive the winter. Readers complete a main idea graphic organizer...

Take a look at foreshadowing in any text by recording instances of foreshadowing in a straightforward graphic organizer. Learners note down the event, the clue, and the page number for five foreshadowed events. There is also space for...

Learn new words as you read Marc Brown's story, Arthur's New Puppy. This is focused as a vocabulary-in-context activity (though this strategy could be used with any book and set of words). Introduce the new words you will focus on:...

Take your class of youngsters on a prehistoric adventure with this four-lesson series on dinosaurs. Accompanying the Meet the Dinosaurs books by Don Lessem, these lessons engage children in writing their own dinosaur books,...