Make textbook reading more engaging using this reading activities worksheet, through which scholars review major features found on the ocean floor and the processes that formed these features. They complete 11 terms in a crossword...

Create to learn! Your class can create posters of transitional words and phrases to help them compose an explanatory text. They work in groups and focus on one type of transition (time, place, importance, etc.). They also create a poster...

Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together....

Students research the police ticketing of teens in their city or county. They determine if the police are targeting teens and why. Students explore other ways the community tries to ensure safer teen drivers. They survey teens in school....

Second graders discover that people can connect the dots of the stars to make pictures in the sky and have been doing so for thousands of years. They understand that throughout the United States people worked together to plan an escape...

Emerging writers create a portfolio showcasing various writing formats. They discuss Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. They observe the key features of picture books and then create their own book to add...

Collaborate with another class (or school) and have your learners share ideas about their reading through the use of email. Perhaps you'll create a specific question or a few questions for writers to choose from. Not only will they...

Guided by close-reading questions, groups examine the similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. In addition, they look at how the principles are presented in these two foundational US...

What does the author believe about his topic? Why did he write in the first place? Challenge your class to figure out the answers to these questions as they read through informational texts. The resource provides a breakdown of the...

Pupils use common and unusual objects to make observations of details, design, and functionality. They describe and draw each object while working in small groups. The differences between observation and perception is covered as part of...

Fourth graders will use AlphaSmarts/Neos to create a one page newspaper in Word which features an early explorer. This lesson can be done entirely in the classroom. The students will perform research about the explorer prior to the...

Students research bathroom vandalism in other schools like Freedom High after reading an article about Freedom High and their situation. Students then decide if their school has a similar problem and interview administrators and janitors...

Begin the year with a review of the parts of a book. Exercises in the unit plan ask emergent readers to identify the information on the cover of a book and on the title page, to explain the purpose of a table of contents, and to describe...

Incorporate technological fluency with a search for examples of active and passive voice in online resources. Discuss how use of active or passive voice influences mood or tone and contributes to author's purpose. List of...

The vowel/consonant/vowel combination of /i_e/ is one of the most common in our language. For this lesson, kindergarterners share the book, The Doctor's Line to gain practice in reading these kind of words. A brainstorm session...

What information would you find in an almanac that you would not find in an atlas? What is the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus? Using a Cite Your Sites worksheet on which they record their observations, groups participate...

Creative thinkers develope advertisements. They work in groups to create an advertisement featuring the importance of contributing to UNICEF. They research, learn about point of view, and present final projects to the class.

Develop and strengthen reading comprehension strategies through this comprehensive teaching guide. Your learners will practice making text connections, inferences, predictions, and more using reading passages from the teen-appropriate...

During a series of four activities, class members examine and deconstruct advertising that features famous athletes. They determine target audiences, analyze ads, explore "emotional climate," and role play a meeting between a sports...

Beginning writers practice writing and reading from left to right using green and red dots. You'll need notecards with a green dot on the left side and a red dot on the right side. Do your learners understand that print moves from left...

Go over how to read complex sentences. Learners work on identifying key ideas, examining sentence structure, looking up new vocabulary, and paraphrasing. An overview of methods to help class members read difficult texts, half of the...

Examine the nation's economic health using this GDP and CPI learning exercise, which features helpful graphic depictions of complex concepts. The first 2 pages include 17 short-answer questions intended to guide reading from a text (not...

Pupils are introduced to Chinua Achebe's first novel and to his views on the role of the writer in his or her society. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the related lesson Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Pupils examine the issue of having same-sex classes. Using the internet, they research how this program is working around the country. They interview local education experts and determine how they view the issue. They include an article...