Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre.  Based on what...

"I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works." This colored view is the focus of a close reading activity that asks readers of The Great Gatsby to examine the way...

"How come there's no ending?" After a close reading of Frank R. Stockton's tale "The Lady, or the Tiger?" in which scholars examine each of the main characters' conflicts and motivations, writers craft their own ending using textual...

Lilly Martin Spencer's "Peeling Onions" is the subject of a series of exercises that model for learners how to use the elements of art to read a painting. A series of worksheets focus viewers' attention on how Spencer uses...

Pupils compare the temperature change in a closed and open box as a demonstration of the greenhouse effect. 

In this smog activity, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions, write, and more...

In this British Food instructional activity, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion...

Students practice the techniques and strategies to become more fluent readers through visualization. They read and construct mental images from the reading of a text. The book, "Charlotte's Web," by E.B. White is read in class and then...

Access a wealth of rich, engaging activities that will allow learners to see through the eyes of Anne Frank and experience her emotional journey as they read her biography The Diary of a Young Girl.

How close are your eighth graders to mastering the ELA Common Core standards? Keep an eye on progress with these charts, which include every eighth grade identifier and full standard text. As you move through the year and teach,...

Ease into informational text with the lesson plan suggested here. Part of a unit series, the lesson plan draws from previous lessons and acts as a natural moment to add in informational text. Class members read one section of My...

In this reading comprehension activity, students read a short story about polar bears, answer 4 multiple choice questions and 1 short answer question.

The twelfth instructional activity of this unit builds on the skills developed in the previous instructional activity, as fourth graders continue their quest to become experts on colonial trade by listening to interviews with historical...

Students investigate the cause of death of a fictitious school janitor. They develop hypotheses based on information discovered by examining the labels of household chemicals.

A well-written lesson plan, second in a series of four, gets high schoolers exploring how the Antarctic food web is impacted by climate change and the associated melting of polar ice sheets. It begins with a PowerPoint presentation about...

Invite your learners to take a close look at Abraham Lincoln's presidency through analysis worksheets of several images and primary documents, presented on an educational poster entirely dedicated to this great United States...

A rich series of activities introduces learners to the concept of culture by closely examining the behaviors, practices, and art of three distinct peoples: the Highland Maya of Guatemala, the Hmong of China and Southeast...

In this context clues worksheet, learners read the sentences and use context clues to determine which word best completes the sentence. Students complete 8 sentences.

Get your class ready to read with this anticipatory set for Running Out of Time. Small groups each consider one thought-provoking statement. After each group comes to a consensus, the whole class participates in sharing ideas and voting...

As part of their reading of Michael Morpurgo's novel Kensuke's Kingdom, young castaways create diary entries describing their own time left alone on an island.

No one will be saying "Not I" with a lesson that combines The Little Red Hen with the life cycle of a wheat stem! After reading the story in your class, pass out wheat stems to your learners and have them examine the plants closely,...

Close up your study of Touching Spirit Bear with any of these assessment options. Each of the four project options is described in detail. Also included is a page that learners can use to portion out their time to make sure they fulfill...

“Be glad that all things sort so well.” To make text-to-self connections to Shakespeare’s play, class members engage in a guided imagery exercise prior to reading Act IV, scene i of Much Ado About Nothing (the wedding of Claudio and...

Make a prediction! Read The Very Cranky Bear with your first graders, making predictions and asking questions. Consider creating a list of comprehension questions to post while readers are listening to the story. Also consider...