Analyze that! Scholars continue reading and analyzing a primary source about the immediate aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco fire and earthquake. Then, individuals use graphic organizers to identify the author's point of view.

Informative writing is emphasized in the standards. Help your learners reach that goal with the plan for paragraph writing outlined here. After reviewing the work from the day before and adding to their vocabulary notebooks, class...

Help your learners work with difficult or archaic words. A continuation of lesson two of this module, the plan here focuses on deciphering the Inventory of John Allen, in particular the unfamiliar words that make up much of the list. Add...

Shh! No talking during the discussion! Using the resource, scholars engage in a silent discussion called a Chalk Talk activity to analyze the purpose of a newspaper article. Additionally, they read a model newspaper article and try to...

What do consumers need to know about overfishing before buying fish? Scholars consider the question as they prepare for their performance task, which is to create a consumer guide for people about purchasing fish responsibly. After...

Plagiarism, copyright, and fair use are the focus of a three-part instructional activity designed to inform scholars of how to properly cite others' work. First, pupils use a KWL chart to begin thinking and...

What a puzzle! Scholars participate in a Jigsaw discussion within their expert groups, determining the gist of an article about the 2010 Haiti earthquake. As they read and discuss the article, they record thoughts on their note...

Polish organization skills in your youngsters. With this lesson, they are introduced to the trait of organization and participate in activities that reinforce organization. They cut apart a familiar story, receive different...

The manipulation of time is one of the most essential elements in Sophocles' Oedipus the King. As your language arts class participates in a jigsaw discussion activity, they work together to analyze the play's plot structure and...

3D printers, selfie sticks, smart watches. GPS, self-driving cars, YouTube. Imagine life without inventions. Believe it or not, these items were all invented in the last 10 years. Inventions, and the inventors responsible for them,...

Third graders create a graphic organizer. They draw illustrations that show the beginning, middle and end of a trip they took to visit a friend or a relative. They write age-appropriate text to accompany each drawing. They tell...

In this similarities and differences worksheet, students identify the strategy of reading for similarities and differences. Students study a Venn diagram and then complete their own Venn diagram for similarities and differences in a text.

High schoolers consider different statements based on the themes from Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, and decide what they think of the statement. They share their ideas as a class and discuss all sides to a idea. 

What's this all about? Scholars learn the importance of summarizing skills using a summary writing graphic organizer. They work with an elbow partner to discuss summaries and complete the organizer using Middle Ages Excerpt 1. Learners...

Whether or not you are new to using graphic organizers with informational or expository text, the materials in this guide will prove useful. 

A storm is brewing in the sea. Scholars complete multiple reads of How Does a Hurricane Form to determine gist, cause-and-effect relationships, and deepen vocabulary understanding.  To finish, they complete graphic organizers...

If you're looking to set your class up for writing effective arguments, try out this idea. While originally created with freedom as a guiding idea, the activity could easily be adapted for other themes. As a class, create a chart of...

Only fear fear itself. Scholars read Public Fear from The Exterminator. Triads work together to annotate and determine the gist of the text. They then complete a Tracing an Argument graphic organizer to identify arguments, claims,...

Focus on plot and the impact-specific events in The Cay. Class members use their double-entry journals, created in a previous lesson in this series, to record their thinking about the guiding question as they read chapters 15 through 17....

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...

Outlines are a great asset to essay planning. Scholars read and analyze a model essay about the importance of daily reading and consider how it would look in an outline format. Next, they outline their own informative essays about rules...

Bully, bullied, or bystander? Paul Langan's The Bully is the anchor text in a unit that examines bullying and violence. After a close reading of the text, readers imagine themselves as the characters and consider how they would react in...

A final assessment marks the end of a unit that takes a close look at a variety of informational texts all about frogs. A graphic organizer aides scholars in planning an accordion paragraph using their recorder forms from previous...

Building on a previous lesson plan, readers continue using context clues to learn new vocabulary. Additionally, they continue working on their Gathering Evidence graphic organizers, making connections between an informational text and A...