Turn your passive readers into active readers with an engaging instructional activity on reading informational text. Focused on compare and contrast structured essays, the activity prompts elementary learners to jot down questions and...

Over the course of five periods, scholars create a poetry portfolio. They begin with a reading of the poem, Firefly. With a focus on vocabulary, learners reread the poem then look for sight words and other skills. 

If you teach health, sociology, ethics, or a class that addresses controversial issues, this resource related to schools' sex education programs may be useful. The New York Times' Learning Network provides a lengthy article on a unique...

Good readers make connections between texts. The SAT regularly assesses the ability to make those connections using paired reading passages, a topic discussed in an official SAT practice lesson plan on synthesis. During the lesson plan,...

Class members continue reading "How Bernard Madoff Did It" and annotate how the author refines his idea that the Madoff scandal grabbed the attention of a public fascinated with crime stories.

Support your scholars with these anticipatory questions to go along with The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The objective, rationale, and teacher instructions are clearly explained, followed by an anticipation guide for pages 81-93 and the...

Explore reciprocal questioning with this ReQuest comprehension strategy. After reading a passage, learners first question the teacher, trying to "stump" her. Then it is the teacher's turn to ask the pupils questions. All correct answers...

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

Discover the science behind astronomy. After reading the book Maria's Comet, which is about a young woman who breaks new ground by becoming a female astronomer, young learners practice reading comprehension with...

In this active reading worksheet, students develop strategies to make text relevant to their own lives and experiences. Students make a list of active reading objectives and then list strategies to use to reach the objectives.

First graders are introduced to the game of Word-O to increase their fluency while reading. Individually, they look, say and write at their high frequency words and practice spelling them. To end the lesson, they are introduced to new...

Students explore philosophy by participating in a philanthropic activity. In this book read-in lesson, students collect a group of used books and illustrate an image to go along with the story. Students donate these books to a shelter or...

Improve reading comprehension with a set of ESL worksheets. Kids read through various passages, note which facts are true or false, mark their opinion on two statements, and write a short reply based on a writing prompt.

Turn your class' focus on how wheelchairs assist individuals with disabilities to become more independent with this disabilities lesson plan. Scholars listen to a read aloud of the book, Zoom! by Robert Munsch, answer...

Take a journey to India with a read aloud of The Drum: A Folktale from India by Rob Cleveland. Make connections to the story's theme by building and practicing drums, role playing story characters, and practicing skills in phonics, math,...

Here is a reading comprehension lesson in which learners predict the story plot of Annie and the Wild Animals, by Jan Brett, after viewing the cover. They listen to the story, and answer story structure questions during and after...

Poison Dart Frog babies are the focus of a lesson that challenges scholars to compare and contrast two informational texts. Beginning with a read-aloud, followed by a discussion, readers complete a practice page that examines the main...

Scholars examine a list of questions and sort them into corresponding groups based on similarities. A gallery walk allows peers to see how their peers sorted questions and leave notes. Costa's Level of Questions is the topic of a...

The poem "The Teller of Tales" by Gabriela Mistral is the subject of a thoughtful lesson that allows scholars to listen to or read the poem, then discuss its meaning. 

Show what you know! Scholars complete a mid-unit assessment using text evidence from Frederick Douglass. The teacher then presents expectations for independent reading assignment. Leaving the class, pupils turn in an exit ticket...

Students define journalism and identify the basic components of a news story. In this journalism basics lesson, students define the word journalism, read a new story, and break it into parts with two major characteristics for each...

Set a purpose for reading informational texts with this reading lesson. To find the central idea of a text, young readers turn titles and subtitles into questions to help them understand the text. They complete a T-chart for the lesson,...

Sixth graders identify information from texts by working in pairs using Wikki Stix or highlighting tape to locate, mark, and read items on preview checklist. Students then compare what they marked with what another pair marked.

High schoolers review the task sheet and information on SQ3R reading strategy. They choose a text for reading then apply SQ3R to the text to preview and ask questions about the content, organizational structure and author's prupose for...