Have your class explore active reading strategies! In this guided reading lesson, learners make personal connections to characters having a bad day as a prior knowledge activation discussion. After reading Gettin' Through Thursday, class...

Elementary students explore African American culture by reading children's poetry. They read the book, The Palm of My Heart which features poetry by an assortment of young African American boys and girls. Students define several...

Challenge your middle schoolers' critical thinking and spelling skills with this fun activity. Each question prompts students to find a word that begins or ends with a certain letter and has a certain number of letters. You could use...

How is fixing a flat tire like reading and writing? By thinking about each activity properly - identifying the problem and purpose, gathering information, and making inferences - you can exercise your thinking skills equally. This...

What would school be like if you couldn't teach lessons that require technology? Would it benefit the class? Would it hold them back? Have your learners read this article and answer the basic reading comprehension questions. Then have...

Knowing how to properly use the colon and the semi-colon is a handy skill to have. Most grown ups don't know how to properly use them! This presentation does an excellent job of showing learners how to properly use the semi-colon. There...

This online resource is composed of a writing sample about teacher appreciation and a writing prompt for learners. You could use this as an in-class journal activity or you could have class members post their responses on the New...

The New York Times offers of two articles and two summaries for learners to consider. They read each article and then post a blog response to each of the seven related questions. The topic of the articles asks the question; Is TV...

High schoolers explore the relationship between video games and actual population. Example: A 2005 study showed Latino youth play at higher rates than other groups, but there are no Latino playable characters. They watch a brief video...

Part of a series aimed at breaking down cultural bias from the Canadian Media Awareness Network, this activity identifies where opinions do and don't belong in a newspaper. Pupils review handouts about the purpose of editorial comments...

Make your students critical consumers of media, and foster an awareness of how culture is reflected and shaped by media. This resource covers how alcohol advertising presents and promotes gender stereotypes. After a discussion on...

Stress the importance of authenticating online resources and understanding the sources of websites' information with this activity. Using a Web-based activity, the lesson plan prompts young learners to think critically about determining...

Begin reading The Crucible and form a foundation for your study with this presentation. Arthur Miller and the historical background of McCarthyism are covered at the beginning, followed by short descriptions of all the characters in...

Get ready for state testing with this resource! First, read the short story "The Transfers." Then, answer the questions that follow. While there are quite a few advanced vocabulary words, they are easy to understand in context. A great...

Start by defining the word sitcom with the goal of launching a discussion. What exactly is a sitcom? How is a sitcom different from sketch comedy, drama, and reality television? Class members give examples, remember storylines...

Sentence completion practice not only improves vocabulary, but critical thinking skills as well. Class members will benefit from exercises and the extended explanations that the answer key provides. Great SAT practice or class discussion...

Model for your class how to become a better reader through questioning. After conducting a picture walk that introduces prediction strategies, learners play an interactive questioning cube game. Complete directions for the game and...

Before kids become readers, they can build foundational pre-reading skills using visual worksheets like this one. Learners examine six words with corresponding pictures, circling the words and guessing what they say. They use the images...

Give this literacy learning exercise to your beginning readers to help them draw out key details and retell in their own words. They read a short fantasy story about a bear in space which includes dialogue, onomatopoeia, and a simple...

There are 10 classroom words located at the top of this instructional activity. Kindergartners match the word to the object in the picture, they write that word on the line near that object. This is a great way for them to recognize...

If your budding readers are new to rhyme, this is a visual way to give them practice. They examine familiar sets of objects, matching them to their rhyming partners by drawing a connecting line. Practice left to right skills by asking...

Explore text structure with a focus on the glossary feature in informational texts. Learners read a brief introduction before examining a glossary from a text about plants. They reference it while completing four comprehension questions....

Pare, pair, or pear? Learners explore homophones with this dictionary skills worksheet. They look up definitions to five sets of homophones to see how words can sound the same but have completely different meanings. There are plenty of...

What a fun way to practice segmenting words into syllables! Engage learners by using their own names, spoken by Mico the puppet (or one of your favorites). Mico announces names slowly, syllable by syllable. If scholars have a...