Identify text features, make inferences, and discover the cultural significance of Native American Poetry. Sixth graders read several Native American poems and use graphic organizers and literature response logs to record their feelings...

Make learning the parts of a book fun by having pupils construct their own glossary entries, table of contents, and title page. Beginning with a review of text features and a hunt for examples, kids use previously written fables to...

"How important is freedom to you and your family?" The guiding question becomes much more powerful after your class reads and responds to a passage from a historical novel. While reading the passage, they complete a graphic organizer...

Explore communication through media by analyzing different advertisements and artwork. Budding artists view videos, websites, plays, and other artistic endeavors while discussing the true meaning of the work with their classmates. They...

Readers identify the author's purpose. First, they read a passage and utilize details from the piece to determine the author's purpose. Then they will explain how they arrived at their conclusion. Links to materials are provided.

Explore word meanings. Sixth graders identify examples of words with affixes while listening to the story Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg. They participate in the game "Pass the Parts" and practice separating given words into their root...

Distinguish between textual features of non-fiction in the book The Lewis and Clark Expedition and in the non-fiction story "Ta-Na-e-Ka." Third graders create posters and participate in group discussions to show their...

Figures of speech, sensory details, and academic language are all targeted while reading Chapter Two of J. Ferris’ Go Free or Die. First, learners engage in an exercise to practice describing with detail. Then, partners use a...

Groups of older elementary learners begin their study of figurative language by visiting a website and completing the exercises detailed there. They then apply what they have learned by finding examples in several poems. Finally, they...

Interpret nonfiction text with your class. Readers use key information found in nonfiction text to answer questions and problem solve. They utilize the chapter headings, diagrams, glossary, maps, and captions as well as the table of...

Middle schoolers write a nonfiction animal book. They research an animal to write about and use the templates provided to gather all sorts of information on their animal. Consider making a model book so your class has an idea of what it...

Young scholars read Arthur's Pet Business and  complete a pre-writing worksheet for expository writing.  For this paragraph writing lesson, students gather and organize material for a paragraph about pets.

Here is a lesson plan that gives learners a chance to practice using context clues. They read the story, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Students use different word strategies (base words, synonyms, antonyms) to decode and understand...

Elementary schoolers write a friendly letter. In this letter writing lesson interrogative and declarative sentences in their friendly letter. The students write to an intended audience.

Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...

Explore the meaning of unknown words! Read All I See with your class, having them complete the inference chart provided while reading. They select unknown words, guess their meanings, and identify what other words or pictures helped them...

Explore children's literature by researching a book and it's author. Youngsters read the story The Mitten by Jan Brett and discuss the animals and characters mentioned in the story. Then, they practice retelling their favorite portion of...

Help early readers identify rhyming words in nursery rhymes. They will read the nursery rhyme Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens in order to identify rhyming words. Then they chart the rhyming words they heard in the...

Have fun creating rhymes! Your class will read the familiar nursery rhyme Three Little Kittens and list rhyming words. They then use the story as a template to develop their own rhymes.

Learners participate in a series of demonstrations about Bernoulli's principle. They explain how air pressure varies with air speed. They write a detailed lab report about the activity. This is a great way to explore this concept.

Students complete seventeen question test about food safety which includes matching vocabulary terms, short answer questions and fill in the blank questions. Test is part of the Food Safety Unit produced by the College of Agricultural...

Can your class tell the difference between passive and active writing? Use this lesson in your writing conventions unit. The lesson prompts middle schoolers to create essays, demonstrating understanding of an active versus passive voice...

As guided practice, class members work together to revise a model persuasive paragraph. Then they practice independently with their own writing. The included rubric looks at prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, nonfiction text...

Help your high schoolers identify the main idea of a passage with this lesson plan on paraphrasing. First rewriting a paragraph in their own words, they then underline the most important words in their paraphrase and use them in a...