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....

Future engineers design and build structures out of toothpicks and marshmallows. They then make sure the structures can withstand an earthquake simulator!

Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...

What a fantastic collection of activities for celebrating Groundhog Day! This resource includes a variety of holiday reading selections, groundhog facts, links to printables, story comprehension lessons, and much more!

Was the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists? As part of a structured academic controversy (SAC) activity, pupils consider multiple perspectives of the Butler Act and engage in close...

An infographic is fantastic way for learners to illustrate their understanding of content, express themselves creatively, and teach others in a manner that is both engaging and informative. While originally designed for a lesson on...

You've heard of the historical moment when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, but did you know that some historical accounts disagree on where she sat? Investigate this query with your young historians, and practice...

Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...

A lesson challenges scholars to create a cinquain poem. Writers begin by choosing a topic and brainstorm details, then compose their original poem making sure to count syllables. 

Building upon prior lessons in the series, this reading and writing exercise requires pupils to look back at their own writing, track character development in the novel The Cay, and analyze how Phillip has changed. The reading focus is...

Academics take turns as actors in an engaging poetry cafe. Elementary learners work in small groups to create original poems or stories addressing community issues and read their work in front of a live audience. Scholars also reflect...

Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

It's all about the plot, main events, and story mapping with this lesson. As the class reads the novel James and the Giant Peach, they create an excitement graph that actually charts key events and moments of excitement. After...

As an introduction to literary criticism, class members recreate I.A. Richards' close reading experiment. Individuals select a poem, paraphrase the story, focus on the imagery used, consider what the imagery adds to the tale, and...

How can we create a more fair world? Chances are, class members have some ideas! After reading a text about fairness, individuals create skits around the ideas of fairness. Extend the learning and make their presentations a...

Focus on a passage about the new year with your English language learners. You can start with reading the passage aloud to your class, and then launch into the related activities. Pupils match phrases, complete cloze-style activities,...

Look back at the third chapter of The Cay with your class. Pupils will conduct a close reading, taking a second look at a chunk of text and responding to a series of text-dependent questions. Wrap up with an analytical writing prompt...

This resource outlines several general activities for a study of Ancient Rome, and includes guiding questions, a handout on the story of Romulus and Remus, and ideas for incorporating mapping and timeline activities into your review.

Is your Kindergarten class about to read the book, Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom? If they are, and you want a few wonderful activity ideas to reinforce phonemic awareness and letter identification skills, look no further. Here you'll find over...

Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...

If you're looking for a way to structure your unit on Jack London's White Fang, use a well-organized guide to bring the intrigue of the novel to your middle school classroom. Covering a biography of the author, main background and...

If you give teachers a few good ideas, they can really bring a story to life. Included in this resource are dozens of activities to use as your class reads books in the If You Give... series. From holding puppet shows and creating...

As the title suggests, this packet is loaded with activities that can be used at any time. The common element in all the exercises is that they are connected to books by Dr. Seuss.

There is nothing more frustrating than discussing theme in literature, and now the Common Core requires that your learners determine two or more, and discuss the development of it throughout the text. This is crazy, but manageable with...