Students try a variety of reading strategies. In this reading strategy lesson, students read a nonfiction passage and put Post -Its to mark the spots where they are using a reading strategy. They focus on inferring, predicting,...

Seventh graders define metacognition, Bloom's Taxonomy, and artifacts. They, in groups, try to identify a mystery artifact using the Artifact Analysis sheet. They present their findings to the class.

Fourth graders examine the artifacts obtained from an excavated Siouan village site. They make inferences about the people who once lived there based on the artifacts and complete a Research Team Report.

Eighth graders read the Diary of Anne Frank. For this novel reading lesson, 8th graders read and analyze the story. Students do online activities and create a newspaper giving a summary of three major events in the story. Students answer...

Students determine that even though inferences are based on observations that does not mean they are always true or correct. They pull the topics and main ideas out of a piece of difficult text.

Young scholars practice read aloud comprehension strategies. In this literacy comprehension lesson, students listen to Tomas and the Library Lady, stopping to discuss with a partner aspects of the story suggested by the teacher. Young...

In this comprehension skills worksheet, students read the book Big Bushy Mustache and complete comprehension activities. Students complete 5 activities including note taking, making inferences, fiction and non fiction, drawing...

Students examine African life during slavery on the Internet. In this slavery lesson plan, students use the Internet to research slavery and create a scrapbook. Students review pictures of slavery and label them as primary or secondary...

Students make cut-out gingerbread cookies. After reading "The Gingerbread Boy", their cookies "disappear" and students must make predictions and draw conclusions about what happened to their cookies.

Students create a torn paper landscape and use it to study clouds. In this cloud study and art lesson, students make a background art image from torn paper. Students create a torn paper landscape and use cotton balls to illustrate...

A cross-curricular instructional activity for middle schoolers that covers language arts, social studies, geography, and math, this is a great extension activity if your class is reading The Diary of Anne Frank or learning...

To protect young people from questionable content, many schools limit access. This resource suggests that because learners can so readily avail themselves to unrestricted Internet access, it is vital for 21st century...

Work with your class to fill out this Venn diagram. Pupils can compare and contrast any two things and then write a short paragraph about the relationship demonstrated in their diagram.

Discover Modernism through the eyes of artists. Over the course of six well-thought-out lessons, learners examine works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse while completing a range of collaborative and hands-on activities. A great resource!

With the Common Core State Standards' growing focus on informational text, it's the perfect time to showcase this PowerPoint to your team of teachers. It's 59 slides focus on seven best practice structures: reading-as-thinking,...

Picture books aren't just for primary learners. Your scholars compare and contrast literary themes between the novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and the children's book, The Dream Tree by Winfried...

Go on a moon mining expedition from the safety of your classroom with this space exploration simulation. Using simple models of the moon's surface prepared ahead of time by the teacher, young scientists are challenged with locating and...

All the Common Core standards are important, but they all build off the ability to cite textual evidence to support analysis. See how to scaffold this standard into three steps of development, along with assessment ideas with the ideas...

Read various texts to compare the themes across each text. Learners write a journal entry describing the most beautiful scenery they've seen and use a map of the United States to locate the Sequoia National Park and Muir Woods. They then...

Readers listen and critically read fictional prose to answer prediction questions at designated stopping points, and then they give a summary of the short story. This lesson is ideal for English language learners developing English...

A great idea for showing language arts pupils the universality of themes, even in the real world! Have class members choose an idea-noun (peace, justice, war, love, etc.) at the beginning of the year or semester. They complete weekly...

Help your high schoolers identify the main idea of a passage with this lesson plan on paraphrasing. First rewriting a paragraph in their own words, they then underline the most important words in their paraphrase and use them in a...

Determining the meaning of a word based on context clues or marking how the meaning of a term evolves in the course of a document can be a challenge in more complex text. Give your pupils an opportunity to practice this skill with a...

Make a study of Timothy and his development as a character over the course of the first half or so of The Cay. This idea focuses in particular on chapters 10 through 12. Learners start out by working on double-entry journals created in...