Get your class going on one of the final assessments for a unit on short stories by introducing iMovie and its main features. In this tenth lesson in a series of fourteen, pupils take some time to explore iMovie before conducting an...

Young children read the story, Berlioz the Bear and complete various reading and writing activities. They learn about fiction and non-fiction, and complete graphing and writing activities for the story. Youngsters draw the bear and use...

Set up your writers for writing strong introductions with a formula for putting together supported thesis statements. This reference page breaks the process down and provides an example of how to compose a thesis statement, develop a...

If your class can sequence events in a story, are pretty good at retell, and can identify the main point, they are probably ready for reading comprehension through summarizing. This lesson provides a teacher's script that facilitates...

Use picture cues as a tool in order to create meaning along with text. With a wordless comic, young illustrators discuss the main idea and character traits, and independently write a summary for a page of a wordless comic. This strategy...

Just like you choose your clothes to ensure they fit the occasion, you should choose your words deliberately while writing. Style, the main topic of one handout in a series on writing skills, involves choosing words carefully and paying...

What's the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? Show class members how to find the main ideas from informational text and condense it, restate it, or quote it directly with a series of educational activities based...

Put young grammarians to the test with an activity about adverbs. A five-paragraph passage prompts kids to find the adverbs and circle them, noting their purpose in context.

Using methods adopted by Public Policy Analysts (PPA) class groups define a social problem, gather evidence to document the existence of the problem, identify causes, evaluate existing policies designed to deal with the problem, develop...

Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing lesson. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The lesson includes several options to complete...

Use everything you know about quadratic equations to solve polynomial equations! Learners apply the Zero Product Property to factor and solve polynomial equations. They make a direct connection to methods they have used with quadratic...

Upper graders explore musical film and the Bohemian lifestyle common in Europe during the turn of the century through the musical Moulin Rouge. After listening to (or viewing) songs from the movie, they discuss the Bohemian era and how...

Students explore human anatomy by creating a science book in class. In this skeletal structure lesson, students identify the different body systems such as muscular, nervous, skeletal, and digestive. Students create a picture book which...

Students observe and demonstrate the steps to identifying the main ideas of a text. They listen to the teacher read a paragraph and model the steps of summarizing the main idea. Students then independently read a different paragraph...

Students organize facts into categories and list the structure of a five-paragraph essay. They identify the main idea and outline the supporting details. In the class, students discuss how they organized their ideas and begin drafting...

Twelfth graders identify main ideas in reading selections. They read newspaper letters to the editor, identify the main ideas, list the supporting details, and present each side of the issue to the class.

High schoolers define the American Dream and apply their knowledge of American history to evaluate the main idea of H.W. Brands' book, "The Age of Gold."

Second graders explore using nonfiction text to gain information. Working in pairs, 2nd graders read an article about the spotted owl. Each group identifies the main idea and supporting details of their text and use this information to...

Bring the imagery of the desert to your classroom with this ELL lesson plan. After reading Madeleine Dunphy’s Here in the Southwestern Desert, learners complete a graphic organizer about the features and images of the poem. The...

Drafting a strong first sentence for a summary is an important step. Writers can use the formula presented on this handout to get started. The resource lists three steps to put together a strong topic sentence, as well as tips and hints...

Analyze the central idea or literary theme found in a series of quotes from the Shakespearean play, Hamlet. For literary analysis, learners paraphrase excerpts from the play and then identify the characters' motivations for their speech.

Students analyze the features of myths and legends. They read the myths "Theseus and the Minotaur" and "Orpheus and Eurydice," identify the myth story elements, evaluate each story for the overall theme, describe the characters, and...

Muhammad Ali was the greatest, as he'd tell you himself. A set of reading comprehension worksheets walks through parts of Ali's life and promotes individuals to become good readers and writers.

Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth lesson in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing visible thinking...