Activity
Novelinks

Tuesdays with Morrie: K-W-H-L Strategy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Readers of Tuesdays with Morrie are directed to use a K-W-H-L chart to record what they know, what they want to learn, how they will find information, and what they learned about a particular topic related to Mitch Albom's book.
Worksheet
Novelinks

The Westing Game: Anticipation Guide

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Are all criminals bad people? Pupils answer this and other compelling questions in an anticipation guide for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Designed for learners to complete before reading the text, the...
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...
Activity
Novelinks

The Winter’s Tale: Storybook Strategy

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Introduce class members to the conventions of the romance genre and the theme of familial relationships with Mahlon F. Craft's illustrated Sleeping Beauty. The themes are a focus of their study of The Winter's Tale.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tangerine: K-W-H-L Strategy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
As part of the introduction to Edward Bloor's Tangerine, class members generate a KWHL chart listing what they know, what they want find out, how they plan to find this information, and what they have learned or still want to learn.
Activity
Novelinks

The Graveyard Book: Concept Analysis

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Neil Gaiman's award winning children's fantasy novel, The Graveyard Book, is the focus of a literary analysis overview. Those new to the novel can decide whether the book is appropriate for whole-class discussion or as a book circle...
Activity
Novelinks

Tuck Everlasting: Titles for Chapters

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
High schoolers synthesize the information they've learned from each chapter of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting with a creative summarizing activity. With a graphic organizer for all of the book's chapters, readers title...
Lesson Plan
Novelinks

Zach’s Lie: Anticipation Guide

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The class explores the truths and lies regarding Zach's Lie through a well-written anticipation guide. First in a series of seven resources, the guide addresses themes within the text. The class collaboratively discusses their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Things they Carried: Directed Reading Thinking Activity

For Teachers 10th - 12th
To generate interest in and enable readers to connect to The Things They Carried, class members write about what they carry—both tangible and intangible things. The class then makes a list of these things and compares the list to...
Activity
Curated OER

The Red Badge of Courage: Story Grammar

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
After finishing The Red Badge of Courage, readers complete a grammar worksheet  to identify the chain of events in the plot, the enduring issues, and major themes of Stephen Crane's novel.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Nothing But the Truth: Response Journal

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Readers of Avi's young adult novel, Nothing But the Truth reflect on events in the story through a series of journal responses.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Maus: Cubing Questioning Strategy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Maus is the text for a postreading activity that has class members using a cubing strategy to analyze, in depth, topics (racism, past and present, forgetting/remembering the Holocaust, representing the Holocaust) associated with Art...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mississippi Trial, 1955: Pre-reading Strategy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Pink and Say, a picture book by Patricia Polacco, and an anticipation guide, set the stage for a reading of Mississippi Trial, 1955, Chris Crowe's novel based on the true story of the murder of Emmett Till. Instructional routines, the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

QAR: Question Answer Relationships Strategy: The Catcher in the Rye

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Encourage readers to think deeply about text with a reading strategy that promotes active comprehension. Individuals develop questions on four levels (right there, think and search, author and you, and on my own). Step-by-step directions...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: K-W-H-L Strategy

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Ah, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer! Before your class reads this classic novel, encourage them to activate prior knowledge and build interest in the book with the KWHL strategy. Directions for walking your class through this strategy are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bud Not Buddy Pre-Reading Activity

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Before you embark on reading Bud Not Buddy with your class, have them imagine they are in Bud's shoes. They must prioritize which of 13 items listed on a printable worksheet they would take with them to survive as a Depression-Era...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shizuko’s Daughter: List-Group-Label Strategy

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Help your learners navigate the vocabulary of Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori with a lesson on categorizing words. After coming up with a list of things that grow from the earth, learners decide which categories each words belong in.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pairing Picture Books with Edith Hamilton's Mythology

For Teachers 7th - 12th
As a before reading strategy, class members select a tale from mythology, examine several picture book versions of the myth, and fill out part of a Venn diagram with observations about the hero in particular and the myth in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ready Set Go Woah: KWL for Ender's Game

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Readers of Orson Scott Card's award-winning science fiction novel, Ender's Game use the provided KWL worksheet to list what they already know about war, what they think they will learn in reading the book, the new information they...
Organizer
Sundance

Teaching Strategies: The Giver

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Can utopia be achieved? Included here are three literature worksheets to pair with Lois Lowry's The Giver. Pupils work in groups to come up with solutions to society's issues, individuals back up a statement related to a topic in the...
Lesson Plan
Novelinks

The Good Earth: Question Answer Response Strategy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Readers of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth craft and answer "Right There," "Think and Search," "On Your Own," and "Author and You" questions.
Activity
Florida Center for Reading Research

Comprehension: Monitoring for Understanding, What Do You Know?

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
An activity promotes reading comprehension. Readers analyze a text of their choice while activating prior knowledge and asking and answering questions. Scholars enforce multiple strategies to improve comprehension.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Real World Connections

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Explore universal themes in literature with a literacy and multicultural awareness lesson. Elementary and middle schoolers make real world connections between themes in books from several cultures. They make inferences and locate text...
Organizer
Curated OER

Letters from Rifka

For Students 7th
If you are looking for a way to lead students in a discussion as they read the book Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse, you will find this resource invaluable. Learners can organize their progress through the book and answer...