Focus on the literary themes of Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter with an anticipation guide. Kids read statements about respect, abandonment, and love, and mark their agreement or disagreement before beginning the novel. After they...

Have you ever wondered about a chipmunk's stripes? Read a short passage featuring the Iroquois legend about the chipmunk and his stripes, and answer five comprehension questions about the plot, the theme, and the unfamiliar...

Even for one of the most accomplished men in American history, there was room for improvement. Challenge high schoolers to use Benjamin Franklin's Project for Moral Perfection to analyze text, make inferences, connect to historical...

John Muir may be a friend to the natural world, but as a short reading passage confirms, he is no friend to rattlesnakes. As young readers learn about Muir's encounters with the dangerous creatures, they answer four comprehension...

Scholars examine the courageous efforts made by civil rights activist, Rosa Parks. Discussion questions and a brief writing assignment follows a short film. A photograph and a silent film delve deeper into Park's history and three...

Maya Angelou's first autobiography,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, demonstrates both the author's exemplary writing and the themes of gender and racial injustice that perpetuate beyond the limits of the 20th century. Use a...

Adolescence and teenage years are very difficult in terms of emotions, primarily due to the amount of change going on in growing teens' lives. Guide middle schoolers through disruptive changes and transitions with a set of activities...

Harriet Tubman developed a rich extended metaphor for slavery and the imperative for Lincoln to abolish it in this dictated letter from 1862. Young historians read the original document and interpret Tubman's allegory with a pair of...

Go with your gut and try out this worksheet that focuses on -ut words! Learners read a brief poem that includes many different words that end in -ut and then respond to three reading comprehension questions.

Ever spoken with someone who monopolized the conversation? Explain to learners the benefits of giving others a chance to speak and balancing a conversation with this set of worksheets. Pupils discuss the ways in which you can show...

Everyone loves a good prank! With this reading passage, Perla and her grandmother play some fun innocent pranks on one another. Kids focus on new vocabulary words, questions about the information they have read, and responding with their...

Human attitudes toward the big bad wolf come into focus in a photo essay that asks viewers to consider their own feelings about the endangered species.

President Abraham Lincoln: a true humanitarian or a savvy politician? The lesson focuses on Abraham Lincoln's presidency and the secession of the southern states. Academics interpret how Lincoln's presidential platform promoting African...

Author's are often influenced by events in their own lives as they write. Use Edgar Allan Poe's poems "Ulalume" and "Annabel Lee" to take a look at how the death of Poe's wife affected his poetry. Ask students to discuss and compare the...

Guided by the provided questions, readers of David Mitchell's "Hangman" examine the author's figurative language to develop the constant struggle in Jason and Hangman's relationship.

Continue a thoughtful analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus the King by discussing the importance of dialogue within the play's structure. Ninth graders examine how Oedipus speaks about himself to his subjects and Creon before recording their...

Every year, more than 14 billion pounds of garbage is dumped into the oceans of the world, most of which is plastic and toxic to ocean life. Lesson 32 in the series of 36 focuses on environmental concerns, specifically pollution. Under...

Teach the importance of context and perspective with a unit focused on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first lesson considers the role of female characters and readers, including the gender expectations of the time. The...

Bring evaporation right into the hands of young scientists with an entertaining, hands-on activity. Investigators view videos and images while participating in class dialogue focused on water evaporating from surfaces. A short experiment...

Experience how a story can drastically change when the point of view is altered. Young scholars first read a review of Disney's film Tarzan, focusing on how the point of view in the classic story is important. They then select...

A thorough lesson plan takes your first grade class through Jane Yolen's beautiful Owl Moon. It crafts the unit with clear objectives, high-level guiding questions, cloze activities and sentence frames, and extension...

Begin the year with an emphasis on the NGSS practice standards. The resource provides an 8x10 size poster for each standard. When hung in a classroom, learners have a consistent reminder of what it means to be a scientist.

Young scholars practice writing basic questions to gain information. Working as a class, they identify questions they would ask to gain information about locations, time, and events. After writing their questions, they practice asking...

Readers of Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to are asked to consider the morality of the central character's actions