Franklin the turtle makes a new friend as youngsters learn vocabulary in context using Paulette Bourgeois' story (tip: this strategy can be applied to any book). Brief kids on the new words so they can raise their hands when they...

Just like your budding readers may have felt, Froggy is nervous on his first day of school. Use Johnathan London's book Froggy Goes to School to practice vocabulary in context. Prior to reading the story aloud, pre-teach the new words...

Combine counting and vocabulary using Francine Bassede's book George's Store at the Shore, which has learners exploring new words and numbers 1-10. Suggested words for this text are: arrange, assortment, customers,...

Help budding readers learn words like develop and revolting as they listen to you read Mitchell Sharmant's Gregory, the Terrible Eater. Get the new vocabulary rolling before reading it aloud so youngsters can raise a...

Looking for a Halloween-themed vocabulary lesson? Study words in context using Zoe Hall's story It's Pumpkin Time, an excellent informational text for budding readers. The spooky suggested words are: buds, gather, hollow,...

Beautiful illustrations and tender memories of cultural identity make Kam Mak's story My Chinatown an ideal resource for budding readers learning four vocabulary words in context: fortune, scraps,...

Combine counting and vocabulary practice with Susan O'Keefe's engaging story One Hungry Monster, which you can find on YouTube if needed. Introduce learners to the following in-text words: doubt, gargle, rude, swear, and...

Patricia Polacco weaves an engaging tale for budding readers in her book Some Birthday!, an excellent resource for vocabulary in context. You can use this text to introduce the following words: investigate, snarl, and squawk....

Mr. Snowman wants to help emerging readers understand compound words, so he segments some familiar words to help them see that they are made of two distinct words. Learners repeat the words, both segmented and blended, and observe them...

Visuals help clarify claims. Scholars create visual displays to accompany their end-of-unit presentations about water sustainability. Using blank paper and their notes from the unit, they put their creativity to good use and then...

Put it all into words. Scholars work toward writing an argumentative essay. They begin by examining and marking strong words in Are We Medieval? A Literary Argument Essay Prompt. Learners then use Qualities of a Strong Literary Argument...

Life is all about choices and consequences. Using a Cascading Consequences chart, scholars create a visual map of the effects of a particular choice or action related to water management. With their researcher's notebooks and copies of...

Present the facts. Scholars create presentations of their research on DDT using their Cascading Consequences chart and a Stakeholders Impacts chart as visuals. They discuss the term stakeholders and create a Stakeholders Impacts chart...

Sure, your young artists probably know Van Gogh and Picasso, but are they equally as familiar with Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol? Small groups examine the work of famous artists. Then, they create their own hero portraits in Cubist style...

Pupils read about Kent State's ongoing support for Hurricane Katrina victims by building and auctioning off playhouses for children. They create an ad for the playhouses, including a headline and some copy (words) plus visuals that...

Over the course of three days, middle schoolers explore the concept of connotation. They differentiate between the connotative and denotative meanings of sports team names, develop their own team names, logos, and text, and revise a news...

Help your pupils discover the power of context clues by teaching the this vocabulary strategy. Designed to go with words from Willa Cather's My Antonia, this exercise focuses on having individuals use their own words to define new...

Students analyze the text in Charlotte's Web. In this language arts lesson plan, students dissect the passages from Charlotte's Web, specifically the adjectives Charlotte used to describe Wilbur. Finally, students play a game using...

Students explore reading. For this visualization lesson, students practice, creating images in their minds while listening to the story The Vegetables Go To Bed, by Christopher King. They listen to the story and then draw what they...

Students, after reading the book, "Esperanza Rising," create a virtual display by combining different story elements into a visual representation. They choose the setting and characters of a scene that will act as a springboard of ideas...

Young scholars navigate the Visual Thesaurus to find keywords for research.  For this keywords lesson, students use synonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms to find keywords. Young scholars understand why some searches are effective and...

Explore rhyming in this phonemic awareness and French lesson. Listen to the poem "J'Adore la Pizza" by Karen Kransky and identify rhyming words. Compare grapheme spelling patterns with like phonemes, and sort word cards according to...

Students recognize the importance of the Supreme Court. In this legal terminology lesson, students define a list of words to understand the Supreme Court and the language used in cases. Students revise a case summary.

First graders draw pictures of spelling words. In this spelling lesson, 1st graders create flashcards by drawing a picture of each of the spelling words on one side and writing the actual word on the other side.