Sixth graders brainstorm various types of friendships prior to reading "Tezen," a tale about a young girl's friendship with a fish. After writing story reviews, they work in small groups to create dramatic skits based on the text and...

Students, after following step by step instructions/guidelines, contract to make a particular grade on a poetry project. They purpose of this project is to complete a collection of poetry using a variety of techniques studied in class,...

Students in an ESL class read "Ivan the Fool", a folktale from Russia. In groups, they work with their partner to read the material and discuss what they have read. They write down any vocabulary they are unfamiliar with and write a...

Third graders create a shipping box from a cardboard material. In this measuring instructional activity, 3rd graders read the book Henry's Freedom Box and discuss the main idea. In the story a slave ships himself to freedom and the...

Third graders read the story "Pompeii...Buried Alive." They locate Italy on a world map and define the term artifact. Students conduct an artifact dig on the playground. Students study the characteristics of mosaics and their...

Young scholars identify the elements of science fiction literature. They write and illustrate a science fiction story using real and exaggerated science. In addition, they read their stories aloud in small groups.

Students read a classic folk tale, Ivan the Fool, and complete shared reading activities. In this reading activities lesson, students complete a shared reading of the folk tale and write a summary for the story.

Fourth graders participate in a literature circle after reading a book about the Underground Railroad. They discuss their selected book with their literature circle group, and complete a handout about their role in the circle. Students...

Eighth graders design and compile a booklet of published and original poems reflective of a specific theme.

Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing instructional activity. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound...

Scholars learn to find meaning in words using affixes with a language arts activity. In pairs, children sort cards with printed sentences that include words with the prefixes mis- and pre- and the suffixes -er, -ness, and -able. Then,...

Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...

Fifth graders read the novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." They discuss the various characters in the book, and the different types of conflict that take place within the book. They also research owls and rats to make comparisons...

Students read several poems related to the life and culture of the Appalachia region. They are introduced to the poetic forms of simile, alliteration and onomatopoeia and respond to the poems through journal entries and poetry of their own.

Sixth graders read, "The Watsons Go to Birmingham", and submit a critical review to Amazon Website online by copying and pasting their text onto the site.

Second graders come up with motions to put with their poem and read their poem with expression. In this expression lesson plan, 2nd graders work in groups to complete this task.

Sixth graders explore equality by reading a story with their classmates. For this discrimination lesson, 6th graders read the story Esperanza Rising and discuss the tensions between Latin America and the United States. Students view...

Ninth graders read the story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," and create a characterization chart to define the stock characters in the main story. They predict whether Walter Mitty will be a static character or a dynamic character....

Learners explore foreign cultures by reading a story in class. In this Hispanic history lesson, students read the story Radio Man by Arthur Dorros and identify the times discrimination is used in the story. Learners discuss labor...

Young scholars read and discuss article "Doing Time," explore juvenile justice system and juvenile hall, and discuss stereotypes of young offenders.

Sixth graders read parts of the book Esperanza Rising and define vocabulary words connected to it. For this Esperanza Rising lesson plan, 6th graders illustrate words and discuss the sections of the books they read.

Sixth graders develop metacognitive skills while reading Esperanza Rising. In this comprehension strategies lesson, 6th graders read a chapter from the book and discuss questions with a small group. Students share with their peers. 

Students explore the concept of theme. In this fairy tales lesson, students read several tales and complete hands-on activities, art projects, and dramatic play that lead to an awareness of the themes of the tales.

Students take notes from oral readings and lectures to create a summary of the material. They use different sizes of post-it notes to complete the activity. They practice pulling the main ideas out of the given material.