Combine literature and history with the poem "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling. Pupils read the poem and answer four questions about the text. 

Practice analyzing informational text with a reading passage that details the Great Depression. Scholars read about the impacts of World War I, the Roaring Twenties, and the Depression, then answer 10 true or false questions. 

Slow and steady wins the race to fluent reading with this printable version of "The Tortoise and the Hare". Presenting children with fun illustrations and a repetitive story structure, this resource is perfect for developing...

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.

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...

How significant was the Cold War during the 20th century? After reading and analyzing speeches by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, learners consider the historical context of foreign policy decisions made during the Cold...

Bingo! Practice vocabulary from William Shakespeare's The Tempest with a fun matching game. As you call out the definitions, class members mark the new vocabulary words that match and try to get five in a row.

The second instructional activity of a pair about Paul Laurence Dunbar, this plan focuses in particular on his poem, "We Wear the Masks." After a short historical introduction, class members conduct a series or readings, marking up the...

Could you go without your cell phone for 48 hours? Pose this question to your class and then read the article provided here. Pupils mark the text and and complete a graphic organizer that requires the use of textual evidence.

How do pupils relate paired passages to each other? Here's a resource that helps! The lesson includes a short story and a poem as a set of paired reading passages, followed by some analysis questions. It also includes an essay template...

“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...

This New York Times "Learning Network" exercise provides 10 questions that apply to an article about Mark Zuckerberg. It poses key journalistic questions like, who, what, why, where, how, and when. This resource provides a nice, short...

The toss of a die determines what questions your pupils will answer in this instructional activity. Learners respond to questions based on Bloom's taxonomy, discussing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with classmates along the way. They...

Prompt your young historians to hone in their reading comprehension skills by considering the fascinating perspective that Rudyard Kipling offers in his poem, "The American Rebellion", which provides an alternative...

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....

Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles provides the text for a fishbowl activity. Class members to sit in concentric circles, with the center circle discussing the topics from the book, and the outer circle observing the...

After reading literary and informational texts, scholars answer multiple-choice questions and write both a source-based argument and a text-analysis response.

Honor Abe Lincoln with a set of activity-based worksheets that can be used independently and in collaborative groups. Young historians participate in a listening activity where they fill in the missing blanks in a passage while being...

Strong writers support their points with direct evidence and details. A series of free-response questions from the 2011 AP® English Language and Composition exam require the use of details to obtain a good score. The first prompt...

Present your pupils with some moral dilemmas to examine. The scenarios, which learners rank by seriousness individually and then in groups, require learners to think about right and wrong.

Introduce the major themes in Markus Zusak's award-winning novel, The Book Thief, with an anticipation guide that asks readers to agree or disagree with a series of statements.    

What are the current trends in divorce? What contributes to this? Examine celebrity relationship trends and how they relate to the general public with this discussion lesson. Middle schoolers analyze the results of a Census Bureau study...

Considering using Tolkien's The Hobbit for book circles or whole-class reading? Check out this packet that provides an overview of the novel, some interesting background materials, and links to additional resources.

Take a trip to Mardi Gras with a festive reading packet! After class members read an informational article about the history and celebration of Mardi Gras, they think about the structure of the passage...