If you have a favorite author, you probably recognize their style. Conduct a close read of the text, marking it up as they go. Collaborative sharing time and a summary writing prompt follow the main activity.

Pictures often reveal different meanings. Scholars analyze the images in Eight Days and discuss how they add meaning to the text. Readers answers questions about how specific colors are used to create different emotions. Learners then...

Inform your learners about the election of President Clinton and the surrounding politics with an informational text. The text and four questions about it are included in this resource. Class members answer questions about the state of...

What was the political and social climate of the United States like when Ronald Reagan was elected president? Your class can find out through an informational reading passage. After reading, learners respond to the seven provided...

A 16-page packet includes three activities for a unit study of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before beginning the novel, class members identify the factors in their lives that helped create their frame of reference,...

Scholars wrap up the unit by taking an assessment and reading the informational text "You Trouble" by Justin O'Neill. As they read, they answer multiple-choice questions and complete charts to analyze the main idea and supporting details...

Examine the text structure of a memo with this worksheet. Eighth to twelfth graders decide if the purpose of a memo is to motivate an action or to provide information to the reader. They explore new vocabulary and make predictions prior...

Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" provides high schoolers an opportunity to engage more complex text. After a close reading of the essay and an analysis of Carnegie's argument that the rich are superior because they earn money,...

Only fear fear itself. Scholars read Public Fear from The Exterminator. Triads work together to annotate and determine the gist of the text. They then complete a Tracing an Argument graphic organizer to identify arguments, claims,...

How did Martin Luther King, Jr. sway people with his speeches? Scholars carry out a close reading of the Montgomery Bus Boycott speech and use the Close Reading Guide to help them work through the powerful text. While reading, they...

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...

Break hearts with this lesson plan: chicken or sheep hearts, that is! Your class examines the external and internal structure of the heart with a dissection activity. A handy anatomy resource provides the necessary materials for...

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.

Mark Twain, the famous American author, is often studied in the school system. Use "The Prince and the Pauper" to analyze the differences between the text and its video version.  This lesson includes several culminating project...

That's a double whammy! Scholars read the excerpt Double Whammy from The Exterminator. After identifying the gist of the text, they annotate by marking the author's claim. The group discusses what is meant by double whammy and...

It is just a figure of speech. Readers look for figurative language as they read Taggot, the Blacksmith’s Daughter. They complete a Figurative Language graphic organizer by recording and identifying the types of figurative...

Begin your unit on William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a helpful anticipation guide. Learners read ten statements that connect to the play's literary themes, and note whether they believe the statement is true or false.

Motivate your class with this instructional activity on apartheid. After responding to several pre-reading questions, learners read and mark 2 articles: 1 about the Soweto Uprising and 1 about Nelson Mandela. They then respond to 4 short...

Is your class studying President George H.W. Bush? If so, they can learn how he became president and some of the economic problems he faced in office by reading this brief informational text. There are three questions to answer below the...

 The narrative works of Frederick Douglass engage learners in the topic of slavery. They will experience American history in a new way, a Douglass expresses his thoughts in his own words. Pupils then interpret this literary...

The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing...

Explore literature through the completion of reading comprehension worksheets in class. After reading the classic book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, middle schoolers review each chapter by completing study questions and story webs....

Scholars listen to a reading and answer probing questions about If We Must Die by Claude McKay. Readers annotate their personal copies of the poem as they discuss its figurative language, vocabulary, and meaning. They then transfer...