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...

Which word is Mico trying to say? A puppet helps make phoneme blending fun as you challenge your scholars to blend segmented words. Mico (or a puppet of your choice) has trouble saying words without separating the phonemes. Using the...

Take your kindergartners on a journey to the mythical planet Paz where residents segment words into phonemes, touching parts of their arm with each sound. This physical response to phoneme segmenting will appeal to your physical learners...

Use these strategies to connect letter pronunciation, sound, word examples, and recognition, focusing on the letter t. Emerging readers examine the letter and listen to you say the /t/ sound. As you explain how to do it, they try...

There are many words that begin with the /o/ sound; scholars study this letter in multiple contexts including intial phoneme examples, pronunciation, and letter recognition. Write the letter on the board to see if learners can identify...

What is this letter? Once your class is ready to explore the letter n, use these strategies to combine word examples, pronunciation, and letter recognition. First, can they identify the letter? Make the /n/ sound, explaining...

“Rikki-tikki-tavi” provides an opportunity to model for readers how to use background information to enrich understanding of a story. Class members observe animal behavior, listen to biographical background on Rudyard Kipling, study...

Practice distinguishing biography from autobiography through point of view. Tell a brief story of your morning. Have a class member retell the story to you (using second person). And have another retell the story to the class (using...

To appreciate the value of seeing and hearing a poetry performance, groups prepare readings of selected poems and then compare and critique their interpretations and videotaped versions of the same poem. Included in the resource are...

Dazai Osamu’s short story, “A Sound of Hammering” is the focus of a three-day investigation of modern Japanese literature and life in post-World War II Japan. The events in Osamu’s story mirror those in his own life, and give a...

Over the course of the lesson, your pupils read and analyze a translated eight-line poem from the Tang Dynasty written by Du Fu, a poet caught behind enemy lines during the An Lu-Shan rebellion (755-763). Literary/historical context is...

Friendship is a valuable part of growing up. Learn about the importance of friendship with a variety of activities based on When Turtle Grew Feathers by Tim Tingle. Kids practice making musical instruments, discussing plot points,...

What is a proverb? This is the leading question of this resource. First, explore proverbs and their meanings. Then, read aloud The Hidden Feast: A Folktale from the American South by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss and partake...

Although the activity is designed for Gary Paulsen’s Canyons, these procedures could be used with any novel or vocabulary study. Readers select an unfamiliar word, record the sentence and chapter where the term is found, write two...

As part of a study of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, class members respond to, and craft, higher-level comprehension questions based on passages from the text. 

Readers of Man's Search for Meaning use context clues, create stories using words from the text, and retype these stories as part of their vocabulary study of Viktor Frankl's book.

Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Class members use Bloom's taxonomy to craft six levels of discussion questions for Chris Crowe's novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955. Model questions from Chapter 3, a...

Readers of A Tale of Two Cities are asked to draw connections between Book III, Chapter Nine of Dickens’ story and The Gospel of John 2:1-43. The Biblical text and discussion questions are included with the worksheet.

A class discussion on reference materials opens up a lesson on how to use these important resources. They discover that dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauruses are called word reference resources, and they practice using them. The...

Check out a resource made up of two separate exercises. The first page lists a series of higher-level questions about "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika. Use the questions to encourage discussion or as an assessment. Since they...

Teach your class five reading strategies to help them with reading informational texts and literary texts. This packet, designed to help learners prepare for the CAHSEE, provides specific strategies that could be used to help prepare for...

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...

Studying Charlotte's Web in your class? Included here are worksheets and activities for pupils, and lessons for teachers. Learners examine the text, create their own little play using paper cutouts of the characters, complete a crossword...

Tis' the season to develop children's fine motor skills with this simple handwriting worksheet.