Middle schoolers practice playing "The Star Spangled Banner" while focusing on phrasing. They work with the instructor to mark the lyrics and music, then play the song using the phrasing indicated. Several...

What's theme, and can texts of every length have one? Explore the themes of fives short reading passages with your middle school class. Encourage them to highlight specific places in the text where they recognized the theme. 

Mark Twain's frame story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" provides an opportunity for a study of this story-within-a-story pattern. Using an illustrated template, class members record a plot summary of the frame story...

Kids compare what printed text looks like with the naked eye and under magnification. They discuss the extremely small scale that must be used to measure the size. They learn about the micrometer unit, then draw scale models of a variety...

Engage further in Esperanza Rising with a focus on close reading and metaphor. Class members zero in on the tenth chapter, examining characters and big ideas. Pupils discuss the text in small groups and as a whole class, and...

This outline introduction for a college course covers the idea of humanities and various language forms and literature genres. Beginning with the human species and our influence on the world around us, take a very thorough look at the...

Fifth graders explore historical fiction. In this genre study lesson, 5th graders go on a text feature scavenger hunt to identify the parts of a historical fiction text. Additionally, students read the book, My Secret War and discuss...

Acquaint your class with informational text through a close reading. First, examine a couple of pages together, looking at text features and content. The whole class focuses on marking down a brief summary of each paragraph before...

Encourage text-to-self connections with a prereading strategy designed for Flipped. Clear steps are included, and the actual anticipation guide is the final page of the three-page packet. Ten statements are provided, and class members...

Set up your class to read Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, through a class read-aloud and exploration of the setting. The detailed instructional activity outlines each step. First, class members read over the first few pages and...

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...

Post-It notes, highlighting, underlining. Sam Anderson’s New York Times Magazine article, “What I Really Want Is Someone Rolling Around in the Text,” launches a study of “marginalia,” or writing thoughts in the margins of a text. After...

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life” and an excitement that comes with finding a good teaching resource. Included in a richly detailed packet designed to accompany The Call of the Wild, are a tableaux exercise, a...

Prepare a gameboard and die-cut race cars to play a fun fluency game. Also create several flash cards to review the long /i/ sound. Then, model reading smoothly and with expression, emphasizing the importance of re-reading...

The Italian Renaissance was a period of great art and architecture. Show your class the achievements that define the Quattrocento period in Italian art and style. This slide show centers around Florence, the architecture, sculpture, and...

Do you have an e-reader? Engage your class with this question before assigning them to read the passage. As they read, encourage them to mark the text. Without referring back to the text, can they complete the 11 reading comprehension...

Practice with paragraphs while thinking about careers! Learners examine and discuss two sample paragraphs, marking the different elements (topic sentences, body, concluding sentences), and try out writing their own paragraphs. Focusing...

Punctuating dialogue properly can be tricky, but your pupils can become punctuation masters with practice. This resource includes an explanatory page that describes the rules of writing dialogue and provides examples. On the second page,...

How significant was the Cold War during the 20th century? After reading and analyzing speeches by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, learners consider the historical context of foreign policy decisions made during the Cold...

Where did the falcons go? Scholars read the article Welcome Back which describes the disappearance of falcons due to the use of pesticides. During a second read, learners annotate the text by marking unfamiliar words and facts about...

The 1960's marked shifts in American culture, politics, and policy. Your class groups up to research a series of primary source documents resulting in a timeline and a 15 minute oral presentation. Active learning all the way.

Help your class explore the question "Is it ever right to disobey a law?" With a strong base of knowledge about the Civil War, anti-slavery movement, and Underground Railroad, your class explores civil disobedience in Marshall, Michigan...

Writers explore vocabulary and expressions used in the English language. They use visual word maps to become aware of the different uses of words which will allow them to more readily interpret texts. Then they listen to/read excerpts...

What natural resources are available in your area? Your learners can consider this question after reading a brief passage about natural and renewable resources. After reading, class members respond to five questions related to the reading.