As an introduction to the major themes of Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to, class members complete an anticipation guide and share their responses in groups.

What did medicine look like a hundred years ago? Two hundred years ago? Invite small groups to conduct research on the history of a chosen medical advancement before reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science....

Can you guess what is going to happen in a story just by looking at the cover? Readers engage in a directed-reading activity in which...

After completing the 11th chapter of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, take part in a KWHL chart driven by the question,When is it appropriate and admirable to defy authority? Focusing on codes of conduct,...

You could spend a full day discussing The Phantom of the Opera and not scratch the surface, but a set of lessons about the literary elements and themes of the musical production is a great start. Young thespians build upon the...

Track the changes and developments in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis with a reading comprehension worksheet. Individuals copy important quotations from each of the book's three parts, record their...

An activity work alongside a narrative text of your choice. With reading comprehension at its focus, readers complete worksheets covering character descriptions.

What's the difference between hibernation and a good nap? Find out with an engaging life science activity that compares the hibernation habits of grizzly bears and marmots. After learners read an informational passage about each mammal,...

Every book has a few great characters, but James and the Giant Peach is the only one whose characters travel in a piece of fruit. The class creates T-charts for the main characters of the novel, while reading the book. They write actions...

Hopefully, learners do not sleep during a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet. A helpful study guide introduces theater goers to the popular Shakespearean tragedy and includes activities to accompany a production of the play. Activities...

Where is Henry Huggins? Class members craft playing cards for a memory game. One side features a description or an illustration of a memorable scene, the title of the book and the names of major characters, or a description about...

Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher helps bring difficult, but important, topics such as suicide and bullying into the classroom. An educator's guide for the novel provides activities and discussion questions to help teens explore the...

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...

Students write a paragraph predicting what the book is about after viewing the front cover. They are given a copy of the Story Parts Maps, students are explained each story part. Students are explained that they most take notes on the...

This review of a novel project is a great way to ensure accountability for independent reading. The assignment sheet, templates, samples, and rubrics are all part of the packet materials.

An activity boosts reading comprehension by challenging scholars to answer questions about a narrative tale detailing elements—plot, characters, setting, theme, problem, and solution.

What is is about cereal boxes that draws consumers in? Tap into the effective marketing of cereal boxes and apply those elements to a book report. Pupils cover cereal boxes with information about their chosen books. they must create a...

Need a creative idea for an elementary book report? Use a cereal box project to engage your readers beyond plot, setting, and characters. The lesson includes templates for the project and examples from Charlie and the Chocolate...

Here's a calendar that helps readers keep track of the major events in The Wednesday War.

Charles Schulz' Charlie Brown and Friends, a collection of Peanuts comic strips, provides young readers with an opportunity to engage in full-class discussions, work in groups to examine how Schulz develops his characters, and...

Create a picture dictionary for one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. After readers finish The Tempest, they assign each letter of the alphabet to a concept or character, and add a description and evidence from...

Designed for teachers, this resource provides an overview of Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Good Earth. Information about the organizational pattern of the story, issues and themes addressed, historical background on...

If you are reading works by Walter Dean Myers in your class, this resource might be worth a look. Included here are activities and discussion questions for Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Somewhere in the Darkness, Scorpions, Fallen...